Finding Your Summit

Sean Evangelista is a retired Navy SEAL. Today he’s a clothing company founder-it’s called 30 Seconds Out, he’s also a ski patrol member and the kind of guy that’s just going to keep on going. An Unsettle Youth Sean grew up with adversity. His mom struggled early in Sean’s life to find reliable work. He also had a drug addict dad who left home when Sean was three. With 75 cents in her pocket, Mom...

Anthony Allen and Mark Pattison were teammates at the University of Washington. Before that they were cross-town rivals. Anthony attended Garfield High School in Seattle. Anthony also played for the Washington Redskins. During his time in DC he scored a touchdown on an 88-yard pass. Finally, in 1987, Anthony and the Redskins won Super Bowl XXII. Anthony and Mark caught up on memories, kids and car...

Akshay Nanavati is a Marine, entrepreneur, author and ultra-runner. His life was simultaneously saved and challenged when he joined the Marines. He saw purpose in serving in the Marine Corps Akshay found something that worked, Fearvana. He defines Fearvana as the bliss that results from engaging our fears to pursue our own worthy struggle. By redefining his fears as opportunties for growth and he...

Mark, recently bagged summit six, the Vinson Masiff. Vinson is probably the most challenging mountain to get to in terms of logistics, weather and temperature. Vinson is located on Antartica. Here’s a list of things that live on the continent–penguins–that’s it, nothing else, no plants, not trees, not even bugs. Suffice to say, the South Pole is an inhospitable place to spend a few weeks outside.

Bernie Swain, his wife and Harry Rhodes Jr co-founded the Washington Speakers Bureau. It took 8 years of working, gathering speakers, building their business to get to the moment when they truly arrived. They'd met with a speaker they wanted to sign. Everyone in DC wanted him, Swain's company wasn't a front-runner; there were bigger more established firms. President Reagan's Chief of Staff called...

Ta'u Pupu'a is one of nine siblings. His family originally from the Kingdom of Tonga emigrated to Salt Lake City. Ta'u at 6'5", earned a full-ride scholarship to play defensive line for the local Weber State University football team. His football career continued to provide promise. In 1995 he was drafted by the Cleveland Browns (soon to be the Baltimore Ravens). Unfortuantely, that's as far as he...

Kristy Sobel is a Prize Fighter. The Prize she battles for is life. Her world was completely changed when she was hit in a car accident. From this crash: her unborn daughter died, she had her spine crushed, a subsequent procedure failed and nearly killed her again. She lost her marraige. On the edge of life or death, she pointed her car towards certain death and hit the gas. Moments before the end...

Powder Matt Mosteller’s life changed in the mountains. Sitting in a station wagon alone, waiting…Matt wanting some fresh air opened his car door. A ski instructor on the way up the mountains saw Matt and said, “Come on, I’m about to give a lesson, come with me and I’ll teach you how to ski.” Matt’s life began to change at that moment. He didn’t have gear, he didn’t have a real reason or guide unti...

Mariel Hemingway Mariel as a child, experienced tumult constantly, yet grew up surrounded by beauty in Ketchum, Idaho. Being part of the Hemingway family meant exposure to drug and alcohol abuse, mental disorders; plus, seven separate suicides within the family. Everyone was damaged and self-medicating to cope. Mariel made a documentary Running From Crazy that chronicles that tumultuous upbringing...

Rebecca Rusch is known as the Queen of Pain. She was given that nickname by her peers who've marveled at her determination and focus despite the challenges presented in a given moment. Rebecca is a 7 time world champion across a number of disciplines.

Stephen is a mountain climber. In 2010 he ascended El Capitan. That feat by itself is a challenge, but something done by thousands of people. However, Stephen has Cerebral Palsy making his ascent a singular accomplishment From a young age, Stephen's neurological disorder earned him no special treatment at home. His parents treated him just like his four siblings. His life changed at nine years old...

Tim Kennedy is a warrior of the first order. He's a Ranger, Special Forces, sniper, Green Beret, 19B (Weapons) soldier with several deployments. He's also a championship grade UFC fighter, at one point he ranked as high as 5th in the world, who’s twice fought for the title. Growing up, Tim's parents exposed him to a variety of pursuits. He learned to cook, shoot, fight, wrestling and play piano. A...

Everyone knows Shelley is a pro. When life creates adversity, Shelley gets simple. She creates a plan and keeps working. Smith defeated cancer. When she lost her hair from treatments, she appeared on camera bald, enjoying not having to worry about the wind messing up her hair. While covering the Warriors, Shelley had a stroke in the team's locker room. When her mom passed, she got back to work on...

