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1990 when he finally made it to the top
of Everest, climbing all the way to 29,029
feet without using supplemental oxygen.
Certainly, climbing without carrying a
tank or wearing an oxygen mask is a more
Zen-like approach — just the man and the
mountain. But the challenge is massively
greater and the accomplishment even
more significant.
The ability to adapt to what others
might have considered a failure was an
early life lesson that has guided Viesturs’
considerable achievements ever since.
He has made more than 200 ascents
of Mount Rainier and has been on
29 Himalayan expeditions, including
the 1996 IMAX Everest expedition
chronicled in Jon Krakauer’s bestselling
book Into Thin Air. These days Viesturs
is still an active climber as well as an
author and motivational speaker. He
notes that many of the lessons he learned
in the mountains have relevance to
scuba diving. He suggests it is always
appropriate to temper ambition with
situational awareness and experience, and
to be cognizant of one’s own limitations.
For many of the same reasons
Viesturs tests his personal capabilities
on the mountain, he is interested
in learning more about freediving.
He has studied the psychology of
the sport and finds great similarities
to the mindset required in high-
performance mountaineering. Viesturs
is also enjoying scuba through his
children’s facemasks. He’s a father of
four, and his oldest son just did his
first Discover Scuba dives off Maui last
year. But Viesturs isn’t forgetting his
mountaineering roots as he instills the
value of adventure in his children: He
and his daughter are looking forward
to a seven-day hike to 19,000 feet on
Mount Kilimanjaro this summer.
— Stephen Frink
LEARN MORE
To learn more about Viesturs’ adven-
tures among the 8,000-meter peaks,
download his app for iPad, “Endeavor
8000,” or visit www.edviesturs.com.
Ed Viesturs on the summit
of Manaslu in 1999
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