Wyatt Hughes, a Norwood native and the son of Howard Hughes, reached the top of Mount Everest May 28 at 12:30 p.m. How does the son of a western Colorado rancher, from a remote place like Norwood, end up at the summit of the world’s tallest mountain?
Hughes told the Forum his story in a series of interviews, first by text messages from the bottom of the Himalayas and then by phone interview when he arrived home to Colorado.
Hughes said he used to be into video games a kid, and he didn’t do many sports initially. Some may remember that he played high school baseball and football though, for the second half of his high school career. And, he always enjoyed his time on the ranch with his family.
As a young man, he did read Jon Krakauer’s renown novel about an experience climbing Mount Everest, “Into Thin Air,” and he watched the film. Back then, Everest made an impression on him.
Becoming of mountaineer
It was the COVID pandemic that inspired him to get out into the mountains; then the gyms were closed. He started hiking every trail he could find in the Boulder area, where he’s lived his adult life, but then he wanted something more challenging to do.
Nov. 3, 2022, he climbed Long’s Peak with nothing but “gumption” and his AllTrails app. One of Colorado’s most dangerous 14ers — what mountaineers call peaks that lie above 14,000 feet — Long’s Peak wasn’t easy for him. It’s a Class 3 climb, and he went in wintery conditions. But, he learned something, and he said the experience gave him a sense of awe.
Then, he began to focus on skill, summiting other 14ers, and he began finding mentors. In the last four years, he’s spent 5,000 hours climbing mountains. It typically takes someone 20 or 30 years to get that much experience, but he’s dedicated every single weekend, 12 to 24 hours at a time.
He’s done every 14er in Colorado already, with Mount Sneffles, located in Ridgway, being his absolute favorite. He’s done both the Blue Lake approach and the “southwest ridge scramble” to Sneffles.
He did Colorado’s 14ers in just 10 months, when someone told him he couldn’t. He’s done two 14ers in California too, Whitney and Muir. And, he’s been to Alaska. He summited Denali, and there he found Alaska to be his favorite place, outside of Colorado.
“I love it up there,” he said. “It’s vastly different, summer and winter.”
He’s got his eye on a few more peaks up in Alaska, Hunter and Foraker.
The good, bad and reality of Everest
Hughes does train four days a week in the gym for four hours at a time. To stay in the shape that mountaineering requires, he works with heavy weights and does cardio. He finished a 50-mile ultrarun race this year too. He can ski, but he said he prefers mountaineering with snowshoes and his crampons.
Regardless of physical condition, Hughes told the Forum Mount Everest will get the best of anyone.
On one hand, he said Kumbu Icefall had an easier route this year, compared to past years. The icefall is a section of moving glacier with deadly crevasses that must be crossed using ladders and ropes. Hughes found it “fun.”
“Word of mouth is that it was the easiest in 20 years — still dangerous, but at the beginning of the season there was a nasty serac,” he said.
A “serac" is a large block of ice that detaches from a glacier that poses a danger, should it fall. Hughes said while the government, which issues climbing permits, had looked at it and didn’t like it, private groups discovered a bypass. It did end up falling, along with two others, and Hughes was just 30 to 45 minutes behind it. He saw the avalanche. In it two people died, and one was injured.
He enjoyed staying at Camp 3 on the approach to Everest. He said the weather was decent, and it’s not as windy as Camp 4, where tents are set up on an actual ledge. Camp 4 is notorious for its extreme nature and the trash that exists there.
Hughes told the Forum he intended to pick up trash and bring it down. Spending five days there in the “Death Zone,” however, left him feeling like he had no energy.
“You can feel yourself dying,” he said.
He explained that sleep provides little rest and food provides little energy at 26,000 feet. He said it’s living on borrowed time.
There were other issues too; He had to try for the summit twice. He was also stuck in Camp 2 on the descent and had to take a helicopter out.
Reflecting on the summit
For climbing Mount Everest, Hughes went with a group of 12, though he said the number was down to nine people when it came time to actually summit. And, in the end, only six of them actually made it to the top, though some did Lhotse, not Everest, the adjacent peak.
Hughes was guided by Dan Muzar, but he said the credit goes to Sange Sherpa, the one who truly made it possible.
“Sherpas are the reason most of us can enjoy 8,000-meter mountains,” he said.
He’s also grateful for Chris Tomer, the weather forecaster.
At the end of it, Hughes said he did feel weak, and his toes were numb. He said he had no frostbite, but he did have some frostnip on all fingers and toes. Back in Nepal, he was dreaming of a steak dinner.
The future
The Forum asked Hughes if he would ever consider guiding as a mountaineer, and he said likely not professionally. He wants his time in the mountains to be his own; he doesn’t want to risk losing his “love for the hills.”
He’s grateful to be back in the U.S., but he’s already planing his next adventure. He’ll go to K2 in Pakistan. To train for it, he’ll focus on technical work. He said Everest provided more wisdom in leveraging his strength. He understands K2 is difficult, but it’s not too technical for him. He knows he has to use his crampons on rock and vertical terrain, and really get comfortable with his front points. He’s got the patience and the training regimen to be ready for it.
Additionally, he’s training for Nolan’s 14, a race to climb 14 different 14ers in 60 hours. He said the event will tell him what he’s made of. It’s 93.7 miles and has a vertical elevation gain of 43,900, according to the AllTrails app. It’s beloved among ultrarunners.
His past
Those in the Norwood area likely know that Hughes lost his mom. She died when he was 15 years old, something that obviously impacted him and his younger brother, Calder.
Hughes told the Forum he couldn’t have asked for better parents. He said his father, a ranching cowboy, always encouraged him to follow his dreams. His mom was just as great for as long as he got to have her.
“I owe it all to my parents,” he said. “I owe all I am as a man to (my dad). He was always urging us into sports and to push ourselves.”
Does his father worry?
Hughes agreed he does, though he doesn’t show much emotion and just tells him to be careful. Hughes said opposite of his father, he tends to wear his heart on sleeve. He admitted he’s way more expressive with his emotions.
He said he definitely did inherit his father’s stubbornness, something that apparently serves him well as a mountaineer on the world’s highest peaks.
