WARRENTON, Va. — Think of the most physically demanding 50 days of your life. Maybe the final seven weeks of training leading up to a marathon? If you spent time in the military, maybe your first seven weeks of basic?
Now imagine racing across the barren peaks of the Himalayas, as far as your body can stand each day. Imagine doing that for 49 days, 6 hours and 8 minutes, shattering the world record for the fastest time across Nepal, the highest elevated country in the world. For Fairfax native and lifelong Virginian Sean Burch, that was just last year鈥檚 challenge.
鈥淚 love Mother Nature, because it鈥檚 the one place you can be that doesn鈥檛 judge you,鈥� says Burch in a conversation at his home outside Warrenton after his most recent expedition, ascending 23 peaks across Mongolia. 鈥淓specially being from D.C., everyone judges you; especially now, with what I do.鈥�
What Burch does, exactly, is a matter of perspective. He owns a half-dozen world records, all related to mountaineering. But more generally, what Burch does is set out to test himself and 鈥� by proxy 鈥� the human body to the limit.
It wasn鈥檛 always this way. He was once just another Northern Virginian 20-something, with a house and a girlfriend and even a job that afforded him the chance to travel the world a bit.
鈥淚 was reading about mountaineering,鈥� says Burch. 鈥淏ut that鈥檚 what I was doing 鈥� reading about it.鈥�
All that changed when his grandfather, a man who had seemed to Burch to have a full life, told his grandson on his death bed not to waste his short time on Earth, not to live with regret.
鈥淟ive your life,鈥� he says, and it鈥檚 as much of a mantra for himself as a command to anyone else. 鈥淟ive it. Live. Don鈥檛 just exist.鈥�
Burch decided to take on the biggest challenge of them all: climbing Mount Everest. His friends and family thought he was nuts. Only adding to that perception was his decision to do so alone, a precedent that would come to define everything about the new Sean Burch.
鈥淥h yeah, I always go out on my own,鈥� he says. 鈥淢y thing is, you know, I take the risk because I don鈥檛 mind if something happens and I die.鈥�
This may sound like a childish thing for an 鈥渆arly forty-something鈥� — as Burch self-describes — to say; possibly even selfish. But his next sentence sheds a different light on the sentiment.
鈥淭hen yeah, [dying] sucks, but I don鈥檛 want to take anybody with me,鈥� he explains.
Burch has had many close calls, including one on that very first ascent of Everest in 2003. The last climber on the mountain, he was still making his descent well after nightfall, around 7 p.m. At one point, exhausted, he sat down, and realized he had a decision to make 鈥� find a way to get down the mountain right then, or die. The thing that kept him going was his desire to have a family, specifically a son.
He has that now, a 10-year-old boy. He has him half the time when he鈥檚 home, out at his rural house, down a pothole-laden road that narrows to a single lane before finally reaching his spread among the leafless trees, banked in the fog. It feels about as remote as you can live and still be within spitting distance of civilization.
It鈥檚 hard to imagine Sean Burch, the 9-to-5er. With a stringy tussle of orange hair and wild green eyes, tall and slender, he looks the part of an outdoorsman. He has a pitbull mix, a gentle giant named Khumbu, after the famous Everest icefall that killed 16 climbers earlier this year. There are pieces of his life like this, intrinsically tied to the mountain, like his belt, actually a Tibetan tablecloth repurposed as it loops through his faded jeans. But ascending Everest also left him with one question he finds himself continually striving to answer: what鈥檚 next?
This year, what was next included a trip across Mongolia, in the freezing month of November. The temperatures were so consistently low 鈥� with lows averaging between -5 and -30 degrees Fahrenheit 鈥� that Burch wore his entire collection of clothes for the full expedition, never once changing. It was still so cold he couldn鈥檛 sweat.
鈥淚 just love the cold so much,鈥� he explains. 鈥淚 love it. It just invigorates me so much.鈥�
While that may be so, it comes with consequences. Burch says he couldn鈥檛 feel his fingers for the last 10-15 days of the expedition, and had to keep them constantly moving to keep them functional. Now, back at home for a couple of weeks, he still can鈥檛 feel his toes. Meanwhile, his hands are a bit the worse for wear.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e so sensitive now, since the expedition,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f you want to see鈥︹��
As he pulls the glove off his right hand, his fingertips are a mess of blisters and peeling skin. Then he takes his left glove off to reveal a black patch to the inside of the nail on his ring finger, remarking rather non-chalantly that he might lose a chunk of it. Nevertheless, he can鈥檛 stand the heat of the desert, so he figures he鈥檒l continue to take his adventures in cold weather locales.
鈥淚f I stop doing what I love, I鈥檓 dead anyways,鈥� he says.
Burch has been able to expand what he loves into a small personal empire over the past few years. In addition to his adventures, he is now also an author, a fitness guru, a motivational speaker and a television star. His Team Endurance team won the second season of the Ultimate Survival Alaska television show that aired on National Geographic Channel earlier this year.
But like everything else in his life, if he returns to television, he wants to do it his way, not as a part of a team in a structured competition. He is in development talks about just such a show. It鈥檚 a way of bringing what he has learned about himself back down to lessons for everyday life.
鈥淚 learn more about myself as a human being,鈥� he says of his adventures. 鈥淲hat am I made of? Can I still do what I鈥檝e always wanted to do? It鈥檚 a great way to learn about yourself, to push yourself. Because that鈥檚 the only way you鈥檙e going to learn in life, with everyone, whatever it is. Whether it鈥檚 climbing, or whether it鈥檚 taking a new job, or whether it鈥檚 moving to a different city, it鈥檚 all scary stuff.鈥�
That鈥檚 where his lessons live in the practical world. It鈥檚 why, even though he escapes in solitude at least once a year for the next adventure, he finds himself back in meetings, even considering moving closer to the city to help make his business dealings easier. It鈥檚 the tug of war that seems to define him.
鈥淭o me, that鈥檚 one way to be with Mother Nature,鈥� Burch explains. 鈥淚t treats everyone the same. And that鈥檚 why I love it 鈥� I can finally just be myself.鈥�
Being himself means not only being alone, but constantly pushing, searching for the next edge of what is possible. But Burch doesn鈥檛 want to spend all day talking about it.
鈥淚n this day and age, everyone鈥檚 just talk,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd I can鈥檛 stand that. I love action. You can talk anything you want to, but at the end of the day, it鈥檚 about just doing it.鈥�
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