The MountainWorld™ Blog

Jake Norton's Adventures on Snow.com

Just recently, I started writing some content for Vail Resorts and their mountain social media website buzz.snow.com. Last week's trip report was a fun little outing from Colorado's Loveland Pass over Grizzly Peak, Lenawee Mountain, and down through Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, finishing with a ride up Loveland Pass and back to the car. Read about this fun trip here. 

In the coming months, I'll be writing a handful of posts each month, covering fun trips in the hills, some gear reviews, photography tips, and perhaps even some competitions you all can get involved with. 

So, stop on by buzz.snow.com to follow along! (The next post - coming tomorrow - will be on some great alpine cragging on Mount Thorodin in Colorado. A fun place!)

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

Outside in Aspen - a participatory adventure weekend

This coming weekend, June 11-13, 2010, I'll be joining a handful of other professional athletes for a few days of fun and exercise in beautiful Aspen, Colorado, for the Outside in Aspen event. (It's been a great spring here in Colorado, with lots of moisture, making for some stunning scenery - snow capped peaks dropping from blue skies into lush, green valleys. Not bad!)

At the event, I'll be joined by fellow First Ascent athletes Melissa Arnot - just back from her third summit of Everest - and kayaker Jesse Coombs. Additionally, my classmates from Holderness School, extreme skier Chris Davenport and cyclist Tyler Hamilton, will be there. We'll all participate in an athlete symposium / panel discussion as well as participate in various adventure events from rock climbing to trail running, cycling to kayaking. 

It should be a great weekend, with lots of extracurricular events going on as well in the always-fun town of Aspen. 

Check out the full agenda, and sign up for events at the Outside in Aspen website today! See you this weekend!

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

Thursday Thought: A Commencement Inspiration for The Bosque School

 I was honored beyond words that the students of The Bosque School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, not only remembered by presentation to them back in February, 2006, but also enjoyed it enough to ask me to speak at their commencement ceremony last night. 

It was not only an honor, but also a lot of fun, and exciting to see these energetic, young people moving from one phase of life to the next, commencing this new and intriguing chapter of life. And, it was great to hear after the ceremony that they enjoyed my brief, 20 minute speech about the wisdom I've gleaned from the mountains over the years. 

Many of them shared their dream summits with me afterward: playing professional soccer, returning as an MD to work on the nearby Navajo Reservation, and even some who hoped to one day be professional climbers. (I strongly advised them against that!)

The four key points of last night's commencement speech are still in my head, resonating with me as I hope they are with the newly-graduated Bosque Class of 2010:

1. Dream...and dream big
2. Get a helmet...it's a bumpy road ahead
3. Don't take life too seriously...it's not
4. And, keep your humanity...a box of pears and a hug means a lot more than summits and certificates

Thus, I thought for this Thursday Thought (I know, it's Friday, but I was a bit busy yesterday!) I'd share with you what I said to the students, faculty, Board of Trustees, and parents of The Bosque School for their 2010 commencement. It's a bit long, so I've uploaded the full speech as a PDF file. 

Enjoy!

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

Join Me at St. Lawrence University on Monday!

If you happen to be in upstate New York, then please come by St. Lawrence University on Monday evening, March 22nd. 

I'll be presenting my keynote Getting FITT: Climb Your Everest & Enjoy the Journey. The event is FREE and open to the public, so please come on down!

More information on the location (Eben Holden) and the event can be found here. 

Hope to see you there!

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

Climbing Cotopaxi and other adventures in Ecuador

 
Approaching the summit of Cotopaxi. Photo by Jake Norton.

As many of you know, I was down in Ecuador recently climbing Cotopaxi and photographing for Eddie Bauer & First Ascent. 

It was a great trip with Melissa Arnot, Jeff Dossett, and cameraman Bob Poole. And, we made the summit of Cotopaxi, a peak I had not topped out on before. 

Quite a stunning climb, and we were fortunate enough to see many other places in Ecuador as well. 

The dispatches - and many of my images - are up on the First Ascent blog now. Swing on over and check them out!!

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

Charlie Houston, Yvon Chouinard, Bob Bates, Bob Craig, Ed Viesturs, and more!

Save the date for a night of mountaineering lore on April 10, 2010, as we celebrate  the accomplishments of four great figures in American mountaineering: Charlie Houston, Bob Bates, Bob Craig, and Yvon Chouinard. 

On April 10th, the American Mountaineering Museum will celebrate the first annual mountaineering gala and induction into the Hall of Mountaineering Excellence. The award goes to these four individuals to recognize their commitment and contributions to the sport of mountaineering as well as their accomplishments while not wearing crampons and a rope. 

The event will feature Yvon Chouinard and Bob Craig in the flesh; family and friends of Bates and Houston - who sadly passed on recently - will be in attendance to accept awards on their behalf. Additionally, the evening will feature a keynote presentation by Ed Viesturs, a climber whose accomplishments speak for themselves.

