Is VO₂max really that important?
Steve House says no — and Reinhold Messner proves it.
In endurance sports, VO₂max is treated like a sacred number. But in the mountains, it tells only a very small part of the story.
Reinhold Messner climbed Everest without oxygen in 1980 with a VO₂max of 42. Not 80. Not 70. Forty-two — average, nothing spectacular.
So how is that possible?
High-altitude performance factors
High-altitude performance depends far less on maximum oxygen uptake and far more on:
• movement economy
• energy efficiency
• breathing rhythm
• fat metabolism
• acclimatization capacity
• mental calm and resilience
• experience under long, steady load
As Steve House says:
“VO₂max is a laboratory number. Mountains are not a lab.”
In extreme altitude, everyone’s VO₂max collapses.
What remains is your efficiency, your presence, and the ability to stay calm when every step costs energy.
High-level mountaineering and leadership
Your efficiency, your presence, and the ability to stay calm when every step costs energy is exactly where high-level mountaineering and leadership overlap:
👉 It’s not the big peak numbers that matter.
👉 It’s how you move, how you manage your energy, and how you show up under pressure.
Leadership
In the mountains — and in leadership — economy beats ego every time.
What’s your experience with this? How do you manage your energy under pressure?
Hermann Berie is owner of BERIE Swiss alpine school, one of Switzerland’s leading mountain schools. Hermann is a worldly UIAGM dipl. Mountain and ski guide, traveler and adventurer and worked for a long time as an expedition mountain guide for major tour operators in the industry. He successfully climbed Mount Everest (8850 m) as a guide with 7 participants.
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