Climb Your Everest - The Most Uplifting and Affirming Message For Every Day of Your Life

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Thom Pollard: 1:01

Everyone could use the message of positivity sometime. Yes, this is about Mount Everest, but this is about the mystery about the pursuit of what is true to your heart and soul. This is the second of three segments with my good friend and colleague, mountain climber extraordinaire, Andy poets who was with me in 1999. On the Mount Everest search for Mallory and Ervin, this is a good one. Be sure to subscribe if you like what you hear, because there's more to come. Have a beautiful day. Andy poets, we go back to 1999. And on Everest, Mallory nerve and research expedition. The one thing I remember distinctly is that you were completely unmotivated about the summit, because you had already been there. And so the summit was a might have been icing on the cake. But I always remember thinking, wow, this, this guy isn't even motivated by the summit. He's just interested in this in this search of a mystery. So you're, you're pulled by the mystery? How'd that how's that work?

Andy Politz: 2:12

Because it's also it was a lot of uphill between where we were in the top. So I didn't have to do that much work. Just the you're going good. 27? Yeah. Good. You know? Yeah, the story of that is, is bigger than a second summit bid, far more fascinating and far more useful to humanity? You know, how do we go deep into the unknown? This is what those guys were doing. And they just did it one step at a time. And, you know, they were told early on at the beginning of the quest and 21, probably, that Jerry is gonna go out there and die in there. I believe there's, you know, they also came off a world war one talked about place, go and die. And they just took one step at a time while I'm okay. Now well, let's try one more step. And that's the recipe for how you do big things that you don't know how to do. You model it as best you can. And, and a guy like Irvine's takes the best oxygen design, known to man, some college students. And he goes, Well, this is fragile. Well, let's turn that bottle upside down. So you it's not as fragile and improves the design one step at a time, and you'll gain enough insight to learn how to move forward into the unknown.

Thom Pollard: 3:50

Interesting, I guess I had never thought about that. If you identify with one or the other, who would you say Mallory or Ervin? And I granted they're just two people. And we're all different. But is there do you identify with Ervin? Because that's kind of what you do. You're a tinkerer, you fix things, you're working on engines? He's closer

Andy Politz: 4:12

to maybe what I'd like to be I'd like to be good at something. No, I can't say I identify with one. That would mean I'm like standing there shoulder to shoulder with them if the same elevation. Now they're way up here. Yeah. And I have great respect for that. Generation and their ability to take on difficult projects. You know, like, digging out after the war, talking about a difficult project.

Thom Pollard: 4:42

For sure. Andy, so you had hinted at that idea of the mystery being much more valuable to humankind. And I agree, and I you know, and so people will, the naysayers will will look at the Everest stuff, the people way on the outside and go, who cares? It's just a mountain and you guys are so fully yourselves and all that. And, and there there's truth to that on some levels. But I think that every every slice of society is evident in mountaineering as it is in baseball, or woodworking and shipbuilding or whatever. But I always felt like that in in the mystery part, or even in the Everest part. It's the idea of drawing people in to going after something greater than themselves. It's, it's a humbling thing. It's, I don't talk about conquering Everest. It conquers us. And you hinted at that when we talked a year ago after you got off the summit in 2021. About that idea of, you know, we're word lucky to be there. And if we can bring people into the conversation, and have them become in aspired to go after the impossible than Everest is an Everest Everest is a motivator for life and for for endeavor and right. You know,

Andy Politz: 6:16

I think you know, like yourself, Tom, I made a small portion of my living, not like yourself and that affected me. I made a small portion of my living, doing talks, and every question that was asked. I realized in time this is like over 20 years I realized this every question they're asking, Would I be able to climb my Mount Everest, and every answer I gave was always absolute. You can do and none of its ease. There isn't a piece of that your family your work. Anything is going to be easy to pull off. It's all hard every it's not convenient. Timing is bad. Funding is horror is terrible. But it's life changing.