The long road to Everest: Romanian mountaineer shares his 2,200 km sea-to-sea journey and Seven Summits quest

Climbing Mount Everest is already one of the world’s toughest challenges, but Romanian mountaineer Mădălin “Cris” Cristea decided to make it even harder by beginning his expedition more than 1,100 kilometers away, on the shores of the Indian Ocean. Over 113 days earlier this year, he walked across India and Nepal, reached the summit, and returned to the sea, covering a total of over 2,200 km.

The expedition was the third stage of his tougher take on the Seven Summits project - an attempt to climb the highest peak on every continent by starting at sea level, walking to the mountain, reaching the summit, and returning to the nearest ocean on foot. After Aconcagua and Kilimanjaro, Everest became both his largest expedition and the hardest mountain he had climbed so far.