Summit training at the Cricket Club

by Len Lear

At the Philadelphia Cricket Club, Megan Rath is preparing for another grueling training session. At 44, the experienced athlete is not preparing for a local golf tournament. She has much more planned – in the truest sense of the word.

Rath, a member of the club since 2011, is on the verge of an extraordinary achievement. She has already climbed six of the seven highest peaks in the world, one on each continent. In October this year, she plans to complete the Seven Summits Challenge and climb the Carstensz Pyramid in Papua New Guinea.

The club’s fitness director, Mark Miller, said Rath has “a work ethic like no other.”

“It’s really admirable to see what she’s overcome despite some of the injuries she’s had as an athlete throughout her life,” he said. “She just does her job, I can’t sugarcoat that. Change happens when you show up every day when you don’t want to get out of bed, and that’s exactly what she’s doing.”

“When you come up with the idea of ​​climbing these mountains, people think you’re crazy,” says Rath. “But when you actually do it, they don’t think you’re crazy anymore.”

Rath’s journey to the world’s highest peak began in November 2016. While trekking to Mount Everest Base Camp, Rath met Sangeeta Bahl, an Indian woman who later became the oldest Indian woman to summit Mount Everest at age 53. Inspired by Bahl, Rath discovered a passion she never knew she had.

“Before I met Sangeeta, I had never heard of the Seven Summits,” admits Rath.

What followed was a series of intense training sessions and epic adventures. Rath’s first major climb was the 5,880-meter-high Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. She conquered it in January 2018, just over a year after she first had the idea of ​​climbing it.

From there, Rath continued her search:

Mount Elbrus in Russia (18,510 feet), July 2019

Aconcagua in Argentina (22,837 feet), December 2023

Mount Vinson Massif in Antarctica (16,050 feet), December 2022

Denali in Alaska (20,310 feet), May 2023

Mount Everest in Nepal (29,032 feet), May 2024

Mark Miller, who has been training Rath for a year, speaks with admiration of her dedication. “When she set out for Mount Everest, I had no doubt that she would reach the summit, no matter what was thrown at her. That’s the kind of person she is. Pretty amazing!”

Rath’s path to mountaineering excellence has not been without challenges. She has had knee surgeries and currently needs kneecap transplants. “Climbing doesn’t help, of course,” she admits. “I have to have 60 to 90 minutes of injections and load management for hip mobility every day.”

But she perseveres. Her training schedule is intense – 13 hours a week with a 23 kg backpack and 34 kg on a sled. Before tackling Everest, she spent five weeks in a special training camp in Austria, including 400 hours in a hypoxia tent to get used to the altitude.

Rath is a Norwalk, Connecticut native and graduated from Penn State University in 2003. She worked for a medical device company for 13 years and then in the insurance industry for five years. Today, she works in public relations and combines her climbing ambitions with her professional life.

Rath has always been an excellent athlete. When she was young, she played field hockey, lacrosse and swam. As an adult, she competed in triathlons for 10 years. But when she started going to the cricket club, she only went to play golf and socialize, not to train.

She estimates that she has now invested about $200,000 in her climbing career. “I’ve squandered $200,000, but I wouldn’t change anything,” she says. “I have a sponsor in Delaware and I’ll have to find more.”

In addition to the physical and financial challenges, Rath has also found unexpected rewards in her global adventures. “You meet interesting people along the way,” she explains. “I now have friends all over the world that I met on these climbs. We’re like a sisterhood. It’s a great feeling. I love it.”

As she prepares for her final summit, Rath says she is focused on the feeling she will find there. “It’s very hard to breathe up there, but it’s beautiful and majestic,” she says. “Everything you’re looking for, you’ll find on your way to the summit, not at the summit.”

You can reach Len Lear at [email protected].