When you're early 2 a.m. climbing through the icefall and the sky's turning pink and I mean, it's just stunning.

When you're on top of Everest, it's like being in an airplane.

The raw beauty and the and the rareness of the air and just how exotic the landscape feels is what continues to pull me there and drive me to go back.

Dr. John Grodrowski is an adventure coach and seasoned mountaineer who helps athletes prepare for

their biggest expeditions. John holds a PhD in environmental geography, weather, and climate,

and he summited Mount Everest four times.

John knows firsthand how transformative the mountains can be, which is why he loves coaching people

on their own adventures, whether that's reaching the top of a local summit or taking on the

world's tallest peak at Mount Everest. I'm Shelby Stanger, and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living,

an REI Co-op Studios production presented by Capital One and the REI Co-Op MasterCard.

Dr. John Kodrowski, welcome to Wild Ideas Worth Living. You have surely lived some wild ideas.

Thanks, Shelby. It's good to see you. It's good to be here. Yeah, we actually connected at Running Man.

I'd heard of you many times before. Dr. John guided past guest Mike Posner up to Everest.

So you've done a lot of amazing things. I'm really curious, before we get into the Everest mindset and what you're known for,

how did you even get into outdoor adventure?

Do you remember the first time you went on a trip or an adventure that really changed

the way you think about things?

Yeah, I mean, I grew up in the mountains in Colorado, and so we had all the Colorado 14ers nearby.

And as like a young kid, my parents took me backpacking and camping and hunting and with my dad a lot.

And so I had the opportunity before the age of 10 to do numerous hiking and backpacking trips.

Every Friday was a ski day in the winter.

And so you walked across the ski bridge with your class on a Friday morning and we'd go skiing in January, February, and March.

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