Charles City man scales Mount Everest as part of conquest of world’s peaks

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

Many people looked back at their high points of 2024 this week, but very few reached the heights that Orlando Montes did.

When the 29-year-old isn’t working as a pharmaceutical operator at Cambrex, he’s traveling the world to climb mountains.

“That’s all I use my vacation time for,” said Montes. “Travel somewhere and climb something.”

Montes was inspired as a young man by the 2013 documentary, “Beyond the Edge,” which detailed the story of the first confirmed climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

“I thought, ‘That seems like the greatest thing that a person could do. I’ve got to try it,’” said Montes.

Montes began his adventurous hobby at 23 and has since lost track of how many peaks he’s reached. He generally aims to make one big climb every year, along with a few smaller ones in between.

In 2022, Montes reached the highest spot in South America, summiting Aconcagua in Argentina. In 2023, along with climbing Mont Blanc in France, Montes made an attempt at climbing Kahn Tengri in Kyrgyzstan, his first try at an extreme high altitude climb.

“Every thing I do, I try to take it up a notch the next time,” said Montes.

Bad weather prevented him from climbing higher than 6,000 meters at Kahn Tengri, but that didn’t stifle his ambitions.

Last year, Montes aimed for the highest he’s ever been, taking a two-month trip to Nepal to climb Mount Everest and reach the highest spot on Earth.

The journey began with an eight-day walk across 60 miles of mountain terrain to the Mount Everest south base camp, where climbers prepare for their ascent. The first phase of the climb is also one of the most perilous as climbers must navigate the Khumbu Icefall.

“It’s about 3,000 feet of glacier running up a hill,” said Montes. “It’s probably the most dangerous place on Earth.”

Montes arrived at the South Base Camp on April 13, but it would be more than a month before he would make the climb to Everest’s summit. Because of the high altitudes, climbers often spend weeks making short climbs to get their bodies used to the reduced oxygen.

“Your body needs that time to acclimate,” said Montes. “If you were to just shoot up there you wouldn’t make it very far.”

Montes spent several days going up and down the icefall and, after a relatively few six trips, set out for his push to Everest’s summit, climbing past the icefall to Everest’s Camp 2.

At 6,500 meters above sea level, Camp 2 is considered the point of no return for climbers. After waiting out some bad weather, Montes set out the next day for the six-hour climb to Camp 3 at 7,100 meters and then shortly on to another 13-hour climb to Camp 4 at the South Col.

At 8,000 meters above sea level, South Col is the beginning of what climbers call the death zone, where the atmosphere no longer has enough oxygen to sustain human life for an extended time.

“There’s no resting up there,” said Montes.

Montes arrived at about 6 p.m. to make the final preparations and left again at 4 a.m. for the last leg of the climb.

“Conditions were not the greatest,” said Montes. “It was snowy and visibility was very low.”

After 10 hours of climbing in 25-below temperatures and ever-declining oxygen, Montes and his guide crossed the last 850 meters and reached the summit of Mount Everest.

While Montes says that it’s not recommended to linger around the summit of Everest as the climb back down is a race against both dwindling oxygen supplies and the darkness of night, he allowed himself an hour to sit at Everest’s peak and enjoy the view at the top of the world.

“There’s no more up,” said Montes.

Energized by the experience and the increasing oxygen with every meter going down, the climb back to Camp 4 took just two and a half hours. Skipping Camp 3 entirely, Montes and his guide arrived back at Camp 2 at about midnight, tired and dehydrated.

“I must have chugged three liters of water immediately,” said Montes.

After a good night’s rest, Montes set out the next morning for the South Base Camp, made sure he had collected all of his things, and then started the long walk back to civilization.

With Everest scaled, Montes has now climbed the highest mountain on three continents; Everest in Asia, Aconcauga in South America, and Kilimanjaro in Africa.

He has his sights on the remaining summits, but some, like Antarctica, probably require a sponsorship to finance the attempt.

“The logistics involved in an Antarctic expedition are through the roof,” said Montes.

While there are no longer any mountains higher for Montes to climb, there are plenty of mountains that are even more difficult that he is looking forward to challenging. He recently returned from a climb in Scotland, which offers a very different climbing experience than the extreme highs of the Himalayas.

“They’ve all been unique in their own way,” said Montes.

This year, he is planning a return to Nepal to climb Ama Dablam, another mountain in the Himalayan range a few miles away from Everest, and in 2026 he intends to take on Annapurna 1, the 10th highest mountain in the world and one of the most dangerous peaks.

“It will be the toughest undertaking of my life,” said Montes.

With no shortage of challenges yet to face, Montes spends every day preparing for his next trip. He works out six days a week to keep his strength and cardio up and, in preparation of high altitude climbs, will spend time in a hypoxic chamber to simulate the low-oxygen environment, all for his love of mountaineering.

“I love that it takes you everywhere,” said Montes. “They’re just incredible. I just love being there.”