John McConnachie

Putting aside personal ambitions for the greater good of others. "Despite not being acclimatised, I persevered without oxygen, keeping pace with those who were using supplemental oxygen while climbing. When we reached 7,400m there were no fixed lines past this point, which caused the other team members (9 pax) to turn back. As the trusted leader of my team and @eliteexped, it was up to me to make an informed decision. As an expedition leader, I have always taken the initiative when necessary. I made the hard choice to sacrifice my personal goal of climbing without oxygen for the sake of my team and their own missions. I looked at my team members: *Pasang Tendi, who had only Annapurna and Shishapangma left to finish his 14 peaks. *Tenji, who had led the fixing team on Annapurna up to C3 last year but had to abandon his summit push due to guiding commitments on Everest & Lhotse. *Nikol, a mother of four who is on a mission to climb 14 peaks. *Christine, also on a mission to climb 14 peaks. *And the rest of the team, who work tirelessly in this industry to support their families. And thought, their lives and goals depended on my one decision. So, I decided to use oxygen from 7,400m take the lead to the summit, checking the snow conditions and trailblazing to route. I would never ask someone to climb a mountain that I wouldn't lead from the front. This marks the first summit of my 8000er journey this season." Huge congrats to my team who pushed on and made this happen I am proud of you all! Wearing- @nimsdaistore summit suit 🤜🏽💥 Guiding company - @eliteexped #nimsdai #eliteexped #Annapurna #sevensummits #nimsdaifoundation #k2winter #nimsdaistore #uksf #gurkha #K2WinterNoO2 #14Peaks #AchieveYourNewPossible #NothingIsImpossible #14PeaksNothingIsImpossible #SBS #Gurkha #BeyondPossible #motivationalspeaker