Todd Orr is an outdoors man. Oct 1, 2016 About two weeks prior to the open of Elk season, Todd went in searching for prime hunting locations. Just before dawn, about three miles away from his truck, armed with a pistol and bear spray... He sees a mother bear and two cubs. She turns and heads up the hill, thinking this is a good bear that doesn't like humans, Todd gave her a minute to get away, he...

Mike Hamill - Climbing The Seven Summits Mike Hamill is the founder and lead guide for Climbing the Seven Summits. His company focuses on the 7 summits, and a few other select mountains that Mike finds special. Mike gets clients to the top over 90% of the time, more importantly, he always gets his clients home safe. Mike cut his teeth climbing in the White and Adirondack mountains of the northeast...

Pirie Jones Grossman is our featured for this episode of Find Your Summit Rewind Since her last visit, Pirie was diagnosed with the Epstein Barr virus. Grossman's version of the 60 know types was debilitating. Her illness is similar to Mononucleosis, except in her case, it's much more intesnse. The western medicine standard of care is 3 months of rest and lots of fluids. Of course, single mom's wh...

Growing up in Kenya, Ken's dad had 2 wives. Nsimbi had 9 siblings. His dad, a dentist was an outgoing and gregarious fellow who had a full and lively life. Moving to Seattle to share a 1-bedroom apartment with 3 brothers, in the US was a hard transition, "It felt like a downgrade." "When I look back, my mom's decision to bring us to the US was the best thing ever."

March 20, 2011 – Andy Hnilo was hit by a Land Rover as he stepped off the curb on Melrose in Los Angeles. Thrown across the street a Toyota Tundra hit him again. One accident, twice hit by trucks, a broken jaw, 7 broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and somehow he survived. With the shattered jaw and a mouthful of broken teeth, Hnilo began relearning to chew, close his mouth and talk.. Even now years la...

At a conference, as an adult well into his life, Werner Berger considered the 3 things he’d like to do before he died. Though Berger possed no mountaineer experience, he wanted to climb Kilimanjaro, the Matterhorn, and to travel to Everest’s base camp. Fascinated by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary’s summit of Everest, Werner always possessed a desire to climb mountains. To date, Werner is the ol...

Pete Koch played defensive end for the University of Maryland. He graduated the same year as his teammate Boomer Esiason. Coincidentally, Pete's Terrapins lost to Mark's Huskies in the inaugural 1982 Aloha Bowl.  1st Round Pick Pete's draft year, he's living in the dorms at Maryland, listening to the radio waiting for the phone to ring. Projects listed Pete as a likely first-round pick. Though one...

Charles Plumb talks about the rewards of personal adversity; we need to pay attention. In this Rewind episode, we discuss three things. First, Charles' philosophy of packing your own parachute. Next, recognizing that adversity is a terrible thing to waste. Finally discipline the mind, body and soul.  Packing Your Parachute Packing your parachute means being humble. During his younger years as a To...

Dr. Charles Weaver is an oncologist who founded Cancer Connect. Dr. Weaver views researching or working with cancer patients as the most positive for a doctor to do. For him, the work is an opportunity to engage with people who need information, hope and a guide. Charles life’s focus began to change. Though he was a successful oncologist, Dr. Weaver turned to, like anyone, the internet for answers...

Brett Archibald spent 28 hours alone, lost at sea with nothing but his faith, family and friends to guide him. A case of food poisoning puts Brett on the railing of the ship in a storm as he and friends crossed the Mentawai Strait off Sumatra, Indonesia. At some point, Brett blacked out and was thrown into the ocean. Once he came to, Brett watched as the ship continued on without him. 8 hours afte...

Bill Valenti is a banker, an entrepreneur, a cancer survivor, and a protest songwriter. Bill’s life is packed full of accomplishments. His tale starts by busking on the liberal revolutionary streets of Paris while attending school in the 60's. Linguist Next, is the Vietnam war. Bill decided to enlist. He was assigned to the Defense Language Institue in Monterey Ca. Bill became a Chinese linguist t...

NFL quarterback Steve Beuerlein played for six different teams, over 14 seasons. Steve played for the Dallas Cowboys in 1992/93 season, the year the team won Super Bown XXVII. Before stepping the NFL field, Beuerlein started at QB for Notre Dame. Steve established himself as a QB ready for the next level by breaking most of the passing records while starting 39 or 46 games at the school.  Raiders...