The Training For Mountaineering Podcast
Jun 25, 2026 · 32 min · 10 segments
On 21 May 2026, Summit Strength client Shika stood on top of Mount Everest after eight years of climbing and four months of structured preparation with Rowan. In this episode she shares how she…
Shikha RajuGuestRowanHost
In fact, Everest was the reason I signed up with yourself and Summit Strength back in '24.
Um, so everything we were doing was building up towards one objective, was Everest.
I wanted to test everything, the training, the nutrition, the gear, and probably most importantly, how I responded when things got bad.
And we covered that in many of our discussion throughout the period leading up to Ama Dablam.
So I paid close attention to what was working, what wasn't, and where there was room to improve, and was almost like gathering pieces of the puzzle before taking on Everest.
So while reaching the summit of Ama Dablam was special, the bigger win for me was coming away knowing that the training system we had put in place actually worked.
I was going in with a lot, lot more confidence because we've already done the homework.
Um, so yeah, so I would say that's what I was thinking, like, after Ama Dablam and also while I was on it, on Ama Dablam, and the lessons I learned from that.
Yeah, absolutely.
And, and then was there anything, I guess, with that, you had the training system in place, you were, you were, you'd seen the success with it.
Was there anything coming off the back where you're like, "You know what? That was good, but I feel like it needs to be a little bit better," or, "You know what? That was okay, but I feel like that might need to change a little bit," um, or anything like that?
The one thing I knew I needed to work on while I was doing, um, climbing Ama Dablam was on hiking endurance.
So, um, although I trained for Ama Dablam, the distance between camps were shorter and exp- expedition itself was only a few weeks long.
And interestingly, carrying a heavy pack for hours prob- was probably my biggest weakness.
And coming from a running background, I was used to moving quickly and covering distance, so actually I found those long, slow days with a heavy backpack much, um, tougher than running a marathon.
So i- overall, I thought I needed to improve my endurance and go for hours, so spending, like, six or seven hours just grinding it out, which we did-
[laughs]
In fact, Everest was the reason I signed up with yourself and Summit Strength back in '24.
Um, so everything we were doing was building up towards one objective, was Everest.
I wanted to test everything, the training, the nutrition, the gear, and probably most importantly, how I responded when things got bad.
And we covered that in many of our discussion throughout the period leading up to Ama Dablam.
So I paid close attention to what was working, what wasn't, and where there was room to improve, and was almost like gathering pieces of the puzzle before taking on Everest.
So while reaching the summit of Ama Dablam was special, the bigger win for me was coming away knowing that the training system we had put in place actually worked.
I was going in with a lot, lot more confidence because we've already done the homework.
Um, so yeah, so I would say that's what I was thinking, like, after Ama Dablam and also while I was on it, on Ama Dablam, and the lessons I learned from that.
Yeah, absolutely.
And, and then was there anything, I guess, with that, you had the training system in place, you were, you were, you'd seen the success with it.
Was there anything coming off the back where you're like, "You know what? That was good, but I feel like it needs to be a little bit better," or, "You know what? That was okay, but I feel like that might need to change a little bit," um, or anything like that?
The one thing I knew I needed to work on while I was doing, um, climbing Ama Dablam was on hiking endurance.
So, um, although I trained for Ama Dablam, the distance between camps were shorter and exp- expedition itself was only a few weeks long.
And interestingly, carrying a heavy pack for hours prob- was probably my biggest weakness.
And coming from a running background, I was used to moving quickly and covering distance, so actually I found those long, slow days with a heavy backpack much, um, tougher than running a marathon.
So i- overall, I thought I needed to improve my endurance and go for hours, so spending, like, six or seven hours just grinding it out, which we did-
[laughs]
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