The ultimate high of conquering Mount Everest

Sue Harper Todd is busy packing. But she is not packing her bags to go on an Easter break to the sun. She is packing to take a group of people on a physical and emotional journey to Everest base camp.

And she is no stranger to Everest. At 7am on May 16, 2004, Sue, then aged 43, became only the fourth woman to have stood on the summit of Everest and the first ever to be leader of an Everest expedition.

“Seeing the world from this viewpoint, was a very powerful, emotional and spiritual experience, a life- changing experience.”

At 29,029 feet, the summit of Everest is at the cruising height of jumbo jets and Sue says she truly did feel nearer to the sun, the moon and the stars, than to the earth.

“This was truly the most beautiful experience of my life, but it was also the most challenging. Climbing the highest mountain on the planet is one of the great challenges. It is one of the hardest things both mentally and physically. All the time your mind is telling you can’t do it.

“When I stood on the summit of Everest it made me realise that anyone can achieve anything, but you have to take the opportunities that come along.”

Sue, who lives in Blubberhouses, was inspired to climb Everest after she was widowed aged 38 when he husband died of cancer, although she says it had never previously been an ambition of hers.

“I thought my life was all happily planned out when suddenly I found myself a widow at the age of 38 – my life seemed to be over. This made me realise that we can never be sure where life is going to take us and we can’t be complacent,” says Sue.

Hill climbing had always been one of Sue’s passions both while growing up in Yorkshire and also while living in Scotland and the Alps.

But it wasn’t until the death of her husband that she considered climbing anything bigger.

“The idea of climbing Everest had never entered my mind before this. Even though I was a climber and people sometimes flippantly said to me: ‘Wouldn’t you like to climb Everest?’ it never ever occurred to me to try. Because I didn’t believe I could. And I don’t think anyone else did either!

“But the death of my husband changed everything. It took me a long time to get back on my feet again, but when I did I realised that every opportunity in life has to be seized. Life is here to be lived. I also realised how much I had been living in my husband’s shadow. I had been a wife living his life. Now it was my turn. So when I was given the opportunity of going to the Himalayas, to just have a look at Mount Everest, I jumped at it.”

A month later Sue found herself at Everest Base Camp looking through a telescope at a friend standing on the summit of Mount Everest.

“I knew right then that I wanted to be that person, to see what he was seeing and to feel that euphoria that I knew he was feeling. I had no idea how I was going to do it, but right then I set the intention to climb Everest.

“I made it my goal, I set the intention to achieve it and I stayed focused on it. And as a result, an incredible series of events unfolded that allowed me to achieve this seemingly impossible dream.”

Sue decided that if she was ever going to climb Everest then she needed to test herself as she had never climbed above 7,000 metres before.

“It costs £20,000 to climb Everest and I just didn’t have that type of money. I did have £10,000 and so I decided to travel to Tibet to climb another mountain, Cha Oyu.Just before I left I said to a friend ‘I can do a lot with £10,000’, but because I took the risk everything happened for me.”

It was here that she met her second husband, Henry, who was climbing the same mountain.

He was taking an expedition to Everest in 2004 and it was Sue’s chance to tag along and fulfil her dream.

“We got married in the spring and then headed to Everest for our honeymoon in May. I was full of apprehension as I don’t really think that I thought I would be able to do it.”

Sue doesn’t look like a natural climber. At just 5ft 6ins and 8.5 stone she doesn’t look strong enough to take on the challenge of climbing the world’s highest mountain.

“I hadn’t really prepared myself for it,” admits Sue. “I didn’t look at the route; I was getting married and then I was going to climb Everest.”

When she got to Base Camp Two her fears started to surface. “It looked such a long way to the summit that I thought I just can’t do it.”

As panic started to set in Sue knew that she had to a grip. She decided she needed to take each stage of the journey as it came, rather than looking a the enormity of the task ahead of her and her Sherpa.

Her new husband stayed at base camp, keeping in touch by radio. “When I called him to say we had reached the summit he was quite emotional and couldn’t believe I had got there so quickly.”

It took two days for Sue to get back down to base camp and an emotional reunion with her husband and also to break the news to her parents.

“I hadn’t actually told them I was going to go to the summit because they would have been worried, they thought I was just going to base camp. They were speechless when I told them what I had done.”

Having been privileged enough to have done something others only dream about, Sue now focuses on helping others to realise their goals and dreams.

She now works as a life coach, helping people to move forward in their lives, using skills she learnt climbing Everest, to achieve their dreams and goals.

“I believe that you have to take every opportunity life gives you,” says Sue.

“You are the only person in your life who can make changes and sometimes that may involve taking risks. But it is extremely empowering. The skills I learnt while climbing Everest can be used to help people through life.”

Sue also takes groups trekking in the Himalayas, to see the most beautiful mountains in the world for themselves, which in itself is a life-changing challenge and experience.

While we are tucking into chocolate eggs Sue and her party will be tackling freezing conditions, as she is currently leading an expedition to Everest Base Camp.

And in October she is taking another expedition, this time to raise money for a charity she supports called Women for Women International, helping women in war zones rebuild their lives.

“Our aim is to have 10 people on the trek raising a total of £100,000 to mark the fact that 2011 is the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day,” says Sue.

Already signed up for the trek is Jackie Terry-Schuhmann from Harrogate who is hoping to raise £10,000 for the charity.

* For more information visit www.womenforwomen.org/help-women/susan-harper-todd-trek.php or www.susanharpertodd.com

On Friday, June 10, from 6.30pm - 9.30 p.m  Sue is holding a workshop in conjunction with Yorkshire Centre for Wellbeing called “How To Climb Your Own Everest – the steps to achieving success and fulfilment in your life”. Price £20 www.yorkshirewellbeing.co.uk for details.

A POTENTIALLY DEADLY CHALLENGE

Mount Everest, also known as Mount Chomolungma or Sagarmatha, is the world’s highest mountain above the mean sea level, at 8,848 metres (29,029 ft). It is located in the Himalayas on the Nepal (Sagarmatha Zone) - China (Tibet) border.

The highest mountain in the world attracts many well-experienced mountaineers as well as novice climbers.

The dangers include altitude sickness, weather, and wind.

By the end of the 2008 climbing season, there had been 4,102 ascents to the summit by about 2,700 individuals. By the end of 2009 Everest had claimed 216 lives.