When you've summited the world's highest mountain as many times as Kenton Cool has, there's the slight chance of getting Everest fatigue, at least for a short while. With some of the toughest technical terrain firmly under his belt, alpine climber and adventurer Kenton Cool set himself a different challenge this year. Only four months after sitting on the top of the world for a jaw-dropping eighth time, he strapped a pair of touring skis to his rucksack, slung on his crampons and skied from the 8,163 metre peak of Manaslu in central Nepal, the eighth highest mountain on earth.
Kenton is now the only Brit with two 8,000m peak ski descents to his name, having shushed down Cho Oyo on a solo ski four years ago. So what prompted him to join this incredibly niche club?
"I love mountain adventure and the ski descent added that extra element", he explains over a coffee, although sheepishly admitting to healthy competition with business partner, Guy Willets, with whom he runs Dream Guides in Chamonix. During the winter the pair can be found creating private ski tours in the Mont Blanc Massif, while the summer sees them head off for the Alpine and Himalayan climbing season.
For someone who spends the majority of his career helping others push themselves to realise their dream, he confesses that it is good to have the chance to pursue his own every now and then.
Manaslu - one of the less well-known Himalayan mountain that sits in the Mansiri Himal, in the west of Nepal's central region - is only really on the radar for climbers keen to get some practice before attempting Everest. The unusually high level of snowfall for the region and pyramid shape of the mountain lends itself to a ski descent, however with blasts of 80mph winds regularly scouring the mountain, any pockets of powder are quickly demolished, making for a less than comfortable few runs.
Although Nepal was moving out of monsoon season when Kenton and the team arrived, the weather was still pretty abominable, both during the trek into basecamp and while waiting for the all important weather window.
"We were hit by a particularly bad year – the team was really challenged, we lost tents and had to dig the ropes out. If it has been Europe, it would have been fantastic powder, but the snow was blasted. Even on summit day there was howling wind and it was all in the balance all day long."
He makes it sound so easy - but what is skiing at 8,000 metres really like?
"Sodding hard work" according to Kenton. "Your legs and muscles are burning and your muscles screaming for oxygen. The fatigue, the heavy rucksack – it's a lot harder than walking down. You are very aware all the time and trying to scope the best lines and see where the dangers might be. We skied as much as we could – all that was ski-able, really and occasionally we managed some linked turns – but it's adventure skiing, not powder heaven."
Oxygen but no powder
"Climbing Everest is probably 85% mental strength and only 15% physical – and I think Manaslu was the same. Mentally I really had to build up to it – a lot of people didn't want me to do it, " he explained. "Obviously I’m a ski guide - but I’m a climber who became a skier, not a skier who became a climber."
Although proud of his earlier ski descent of Cho Oyo, this was the more enjoyable trip. "It was stressful skiing on my own - really tough. When I got down I was mentally exhausted. But on Manaslu, I came down re-energised. It was great to have a partner to share the ski adventure with – and I’m still buzzing. It was a brilliant trip".He explains that every now and then, something happens in life that makes you think, 'that's how it ought to be'. "This was one of those rare times".
"Skiing for many people is a week in Val, a few piste runs, a nice lunch and a few more pistes then après in the bar," he says thoughtfully, adding that while there's nothing wrong with that, skiing is a far bigger sport and ought to be embraced. "There's freestyle, touring, cross–country - why not branch out and see what's there?"
With so much infectious enthusiasm for the mountains and pushing himself further, Kenton is already planning to complete his trilogy with another epic 8,000m ski next year – this time from the top of Shishapangma, over the border in Tibet.
Somehow, when he says he's not a strong skier, it’s very hard to believe him.
photos copyright Kenton Cool. This article was published on welove2ski, October 2010.
