Unlike other climbers, he could not afford more than one week of reprieve from work during his preparation, nor could he pick a climbing season at the last minute should conditions suddenly become favorable.  After much deliberation, and fueled by countless inspiring stories of sacrifice and achievement at the top of what the locals call Sagarmatha, he accepted that the three-year goal he had committed to would not give in to any delays or changes.  Ren, at thirty years of age, known to eat healthily, to exercise five times a week, resolved to take on any set of conditions that awaited him on Mount Everest; whether ideal as he would have preferred, or disastrous as he would ultimately encounter.