Adrian Ballinger on Everest & Life

7x summiter, 1x without supplemental oxygen, on the sacrifices made to fulfill a lifelong dream. Adrian Ballinger has summited Mt. Everest seven times. He attempted Everest without supplemental oxygen in 2016 as part of the Everest No Filter expedition with national geographic photographer Cory Richards. Cory made the summit. Adrian didn't. They went back in 2017, and Adrian achieved his goal of summiting without oxygen. It wasn't easy. In 2011 Adrian and two Sherpa partners became the first people to summit three 8,000 meter peaks in only 3 weeks (Everest twice and Lhotse once). He's the first person to ski Manaslu, the 8th tallest mountain in the world, from its summit, and the first American to successfully ski two 8,000-meter peaks.

You can follow Adrian on Instagram @adrianballinger, through his website and if you'd like to climb with him, check out Alpenglow Expeditions.

If you like this episode, please subscribe, share with your friends and give us a positive rating. You can find more at www.choosethehardway.com and you can get in touch @hardwaypod on Twitter or send an email to choosethehardway@gmail.com.

MORE ABOUT ADRIAN: He is also the founder and CEO of Alpenglow expeditions and has led expeditions where more than 100 clients have successfully summited Everest, Lhotse (the 4th tallest mountain in world), Cho Oyu (6th tallest) and Manaslu (the 8th tallest mountain in the world). He climbs, guides and skis all over the world including North and South America, the Himalayas and Africa.

Adrian has been a sponsored climber since he was a teen. His current sponsors include Eddie Bauer, La Sportiva, Petzl, Kaenon, Goal Zero, Hypoxico, Alpenglow Sports and High Altitude Fitness.

One of my favorite musicians is Bob Mould. And one of my favorite Bob Mould songs is Wishing Well. I'm not great at is remembering song lyrics. But a Bob Mould lyric that I do remember, is this--There's a price you pay for a wish to come true--trade a small piece of your life. In this episode you'll hear about what Adrian Ballinger has had to trade to be who he is and achieve what he has achieved.