CLIMB THE TRUE SUMMIT -Achieve Peak Performance Through Well-Being

In the summer of 2013, I was a Lead Mountaineer on an expedition to a demilitarized zone near the Iranian border on Mt. Ararat, Turkey, at 16,800 Ft.

Due to the geopolitical tensions in the area, we had a security detail of special operations soldiers—a Navy Seal, an Army Ranger, and an Air Force Medic.

These special ops pulled me aside one day and said, "We think you have what we have."

They said, "You have PTSD just like us."

I asked, "What makes you say that?"

They replied, "You have the same two-thousand-yard blank stare. The lights are on, but nobody's home."

What they said next, I'll never forget.

"When you speak, you're either punishing your past, poisoning your present, or fearing your future, but you're NEVER NOW. You're just not here."

Hearing their words, I imagined these men were like Sherpas desperately trying to wake me from my death sleep high in the Himalayas.

My heart was hypoxic, and my soul was in shock.

I had just gone through a second divorce and bankruptcy.

Stumbling like a person drunk with despair, I was a man without a home.

For the next five years, I lived out of my vehicle from untreated trauma, unable to find my way home because my heart hurt too much to feel and heal in a house.

I knew I had to find a way home to get well.

My soul needed to find THE TRUE SUMMIT where the sun always shines.

I was hurting, and the only way to heal was to climb down, not up.

The DEATH ZONE on Mt. Everest is a sobering reminder of this truth HERE (Image Credit: National Post)

At 29,029 Ft, Mt. Everest is the tallest point on Earth.

From BASE CAMP to SUMMIT, four camps help climbers acclimate to these extreme altitudes over two months.

CAMP III at 23,625 ft. is critical because it's the highest altitude commercially guided climbers can reach without oxygen.

It takes more than a month to acclimate and climb from the trailhead @ Lukla - the world's most dangerous airport @ 9,383 Ft. to Mt. Everest Camp III @ 23,625 Ft. HERE (Photo Credit: Elia Saikaly)

Imagine sleeping at CAMP III with an oxygen mask. The wind is howling, and you dream about doing the unthinkable the following day.

Instead of continuing to climb up to Camp IV at 26,085 Ft (the infamous DEATH ZONE where the human body is no longer able to acclimate), you will descend through the notoriously unstable Khumbu Icefall, across aluminum ladders swaying over gaping crevasses, past BASE CAMP at 17,598 Ft, all the way down to Namche Bazaar at 11,286 Ft. below.

All the oxygen you built up in your bloodstream over the past several weeks keeps you alive; to once again understand:

The way up is down because Nothing Heals In Thin Air.

And here's the thing.

You don't lose any acclimatization going down.

As you regain your well-being after several days at a lower altitude, you can ascend Everest's summit in less than two weeks!

We crawl into the lowest cave to get well enough to climb the highest mountain.

What happens if we don't climb to the trailhead before attempting the summit?

We could become a dead body on our own Mt. Everest HERE

(Image Credit: Pointofnoreturn.org)

Each flag indicates where one or more climbers died on Everest.

Since 1921, 341 climbers have died on Everest, and 200+ of those bodies remain on the mountain, a grim reminder that "every corpse on Everest was once a highly motivated individual."

Motivation can get us to the top, but it can also kill us on the way down if our story and identity lack meaning beyond a successful summit. 

Since 1953, 6664 climbers have summited Everest and several hundred more summits yearly with single to double-digit casualties.

Most (two-thirds!) of the fatalities on Everest (except the heroic Sherpa route preparation) are on the DESCENT, not the ASCENT in the DEATH ZONE above 8,000 Meters (26,250 Ft.)

These climbers' last moments are horrifically frozen in time.

They cannot heal because they have lost the ability to feel.

They gave everything they had to reach the summit.

Their success stole everything they could have been.

Mountaineering is the only sport that celebrates halftime.

THE SUMMIT (well-doing) is halftime.

THE TRUE SUMMIT (well-being) is the second half.

The ascent tells us what we can do.

The descent teaches us who we are.

If we don't know who we are, we'll always be defined by what we do.

Many don't know who we are, and it's killing us.

We're dying in thin air, and we're too hypoxic to care.

We're out of oxygen, and we're suffocating at work and home.

Our marriage, families, work, and society are in the DEATH ZONE.

Our stories are frozen in trauma, like 200+ dead bodies on Everest.

We don't understand how climbing down is climbing up. 

To achieve peak performance through well-being, we must: 

Camp Low. Get Well. Climb High. 

We're HURT and need to HEAL before we can HELP others.

We are at CAMP III right now.

We need a higher level of consciousness before we lose consciousness to transform and transcend our summit into a significant story to live.

We have to decide to go up or down, and the difference is the life or death of our well-being.

If we go up and we're not well, we'll make a successful living for ourselves, but we'll never live a significant life for others.

To achieve BOTH, we must climb down and HEAL our PERSON to HELP PEOPLE in our PROFOUND PURPOSE.

To master achievements and manifest awareness, we must awaken meaning in our stories.

In this inspiring Keynote Talk, Extreme Explorer - Kevin DeVries will REFRAME YOUR STORY to CLIMB THE TRUE SUMMIT - the space where we don't have to prove we can climb Everest because we've already proven to ourselves we no longer need to because we've climbed Everest within.

CLIMB THE TRUE SUMMIT reveals THE THREE SECRETS OF WELL-BEING to help us perform well because we are well.

"Well People Perform Well When They Live Their Stories Well."

NOTE: CLIMB THE TRUE SUMMIT Keynote Talk Presentation Slides Will Be Forwarded For THE TRUE SUMMIT EVEREST EXPERIENCE Bookings.

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