The MountainWorld™ Blog

Eggs for Everest: One Woman's Dream

Eleanor Roosevelt once said: The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

How true that statement is, and it is a message I share with audiences around the world when I speak: Our dreams - those seemingly unreachable goals in all of our lives - are the catalyst, the fuel which drives us forward, over self-imposed obstacles and on to a better understanding of what we, as individuals, are truly capable of achieving in our lives.

Tusi Das, a 25 year old young woman from the poverty-stricken slums of Kolkata (Calcutta), India, is a shining example of following one's dreams even when the path to the top seems unbelievably steep and difficult.

A budding climber whose interest in the sport was sparked by climbing artificial walls in her home city, Tusi has done quite a bit of climbing in recent years through courses offered by the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM). The courses, from basic rock-climbing in Uttaranchal Pradesh to a 22-day search and rescue course at Uttarkashi, gave her a baseline of skills...and proved her ability to continue climbing.

Last August, Tusi climbed 21,000 foot Menthosa Peak in Himachal Pradesh as a member of an 8 person team from the Indian Mountaineering Foundation; only Tusi and two others managed to reach the summit.

But now the biggest climb begins: Tusi wants to go to Mount Everest. To do so, though, she needs to raise INR 7 lakh (roughly $17,600) - a big sum in any country, but a monumental one for a poor street merchant in Kolkata.

But Tusi is undaunted. She believes in her dreams and is determined to follow them. "If necessary I will take a bank loan to accomplish my mission," she said.

(see article in The Times of India)

So, with a financial mountain to climb and a courageous, never-say-never spirit, Tusi wakes up at the crack of dawn each morning and carries her crates of eggs down the twisted alleyways of Kolkata to the bazaar near her home in Dumdum Park. There Tusi sits, hour after hour, selling eggs to shoppers and adding each penny to her dream bank.

Since eggs sell for about $0.03 each in India, Tusi has a bunch to sell...586,666 of them, in fact, to reach her target.

But, she's determined and optimistic and willing to make some sacrifices and endure tough times to reach her goal.

So, from one Everest climber to a future Everest climber, I say: Good luck, Tusi...Climb high, climb strong, don't give up, and see you soon...on the mountain!

For Tusi, and for all of us who dream - and turn our dreams into action - a few inspirational words:

The only death you die is the one you die daily by not living. Dream big and dare to fail.
    - Norman Vaughn 

Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
    - Goethe

Somehow I can't believe that there are any heights that can't be scaled by a man who knows the secrets of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four Cs. They are curiosity, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of all is confidence. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionably.
    - Walt Disney

- Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

Inspiration from GM: The Yukon Hybrid & Climbing Our Mountains

It's not often that I find inspiration - true inspiration - in a car commercial, especially in one aired during the Superbowl.

But, midway through the Patriots/Giants game this year, I saw one that hit a nerve.

Simple in graphics, the ad - at left - features a line-drawing of a man pushing a boulder up a steep mountainside.

The visual alone was enough to catch my attention, but what got it more was the narration that went along with it:

 

Why push? Why change? Why grow? Why dream? Questions you don't have to ask yourself when you never say "it's good enough." When you never say "it can't be done." When you never say "never."

How simple, how true. An axiom for us all to live by.

What are you saying "never" to?

How can you get beyond saying "never", and find the will and the means to push...to change...to grow...to dream?

Never say never.

Instead, say I will make it happen.

What is your Everest???

- Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

 

Don't Get Happy!

This article appears in my Winter, 2008, e-newsletter. If you'd like to receive the MountainWorld News delivered to your inbox, you can sign up here!

---

I remember it like it was yesterday. We, the varsity football team at Holderness School, had just trounced our final opponent, completing our undefeated run of ten games. We were off to the championships, and we were proud.

Hooting and hollering, we high fived and pranced around on the sidelines. Then Coach Walker, veteran football coach and amazing English professor and poet, marched over with his usual stern affability and barked: Don't get happy, boys, don't get happy!!

Strange way to celebrate, I thought to myself. We just won...we went undefeated...we deserved to be happy!

But Coach wasn't talking about simple celebration, about revelling in a moment hard won and well earned. Rather, his "don't get happy" admonition was an warning against cockiness, against the complacence brought on by success...and just as quickly destroyed by it.

