Our guest speaker Dr Christian Swan, a Sports Psychology Researcher on “Mental Toughness”, who spoke on the research conducted on high mountain climbers (Mt Everest). The toughness being researched was summed up by the motto “Don’t stop when it hurts stop when you’re done” The commitment to climbing Mt Everest is multiple such as leaving your family for a period of 8 weeks, not to mention the training before you leave, the danger of the climb with the above 8,000 metre “Death Zone”, the cost of between $10,000 and $100,000 with the average cost about $60,000 all formidable things to overcome before you even start the climb. Christian then posed the problem to the club – Two climbers going up a mountain (K2) and with only 200 metres left to the summit one member becomes sick and cannot go on. You are low on oxygen and it is fast approaching dark. The question is do you go on yourself as you are close or do you turn back to base camp with your partner? Is it Mental toughness to go on or turn back?
