ED VIESTURS SPEAKS TO MIKE! Well…. that was the plan…. ;-(

As most of you know the Big Dog  (Mike) has Ed Viesturs on his list of ‘remote mentors’. We recently tried to book a short speaking engagement with Ed to speak to Mike from Washington State USA (Ed’s home town) , but alas – he is busy conquering mountains and is not available anytime soon…. We thought you might enjoy reading what was sent to Ed (twice) as well as followed up with some phone calls (yes we have his mobile.. – but now have to delete it lest he think we are some weird Aussie stalkers….).

Email below is self explanatory….   Sorry Mike – but we tried!

From: Dave Turner
Sent: Friday, 30 March 2012 5:36 PM
To: ‘*********@gmail.com’
Subject: Fellow Rock Star!

Hi Ed,

My name is Dave Turner, and like you we are Everest Rock Stars!

A team of mates – 7  in total – recently went to Nepal and had a trip of a lifetime. The only difference, we went all the way to the bottom of the tallest mountain in the world, whereas you prefer the top!

I believe you had a brief chat via email with our Team Leader Mike Lang  in January which went straight onto our blog https://theeverestrockstars.com/

[Quote from Ed]
“How cool! Go Everest Rockstars! Have a great climb of Kala Patar! Enjoy the journey! Enjoy the friendships! You all will have an amazing experience. Absorb the Sherpa culture-they are an amazing people. Ed”

 Mike is a HUGE fan of yours, and has been for years… (In fact we all are!). I have read No Shortcuts half a dozen times and also took the audio book on iPod and we actually listened to it when we were ‘climbing’ Kala Pathar near Gorek Shep. (BTW, the best thing about your Shortcut audio is that you narrate it – it allows us to connect with you and feel the words, well done!)

It was quite an emotional day, as we had a year in training for our event (we are all in business,  and are not elite athletes, thus needed plenty of training!) so listening to our hero as we reached one of our goals was very physically and emotionally rewarding.  Our trek started in Lukla 1^st March so was on tail end of winter, and our EBC day was -20c with 40 knot winds – which for a bunch of office folk – was quite the challenge..!  Still, this has made it all the more enjoyable as we feel we had to ‘earn’ our goal, it was not handed to us on a platter. Our Sherpas were awesome and are a truly amazing people. We had a 100% success rate achieving our goals, and this is no doubt because of how they led us (very slowly!) up the trails. Our best memories of the trip are of the people we met… In particular Mingma Sherpa in Dingboche… She has climbed Everest twice and has some amazing stories! We did take 100 rupees off her though in  a game of cards!
I have a small confession to make….Mike is so inspired by your achievements and balance on life, that he is a little gullible on all things Ed…. Whenever we got the chance on the trip we dropped in things like “We heard that Ed has an expedition to Nupste this season, maybe that’s his gear going up the mountain…” and the like, so at every corner Mike is searching the streets of Namche Bazar and checking out the bakeries and shops looking for you!  We had a bit of fun at his expense….

What I would like to ask you… Can I please book a short speaking arrangement?… Just a phone call to Mike, introducing yourself (he will be sceptical it is really you as he has fallen for quite a few Ed sightings….) and if you are comfortable, telling him what a great job he has done getting him and his team to EBC. I am more than happy to reimburse any costs  incurred. We are GMT+10 (BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA) so 3pm PDT (Pacific Daylight Time), should be 8am our time.  His cell number is +61 418 88****. He would be OVER THE MOON to receive your call (at any time – weekends included!) As a backup – his email address is mike@gleney.com
Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Please know that your drive to succeed has been inspirational for many many people who you will never meet, but the power of your words are awesome. I hope the weight is not too great a burden. I truly hope everybody finds people like yourself to look up to because you have enriched our lives with exciting adventures, and inspired us to do the same. Now I can say I have truly walked in your footsteps up to Ama Dablam Base Camp (my favourite mountain by far!) and Kala Patar and EBC….

Many thanks in advance,

Dave Turner

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