High school football in northern New Hampshire and the serrated ridges of the high Himalaya may be worlds apart, but Coach Walker's passing admonition on that chilly November day has resonated in my decisions on mountains and in life.

While guiding on Mount Rainier for Rainier Mountaineering, Inc., we had a favorite saying for clients (later made famous by Ed Viesturs): The summit is optional...coming down is mandatory. Similar to Coach Walker's "don't get happy", our saying was not meant to dash spirits but rather to ward off poor decision making brought on by celebration and subsequent ego.

Just like our sideline celebrations on the football field, climbers often find themselves celebrating on the summit, high fiving with big smiles and a relaxed feeling that all is done, the challenges are over, it's all downhill from here.

But really, the hardest part is just beginning, the climb is only 50% finished at the summit, and if our defenses are lowered we no longer see and react to dangers and difficulties efficiently and effectively. Our joy at reaching the summit threatens to derail our success on the climb that remains.

As Coach said, don't get happy.

The same is true on the football fields and towering summits of life: we should certainly celebrate our accomplishments, take pride in our abilities, the goals we've reached and the hurdles we've overcome to get there. But, we shouldn't get happy, we shouldn't let our momentary success cloud our vision of the terrain yet to come, crevasses yet to cross and dangers yet to be seen.

When we avoid the temptation to "get happy", we discover what I cover in my keynote presentations: The Summit Perspective. This is the understanding that the summit, the end goal, the winning touchdown, is but a moment in time, a patch of snow.

The true joy in climbing our mountains, in reaching our elusive goals, lies on the sides of our peaks.

As the cliche says: It's the journey, not the destination, which counts.

- Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

Don't Get Happy!

This article appears in my Winter, 2008, e-newsletter. If you'd like to receive the MountainWorld News delivered to your inbox, you can sign up here!

---

  I remember it like it was yesterday. We, the varsity football team at Holderness School, had just trounced our final opponent, completing our undefeated run of ten games. We were off to the championships, and we were proud.

Hooting and hollering, we high fived and pranced around on the sidelines. Then Coach Walker, veteran football coach and amazing English professor and poet, marched over with his usual stern affability and barked: Don't get happy, boys, don't get happy!!

Strange way to celebrate, I thought to myself. We just won...we went undefeated...we deserved to be happy!

But Coach wasn't talking about simple celebration, about revelling in a moment hard won and well earned. Rather, his "don't get happy" admonition was an warning against cockiness, against the complacence brought on by success...and just as quickly destroyed by it.

High school football in northern New Hampshire and the serrated ridges of the high Himalaya may be worlds apart, but Coach Walker's passing admonition on that chilly November day has resonated in my decisions on mountains and in life.

While guiding on Mount Rainier for Rainier Mountaineering, Inc., we had a favorite saying for clients (later made famous by Ed Viesturs): The summit is optional...coming down is mandatory. Similar to Coach Walker's "don't get happy", our saying was not meant to dash spirits but rather to ward off poor decision making brought on by celebration and subsequent ego.

Just like our sideline celebrations on the football field, climbers often find themselves celebrating on the summit, high fiving with big smiles and a relaxed feeling that all is done, the challenges are over, it's all downhill from here.

But really, the hardest part is just beginning, the climb is only 50% finished at the summit, and if our defenses are lowered we no longer see and react to dangers and difficulties efficiently and effectively. Our joy at reaching the summit threatens to derail our success on the climb that remains.

As Coach said, don't get happy.

The same is true on the football fields and towering summits of life: we should certainly celebrate our accomplishments, take pride in our abilities, the goals we've reached and the hurdles we've overcome to get there. But, we shouldn't get happy, we shouldn't let our momentary success cloud our vision of the terrain yet to come, crevasses yet to cross and dangers yet to be seen.

When we avoid the temptation to "get happy", we discover what I cover in my keynote presentations: The Summit Perspective. This is the understanding that the summit, the end goal, the winning touchdown, is but a moment in time, a patch of snow.

The true joy in climbing our mountains, in reaching our elusive goals, lies on the sides of our peaks.

As the cliche says: It's the journey, not the destination, which counts.

- Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

Don't Get Happy!

