Expedition background
It is our aim to climb and safely return from all mountains in Europe that exceed 4000m during the period 2007 till 2009.

These great alpine peaks have thrown down an irresistible challenge for the adventurous. The 93 mountains that exceed 4000m in height include such famous peaks as Matterhorn, Mont Blanc, Jungfrau, Monte Rosa, Weisshorn and the Grandes Jorasses.

The idea of climbing all 4000m peaks was proposed by the Austrian climber Karl Blodig who was the first to complete the feat. Not many people have the time, experience and mental strength to climb all 4000’ers. We came up with the idea to accept this challenge together with a team of climbers.

The unique idea behind the 4000’er expedition is that anyone can participate. The last two months an environment has been created in which people can initiate, organize and execute expeditions with their on teams, on their on terms. Everything is made available to those interested: i.e. website, expedition clothing, all thinkable information on all 93 mountains etcetera.

The thing that bonds all these teams is the goal: together we climb all 93 peaks that exceed 4000m in height. 

Website
So many expeditions, with so many people, during such an extensive period of time, can only be possible with excellent communication. For this we use the Internet. All expeditions will be organized, visualized and up-dated on our portal website:  http://www.vierduizenders.nl

Here visitors can find information about the expedition, its participants and how the expedition is going. This website is also used by the expedition members themselves to plan expeditions and communicate with each other.

Rather than just giving information, http://www.vierduizenders.nl also enables teams to interact and actually plan their expeditions.  http://www.vierduizenders.nl has proven to be one of a kind!

RESULT Performance Clothing
As this is a great adventure, we are very glad that we have a partner that is willing to help us; RESULT Performance clothing. Not only our physical and mental health will be put through the test, also our materials. For this reason we are thankful that we can use the jackets, hats and soft shells of RESULT. As ‘heavy users’ we want to make a contribution to their R&D program. 

Kick off
As part of teambuilding, the initiators of the 4000’er expedition took part in a Challenge to climb the highest mountains in the UK within 38 hours: Ben Nevis (1.344m), Scotland / Scafell Pike (978m), Engeland / Snowdon (1.085m), Wales. The last weekend in January was planned, as winter conditions would be a good test.

On Friday the 26th of January the team left from Schiphol airport to Liverpool airport. Right after touching down, they set of by car for Fort William! After 6 hours of driving, they arrived in Fort William. All bought their food and drinks for the upcoming three days, as this would be the last time a supermarket would be seen.

The team checked in, in Glen Nevis Youth Hostel and picked up their gear from RESULT. For as far as the soft shell, activity jacket and the ‘Russian’ hat, we were good to go! Of to bed now…

Saturday the 27th of January at around 05:00 o’clock the alarm went of and after a quick breakfast the climbers set of for Ben Nevis! The hostel is situated 30m above sea level, so they had a long climb before us of more that 1.300 meters. Halfway the mountain snow and winter conditions set in. Good thing they had their RESULT soft shells, they were able to do with a thin base layer and our soft shell. Wind and cold were all kept outside! At around 1.200 meters the team entered the summit plateau. Here visibility was zero and wet snow began to fall. The team had to stick close together, to make sure nobody would drop in one of the vertical Gully’s. The team found the summit whilst hitting it… The wind was growing towards a storm and visibility was still very poor. This strong wind contributed to an immense wind chill of minus 20 degrees! Luckily on the summit of Ben Nevis there’s a shelter. The thing looked like a big fridge; it was covered with centimetres of ice; very impressive. After a half hour of rest, food and hot tea the team set of for the hostel again. Seven hours later they were back at sea level. The team quickly changed our climbing gear and set of for the Lake District where Scafell Pike is waiting!

Around supper time the team arrived at the beautiful Youth Hostel near lake Windemere. The team went to bed very early this time as the alarm was set on 01:30. So after 2,5 hours of sleep on Sunday the 28th of January it was time to gear up again… After a quick breakfast the team set of for Scafell Pike. This mountain is notorious for teams getting lost. As sun would not rise until 08:30, they were in the dark until the summit was reached. Thanks to good map/GPS reading, the team reached the summit approximately at 08:00. This was much later as planned, as a growing storm was slowing the climbers down, together with the clouds and darkness this all contributed to a very slow pace. But in the end the team made it! After some summit pictures the team went down the mountain as fast as they could, as the storm was making it impossible to stand up. The first two hours of going down the steep sections of the mountain were though; at times the team was not able to move at all and they just had to sit and wait for the wind to ease. At around twelve o’clock all climbers safely returned. These climbers were the only people on that mountain that day.

But no time to sit down and rest, the team took their cars and set off to Mount Snowdon! Another 4 hour to drive… It quickly appeared that Scafell Pike had taken the best of the team. 2 days of non stop climbing, in combination with the severe cold on Ben Nevis and the battle against the wind on Scafell Pike, was enough the team concluded after a short break. We would arrive at Snowdon in the dark and therefore had to climb it in complete darkness. Not much fun and an extra complication was that two of the team members had problems with their headlamps, which makes climbing in darkness rather suicidal…

For this and many other reasons the team concluded that it was better to drive to the Youth hostel in Liverpool, have a shower, descent dinner and good night rest.

4000’er expedition in 2007
All preparation is almost done now. Now it’s time for action! By the end of February the website will be live and all participants informed. From this moment on the countdown will start. Although exact dates and teams have to be formed during a kick off session end of February, the following expeditions will take place in 2007:

Mont Blanc expedition / Chamonix: Mont Blanc (4.807m),
Mont Blanc du Tacul (4.248m), Dome du Gouter (4.304m).
Wallis expedition / Saas Fee: Allalinhorn (4.027m),
Weismiess (4.023m),
Alphubel (4.206m),
Lagginhorn (4.010m),
Strahlhorn (4.190m).
Jungfrau expedition / Lauterbrunnen: Jungfrau (4.158m),
Monch (4.107m).