There's hard workers who do it for the result and then there's people who enjoy the process of the hard work. Ben Hildred is a full-time bike mechanic at Vertigo Bikes in Queenstown, NZ and a fully paid up member of the elite of vertical meter eaters. After Everesting a few years back, then climbing 55,000 vertical meters in only 30 days while holding down a full time job, then climbing the height of Olympus Mons (a volcano on the planet Mars that stands 21,287.4m / 69,841ft above datum, said to be the tallest planetary mountain in the solar system) in three days in November, 2020, then taking a month off and following the well deserved break with 1 million feet of climbing in 200 days, the question is what can't he do?


Ben is one of the most warm, interesting and genuine people. He rides because it allows him to explore things about himself. He doesn't do it for the fanfare but because of what a kind soul he is there's a big fanbase of people who want to cheer him on and blow his trumpet for him.