This article appears in my Winter, 2008, e-newsletter. If you'd like to receive the MountainWorld News delivered to your inbox, you can sign up here!

---

  I remember it like it was yesterday. We, the varsity football team at Holderness School, had just trounced our final opponent, completing our undefeated run of ten games. We were off to the championships, and we were proud.

Hooting and hollering, we high fived and pranced around on the sidelines. Then Coach Walker, veteran football coach and amazing English professor and poet, marched over with his usual stern affability and barked: Don't get happy, boys, don't get happy!!

Strange way to celebrate, I thought to myself. We just won...we went undefeated...we deserved to be happy!

But Coach wasn't talking about simple celebration, about revelling in a moment hard won and well earned. Rather, his "don't get happy" admonition was an warning against cockiness, against the complacence brought on by success...and just as quickly destroyed by it.

High school football in northern New Hampshire and the serrated ridges of the high Himalaya may be worlds apart, but Coach Walker's passing admonition on that chilly November day has resonated in my decisions on mountains and in life.

While guiding on Mount Rainier for Rainier Mountaineering, Inc., we had a favorite saying for clients (later made famous by Ed Viesturs): The summit is optional...coming down is mandatory. Similar to Coach Walker's "don't get happy", our saying was not meant to dash spirits but rather to ward off poor decision making brought on by celebration and subsequent ego.

Just like our sideline celebrations on the football field, climbers often find themselves celebrating on the summit, high fiving with big smiles and a relaxed feeling that all is done, the challenges are over, it's all downhill from here.

But really, the hardest part is just beginning, the climb is only 50% finished at the summit, and if our defenses are lowered we no longer see and react to dangers and difficulties efficiently and effectively. Our joy at reaching the summit threatens to derail our success on the climb that remains.

As Coach said, don't get happy.

The same is true on the football fields and towering summits of life: we should certainly celebrate our accomplishments, take pride in our abilities, the goals we've reached and the hurdles we've overcome to get there. But, we shouldn't get happy, we shouldn't let our momentary success cloud our vision of the terrain yet to come, crevasses yet to cross and dangers yet to be seen.

When we avoid the temptation to "get happy", we discover what I cover in my keynote presentations: The Summit Perspective. This is the understanding that the summit, the end goal, the winning touchdown, is but a moment in time, a patch of snow.

The true joy in climbing our mountains, in reaching our elusive goals, lies on the sides of our peaks.

As the cliche says: It's the journey, not the destination, which counts.

- Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

Quote for the Day: Barack Obama

I’m asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about change in Washington … I’m asking you to believe in yours. -Barack Obama

No matter what your personal political affiliation, I think we can all find some inspiration from Barack Obama's words.

In order to accomplish great things - to effect change, to progress forward, to climb ever higher in our own lives - we cannot rely on belief on someone else's ability to do things for us.

We must instead believe in our own ability to move ahead, to overcome the obstacles in our paths and climb on, one step at a time, toward the summit.

- Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

The Mountain Aesthetic: An Interview with Robert MacFarlane

Today I came across a wonderful interview with Robert MacFarlane - a professor of English at Emmanuel College, Cambridge and author of numerous books - on Cabinet Magazine.

While MacFarlane has written many titles on various subjects, this particular interview discusses the mountain aesthetic...our societal interpretation of mountains and the mountain landscape and how religion, philosophy, science, and society have shaped that overall aesthetic. MacFarlane wrote Mountains of the Mind: A History of a Fascination in 2003, which goes into detail on the subject.

The interview (O Altitudo!: An Interview with Robert McFarlane), conducted by Cabinet Magazine author Brian Dillon, touches on a number of key subjects, and while deep and heavy at times, it is still very readable and provides a fascinating glimpse on the views and ideas which have shaped our perception of and interest in mountains and the mountain world.

From da Vinci to Ruskin, Bishop George Berkeley to Descartes, religion to geology to art, MacFarlane runs the gamut of our interaction with the mountain world, offering perspectives and insights not generally covered in back issues of Climbing.

Of the entire interview, I was most struck by MacFarlane's discussion of Descartes and the aesthetic of "the wonderful". As he notes, many - including Descartes - are filled with a sense of wonder while looking at or climbing upon mountains. And, it is this wonder which drives us to learn more, to understand. As MacFarlane says:

Confronted with a wonder, you are at first astonished, and then you wish to understand how you came to be astonished: wonder, for Descartes, is the root of science.

