Will Climbing Everest Make you Happy? Or Will ‘The Noise’ Get in the Way? If you climb successfully to the top of the world, defying ice falling on your head, blizzards knocking you over and waiting in line behind less skilled climbers while your oxygen depletes… …will you be happy? Or are you just as likely to die? Perhaps melodramatic, but as climbing Everest…

“When you go to the mountains, you see them and you admire them. In a sense, they give you a challenge, and you try to express that challenge by climbing them.” Sir Edmund Hillary I went to see Steve Bell in England, one of the founders of Jagged Globe. After…

The Western Hajar Mountains had already treated us to more vertical than going up and down from Everest Base Camp, rougher trails than clambering up the Baltoro to K2 , and longer and harder days than the Bhutan Snow Man Trek, the “hardest trek in the world.” Yet the way…

Chirps at dawn, small desert birds flitting about and rustling the branches, then diving down into the green water pool. Burros braying and echoing off the cliffs. Coffee steaming. Natural sounds of a morning awakening. To go up to the top of Oman, first we must go down, into the…

Last night we were on the beach in Muscat, Oman, a green salad followed by freshly grilled Kingfish covered our plates. The moon was headed towards full, the sea glowed. The next morning started with a swim in the hotels lap pool, followed by a breakfast buffet that brimmed with…

I worked with Marc Hartzman in New York, just off Madison Avenue. I was 15 years into my advertising career, working my up through the ranks, from Writer, to Creative Director, to Executive Creative Director, with the occasional start-up, M&A and the occasional management/investor roles all in the mix. This…

As the sun set purple on thé dômes of Mont Blanc, fellow guides, friends from near and far, and a welcome mix of local bibliophiles and Everest enthusiasts, arrived at Editions Paulsen in Chamonix for my book launch. From Guides Victor Saunders and Simon Abrahams, last seen in Antarctica, to…

From Everest Load Carriers to K2 Winter Leaders When Tenzing Norgay Sherpa first climbed to the summit of Everest, he was chosen for his climbing experience and ability, tenacity and his camaraderie with his climbing partner, Ed Hillary. The photo Ed Hillary took of Tenzing on the top of the…

‘Ready to meet the goddess of K2?’ With the phenomenally successful Nepali team helicoptering out to a hero’s welcome in Pakistan and now on to Kathmandu, for the others on Winter K2 it has now become a long winters night. Long, cold of course nights. Windy days. John Snorri, the…