So, mark your calendars and come on down to the American Mountaineering Museum on April 10, 2010, for an event not to be missed! Rub elbows with some greats of American mountaineering past, present, and future, celebrate the lives and accomplishments of those who have directed our passions, and have a great time!

Tickets for the event are on sale now via the American Mountaineering Museum website; click here to buy yours today!

Learn more about the award, the evening, and our sponsors on the Museum website.

Sponsored by First Ascent.

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

Slideshow tomorrow night in Golden at Vital Outdoors!

 Tomorrow night (Thursday, February 19, 2010), I'll be presenting my Three Favorite Trips slideshow at Vital Outdoors in downtown Golden, Colorado. 

As many of you know, I've been fortunate enough to go on some pretty amazing expeditions and trips over the years. I've guided and shot images on 5 continents, working and climbing in areas ranging from the jungles of Borneo to the Kalahari Desert. 

But, the question often arises: What is your favorite expedition? Well, the answer - or answers - come tomorrow night as I discuss my favorite trips of all time...and why they are my favorites. 

Tickets to the show are $3 at the door, and benefit the American Mountaineering Museum. And, along with great gear and discounts up to 60% at Vital Outdoors, we'll also have some light food and excellent beer courtesy of Golden City Brewery. 

Want a little teaser of tomorrow night's show? Check out the video below. 

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

North Face movie premiere at Mountaineering Museum - for FREE!

North Face, a film inspired by a true story, follows the adventures of two soldiers, Toni Kurz (Benno Furmann) and Andi Hinterstoisser (Florian Lukas), as they attempt the then-unclimbed (and still epic) North Face of the Eiger. 

The film's gotten great reviews, and was one of the official selections at the Locarno Film Festival after it's German debut in 2008. 

And, from the reviews, it sounds like not only is the story epic and engaging, but the cinematography is stunning, pulling you into the adventure. 

Best of all, for you Golden locals, the film will premiere at the American Mountaineering Center this Friday, January 29th, at 6:00 PM (with a preceding Museum reception at 5:00 PM).

Check out the film's trailer below, and be sure to come down to the Museum on Friday for the premiere!

PS - If you can't make it Friday, but live in the area and want to see the film in theater's, here are its other openings around Denver:

Feb 5th Esquire Theater - Denver
Feb 12th Wheeler Opera House - Aspen
Feb 18th CU - Boulder

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

Thursday Thought: Haiti, Giving, and Carpe Diem

As I was ice climbing today, I couldn't help but think about the incomprehensible suffering of millions in Haiti, the tragedy of their plight, and how trivial my everyday struggles are in comparison.

So, today's Thursday Thought will be simple, short, yet hopefully profound in some way.

First, seize the day. Carpe diem. Our lives are short, and our time precious. We shouldn't need horrors like earthquakes, hurricanes, wars, death and destruction to remind of this reality, but often we do.

Remember what Sogyal Rinpoche said:

Living with the immediacy of death helps us sort out our priorities in life. 

And, of course, Marcus Aurelius in Meditations:

Live as on a mountain.

In other words, again, seize the day. Let the trivialities of life be just that...trivial. Focus on family, on passion, on living every day with purpose and meaning. For, like it or not, tomorrow you, me, any of us might be gone.

And, finally, if you have the ability, give. Give to Haiti, whether financially, physically, or simply mentally by sending positive thoughts however you do it. But, please, give, give as much as you can, and remember these encouraging thoughts:

The love of one's country is a natural thing. But why should love stop at the border?
- Pablo Casals

Help your neighbor's boat across, and lo! your own has reached the shore.
- Hindu proverb

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.
- John Wesley 

Even in the absence of mutual gains, even without indirect advantages to offset tangible costs, some decisions require a transcending of self-interest, whether personal or organizational.
- Roy Vagelos

The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.
- Thomas Merton

Mitakuye oyasin...
- Lakota Sioux prayer meaning "We are all related, we are all one."

Namaste...The spirit in my salutes the spirit which dwells within each and every one of you.

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

Nagqu Airport: Higher Than Any Peak in the Lower 48!

China recently announced plans to finish construction on Nagqu Dagring Airport. At  4,436 meters, or 14,553 feet, Nagqu Dagring with take over the title of the world's highest airport, and its runways will be higher than anything in the continental USA. Wow.

As with all the recent development and infrastructure improvements in Tibet, however, this will certainly be a mixed blessing. Like the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, completed in 2006, the Nagqu airport will certainly bring more commerce, trade, and development to the largely impoverished Tibetan Plateau. But, it will also bring an added influx of ethnic Han Chinese immigrants, diluting the culture of Tibet and further cementing Beijing's grip on the region.

It's always a mixed feeling for me when I see this development in Tibet. On the one hand, I am excited to see the lives of everyday Tibetans potentially bettered by such improvements. But, having actually seen and traveled in much of Tibet, I also know that little of the development manages to trickle down to the local population.

What are your thoughts...Are these improvements good, bad, or indifferent for Tibet and Tibetans? 

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