And, I would add, wonder is the root of climbing. To me, wonder has always been the catalyst for my forays into the hills. It is not so much to prove myself, to show what I can do and how fast and well I can do it. (I know my own limits far too well to play that game!).

Rather, when confronted with a mountain landscape - be it a staggering Himalayan peak, a rolling Appalachian hill, or a ribbon of ice in the San Juan Mountains - I find myself nearly overcome with a desire to know. I want to understand the landscape on a fundamental level, to feel it under my feet, to smell and taste the air surrounding it, to see the view from high mountain flanks and humble my very being in the process.

As Mallory so aptly put it in 1918:

We have achieved an ultimate satisfaction...fulfilled a destiny...To struggle and to understand-never this last without the other; such is the law...

Take a few moments to read MacFarlane's interview. Give it some thought, and let me know what you think about the mountains and the mountain aesthetic.

What drives you to the hills?

Why do you climb, hike, trek, or just adventure?

To struggle and to understand...

- Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

 

Oprah and the Mountains

I'm not a regular reader of Oprah Winfrey's magazine, O Magazine, but it was passed along to me recently by a colleague who mentioned I should read the final page. It was a regular column in O Magazine entitled "What I Know For Sure", and in it the ever-insightful Oprah had some great thoughts about here recent climb of a mountain near her home in Hawaii.

Now, any of you who visit The MountainWorld Blog regularly know that one of my favorite authors and thinkers is Robert Pirsig, author of the classic Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and his follow-up book, Lila: An Inquiry into Morals.

In Zen, Pirsig talks in depth about the pace of life while climbing a mountain, and the "correct" way to climb it, focusing on the moment, on each footstep, rather than on the end goal. This way, he says, we learn to enjoy the climb more which, in the end, it what it is all about.

This adage, of course, applies well to life as well as climbing mountains, as Oprah found out on her recent climb. If we focus too much on the end goal, on the distant and oft-elusive summit, we miss the pleasure of the climb, the fascination of the here-and-now. And, in the end, the summit is simply another patch of snow or rock; it's the sides of our mountains where our journey both begins and ends...and endures.

As Oprah wisely notes at the end of her article (echoing the sentiments I always close my Everest keynotes with):

It makes no difference how many peaks you reach if there was no pleasure in the climb...I'm going to spend more time enjoying the view from here.

Wise words, Oprah, and thanks!

- Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

It's not about records...even when you're setting them!

My cousin Jenn Pharr is, to put it rather bluntly, a bad ass. A Division I tennis player in college, she has gone on to hike both the Appalachian and Pacific Crest Trails, both in quite impressive times. She also climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with my wife, Wende, and I back in 2006, and made it look quite easy to say the least.

Most recently, however, Jennifer embarked on a fast-paced journey along the Long Trail, a section of the Appalachian Trail running 272 miles from southern Vermont to its northern border with Canada. This has, of course, been done before, and it will of course be done again and again.

What is impressive at first, however, is that Jennifer - largely unsupported and hiking solo - made the 272 mile journey in 8 days, 13 hours, and 25 minutes. This potentially sets an all time unsupported speed record for the Long Trail, and is definitely the fastest time ever attained by a woman.

But, what if more impressive is not the speed of Jennifer's hike, not the sprained ankles, swollen knees, bee stings and lightning storms she had to endure, but rather the perspective with which she completed the entire hike.

As is often the case with impressive accomplishments, sections of the web have been buzzing with chatter over Jennifer's hike...many kudos have been thrown, and some criticisms and jabs as well. But, true to her spirit, Jennifer has taken it all in stride.

As she wrote so eloquently on the White Blaze forum:

It's always nice to be the first or only person to have accomplished something, but as any endurance hiker knows, it's not about the records. Being a "record holder" would never provide sufficient motivation to overcome sprained ankles, swollen knees, bee stings and electrical storms (all of which are very vivid memories of my Long Trail hike), instead the desire to overcome adversity, enjoy creation, and push mental, physical, and emotional boundaries was what personally made the endeavor rewarding.

