I've run maratons, and been skydiving.I am in good shape, but I am also a realist:My goal is to climb by my 40th birthday (9 years from now).l know it costs a ton of money, and l know it is extremely difficult.What l do not know is where to begin.I've never climbed before (the highest I've been is in the Blue Ridge Mountains...around 3600 feet), and l know nothing about the sport.A good starting point would be appreciated.Also, l live in Northern Virginia, if that helps at all...

Try to go to a training program. There are some training programs of climbing. Mountain Everest is dangerous though so you have to be really experienced and know that you can.

Why do not u GO there & check it out first. People plan these missions for years.

There r likely tour groups that climb, based on ur experience level, but again.go there first.

What r u trying to prove? There is lots of poor kids in Haiti & Laos & Bangladesh that could use ur volunteering for 3 or 4 weeks (plus ur money) instead of wasting it on a narcissistic hill climb.

Change lives (even ur own), dunderhead. You gonna hang out in the Alexandria T.G.I.F is bar & try to get laid with this story, ''Huh huh, l climbed Everest''.

Sheesh, what a maroon.

No, l dont think the guy is going to go to TGIFs and act cool that he climbed Everest. Im gonna guess people with cool sunglasses like ''geeksballs'' might try that though.

Theres nothing wrong with having goals and ambitions. Throwing some money at some Tibetan locals arent going to help them in the long run anyways.

Ok the marathons means ur an endurance athlete, so I'd say you're made of the right material to do it. Sky diving, l guess means u wo not be afraid of heights.

Some steps u might take:
-Get someone else to train with you, u wanna do it with someone u know, & who is climbing u will trust
-Join a mountaineering club or outdoor persuits club
-Start going to a climbing wall
-Get as much training as the mountaineering or Outdoor Persuits club will organise. If they do not organise anything, look up courses u can do online, there is plenty.
-Build up ur experience with smaller mountains of continuingly increasing difficulty. Eventually u will be climbing more technical stuff than everest(which is not that technical)
-Get ur 'ton of money together' try & find a party of similarly experienced climbers who r interested in the same thing.
-Organise the trip, try & get a discount for groups, subsidisation from any clubs, even sponsorship from companies, shops, banks etc. A lot of people will pay decent money to have thier flag in a photo at the top of the world.
-Go do it.

Well.there r two things u need to do. One - get in shape. Two - acquire the necessary skills. l will focus on #2.

Start climbing mountains & getting some altitude. Start off with guided climbs to learn the skills for glacier travel. There r some good climbing schools in the east (like EMS), but for glaciers u will have to go west. Try climbing Mt. Rainier in Washington with Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. They have a one week mountaineering skills course where u will learn knots, glacier travel, & crevasse rescue. Then start climbing glaciated peaks - like in the Cascades (Hood, Shasta, Rainier, Adams, etc.). Try hiking & climbing some 14ers in Colorado to get experience with moderate altitude. Then try something higher, like one or two of the Mexican volcanoes. Then Denali.

Then maybe do one of the lower, ''easier'' 8000 m peaks like Cho Oyo. Or a trek to Everest basecamp & a climb of Island Peak (20K ft) to see what it is like in the Himalayas.