Petty Officer Michael McCastle, who attempted to break a world record for pullups last year, will perform a new feat this month.
McCastle plans to climb a 20-foot rope the height of Mount Everest, a full 29,029 feet, or 1,450 lengths, starting at around 6 a.m. May 16.
McCastle lost his father to Parkinson’s in December just before completing another of his feats, flipping a 250-pound tire 13 miles. In response to that loss, McCastle is aiming to raise money through the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
“I watched that transition from him being a normal guy to having the true symptoms,” McCastle said. “It’s a sobering feeling seeing someone I look up to degenerate due to the effects of the disease.”
The 20 pounds in weight he had to gain in mass for the tire flip feat needed to be lost again to make him as light as possible while still maintaining the strength needed to complete the rope climb.
McCastle said the rope climb presents new challenges than other physical tests he’s performed.
“I feel like this rope climb is a more personal experience not only because of the cause,” McCastle said.
First of all, he said he has “a little fear of heights.” In addition, in going all the way up, he needs to reserve the strength to come back down.
“I’ve had to dig deeper; it’s taken me to a darker place in my mind,” McCastle said. “The rope is unforgiving.”
Unlike the 50K run he’s completed for cancer research or the pull-up challenge, the rope climb involves the entire body, McCastle said.
“It’s a full-body effort,” McCastle said.
He expects the feat to take around 30 hours, which would mean 25-30 lengths per hour.
“I want to get done as soon as possible,” McCastle said.
To protect his hands and legs from rope burn, McCastle said he plans to use chalk, wear gloves and tape his shins.
During his attempt to break the Guiness World’s Record for the number of pullups in a 24-hour period last July, McCastle landed himself in the hospital for two days after 3,202 pullups.
In that case, McCastle said, the exposure the feat brought to the Wounded Warrior Project, for which he raised more than $10,000, was worth it even if he didn’t break the record.
McCastle tries to draw an analogy between his physical battle and each cause to help keep himself motivated.
“The rope is representative of that battle, the need to hold on, to be fighting every day,” McCastle said. “I related it to that.”
Driven to join the Navy after Sept. 11, 2001, McCastle has been deployed around the world and is currently working in the air traffic control facility at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.
McCastle’s feats are performed under the umbrella of his Twelve Labors Project, an effort based on the mythology of Hercules with the intention of inspiring people to challenge themselves and give to others.
“ ‘Twelve Labors Project’ is a call for action. It is the personification of conquering our inner demons and anything preventing us from achieving everything we are capable of being.
“It’s about giving back through charity, standing for something greater than ourselves and challenging our physical and mental limits on the journey of discovering our life’s purpose,” according to the Twelve Labor’s Project website.
For information, visit www.twelvelaborsproject.com or anython.com/ropeclimb-everest to donate.