She also chimed in on the Trail Forums, responding to both praise and criticism, again with grace and perspective:

I want to say that all encouragement and congratulations is warmly accepted and very appreciated. I also want to mention that all criticism is respected as well. But I do want to note that I did not set out to hike the long trail to come back as a "record" holder. Long Distance hiking is not associated or rewarded with public recognition and certainly not monetary gains. Instead, I hiked the Long Trail to test my physical, mental and emotional thresholds. In that I succeeded. I was thrilled with my time of less than 8 days, and I can say that, even beyond Division I college athletes, an ironman, and ultra-marathons, testing my endurance on the Long Trail pushed, strengthened me, and broke me in ways I had never experienced before. I will always share wonderful memories and a sense of accomplishment from this experience that is neither heightened by recognition nor discouraged by criticism. I don't think I would ever go out on a long-distance trail to break someone else's record, but I certainly love to set my own. Hope to see you guys out on the trail.

Well put, Jennifer.

Whether it be Everest, the Long Trail, or a walk around the block, we have choices: we can concern ourselves with records, with being the fastest, brightest, strongest, toughest, meanest, coolest one to do it.

Or, we can do it we can concern ourselves simply with breaking, as Jenn says, our own records, with finding our limits and pushing them, with reveling in the challenges inherent along the path.

Someone will always come along who is a bit faster, a bit stronger, or a bit tougher. Records will always be broken at some point. But, if we push ourselves in order to grow, to expand our horizons and overcome self-imposed hurdles...well, those personal records can never be beaten.

What is your Everest??

- Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.

Monday Motivation from Robert Pirsig

I've climbed Mount Rainier now nearly 90 times, and when people hear that, they usually either (a) question my sanity or (b) wonder if I left my car keys up on the summit.

In all seriousness, most people wonder how on earth anyone could enjoy climbing the same mountain that many times.

Doesn't it get old? Don't you get sick of the peak, of seeing the same old thing time after time?

The answer - surprising to many - is no, it never gets old to me. The reason? Because I'm passionate about climbing, I revel in the small steps, the minutia of the moment, the thrill of the challenge and the joy of pushing myself.

A mountain is a dynamic place, constantly changing, ever in flux. As a result, a mountain - much like the passage of each day of our lives - is never the same as it was the day before.

Certainly, it can be seen as the same. I could choose to focus on the sameness and lose my self in the drudgery of routine, of climbing the same route on the same mountain again and again. I would find monotony, for we often find what we seek.

But my choice has been to hone in on the differences, the nuanced changes from one day to the next, and to enjoy the moment, the here and now rather than the distant summit or even more distant finish of the climb.   

That crevasse is wider than it was last week.

Look at the way the soft pink of dawn is radiating across the glaciers.

I felt tired at this point last time, but feel good here today. Let's push on.

 

By focusing on the difference rather than the monotony of the climb, each of my trips on Rainier have been unique adventures, new experiences, rather than repetitive drudgery.

Back in June, 2007, I shared one of my favorite quotes - and the one I mention in closing my keynote presentations -  by Robert Pirsig, author of Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. At another point in the book, Pirsig discusses the difference between what he terms selfish (ego) and selfless climbing. This is a relevant passage all of us can apply to our lives:

To the untrained eye, selfish or ego climbing and selfless climbing may appear identical.… Both kinds of climber place one foot in front of the other. Both breathe in and out at the same rate. Both stop when tired. Both go forward when rested. But what a difference! The ego climber is like an instrument that’s out of adjustment. He puts his foot down an instant too soon or late. He’s likely to miss a beautiful passage of sunlight through the trees. He goes on when the sloppiness of his step says he’s tired. He rests at odd times. He looks up the trail trying to see what’s ahead even when he knows what’s ahead because he just looked a second before. He goes too fast or too slow for the conditions and when he talks his talk is forever about something else. He’s here but he’s not here. He rejects the here, is unhappy with it, wants to be further up the trail but when he gets there will be just as unhappy because then it will be ‘there.’ What he’s looking for, what he wants is all around him. But he doesn’t want that because it is all around him. Every step is an effort, both physically and spiritually because he imagines his goal to be external and distant.

How will you climb your mountain? Selfishly, or selflessly?

- Jake Norton is an Everest climber, guide, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker from Colorado.