In the thin air of Everest Base Camp, Mitch Hutchcraft is chasing a dream fourteen years in the making.
Fresh off the summit of Lobuche East, a sharp, formidable 6,119-meter peak, Mitch completed Rotation 1 of his Everest campaign. The climb began with a 1 AM start, pushing through five hours of fresh snow and an eight-hour summit effort that tested every ounce of endurance he had. Climbing into the sunrise, the reward was a view so vast and unchangingly beautiful it defied words. It was a humbling reminder: no matter how many peaks are climbed, nature always has more to give.
After days of exertion, Mitch returned to base camp feeling battered but positive. Phase 4 of Project Limitless was officially complete. 211 days, 13,157 kilometers, and 19 countries after setting out from the English Channel, he stood at the foot of Mount Everest. Only one final promise remained: to reach on the summit and come back down.
Over the next month, life at base camp will be a relentless cycle of training, climbing, and recovering. Between rotations, Mitch and his team - including the experienced Gelje Sherpa, a fellow VALLON Trailblazer, practiced critical skills in the treacherous Khumbu Icefall. Crossing ladders stretched over bottomless crevasses, scaling vertical ice walls, and navigating a living glacier of millions of tons of constantly shifting ice demanded precision, trust, and preparation. Every hour spent training was an investment in survival.
The next major step? A multi-day push:
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From Base Camp to Camp 1 for a night's rest
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From Camp 1 to Camp 2 and another night
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Then up to Camp 3, before returning to Base Camp to regroup
Each stage designed to acclimate, strengthen, and sharpen Mitch for the final summit bid, the culmination of a lifetime's ambition.
Project Limitless isn’t just a record attempt. It’s a mission to redefine what is possible, to prove that barriers exist to be pushed beyond, and to raise funds and awareness for causes that matter deeply to Mitch and the team at VALLON. It’s a journey fueled by grit, resilience, and the quiet, stubborn belief that the only limits that exist are the ones we accept.
Twenty days now stand between Mitch and the summit of Everest.
