1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,560 Speaker 1: Hello, Welcome to the NFL Players Podcast. I am a 2 00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:11,760 Speaker 1: nist Willie. It's a pleasure to have formal wide receiver 3 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:17,160 Speaker 1: Mark Patterson back with us on the podcast. For those unfamiliar, 4 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:22,280 Speaker 1: Mark Patterson is an NFL legend, an entrepreneur, currently an 5 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:26,400 Speaker 1: executive at Sports Illustrated, and one of two former NFL 6 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:30,560 Speaker 1: players to ever scale the Seventh Summits. If you like 7 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:34,160 Speaker 1: to hear more about Mark's story, pause here and check 8 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:40,279 Speaker 1: out episode seventy one on NFL Players Podcasts entitled Rescheduling 9 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:45,280 Speaker 1: Everest Today, Marcus here to discuss the last leg of 10 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:49,640 Speaker 1: his Seventh Summit journey, the sin of Mount Everest, and 11 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:54,880 Speaker 1: what life has been like ever since. Let's listen in Mark. 12 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: The last time we had you on the podcast was 13 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:02,440 Speaker 1: May of. You were set to complete your seventh Summit 14 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:07,480 Speaker 1: Journey when Mount Everest the highest mountain in the world 15 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:14,840 Speaker 1: at twenty nine thousand, thirty two. However, the world got 16 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: undersieged by COVID. Everything changed. You didn't plan it. You 17 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:23,680 Speaker 1: share with us how the pandemic force you to postpone 18 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:28,760 Speaker 1: the climb for an entire year. Fast forward to May of, 19 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:35,800 Speaker 1: It's goal time. You're on the precipice of as sending 20 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:40,640 Speaker 1: lucky number seven. I remember last time on our podcast 21 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 1: you touched on how important visualization is. Take us into 22 00:01:45,959 --> 00:01:51,520 Speaker 1: your head. It's you and everest now help us to 23 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:56,520 Speaker 1: see what you see. Well, and ya, thank you for 24 00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: being on the pod. I really appreciate it. And uh, 25 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 1: you know, lots going on since we last talked, And 26 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:05,559 Speaker 1: you're right, visualization is so much of it. And until 27 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:09,560 Speaker 1: you get up to you know, the death zone camp 28 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:14,679 Speaker 1: for five feet, it's just a test of nothing else 29 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:18,080 Speaker 1: and just endurance, right, And that's something I didn't quite 30 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:21,840 Speaker 1: factor in in all this. Uh. I think the biggest 31 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: surprise for everybody's how long you're on that mountain. I 32 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: was up there for two months. That's a long time 33 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:31,160 Speaker 1: to be somewhere at seventeen thousand, five hundred feet. Will 34 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:33,840 Speaker 1: start there, working our way up to base camp, which 35 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 1: is at that that altitude. Every night going to bed 36 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: and sub zero temperatures, climbing into a sleeping bag, sleeping 37 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:44,960 Speaker 1: on ice, sleeping on rocks, always going into that sleeping 38 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:49,639 Speaker 1: bag with a beanie gloves full park. You know, things 39 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:52,639 Speaker 1: on your on your on your legs to keep yourself warm, 40 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 1: socks and then climbing up and and you're not eating 41 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:59,680 Speaker 1: at the most gormet restaurants up there. In addition to 42 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:02,400 Speaker 1: the at uh, this was literally every day we had 43 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:05,040 Speaker 1: to avalanches coming down on us. And you know, the 44 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:09,160 Speaker 1: first week, um, it's terrifying. You know, you run out 45 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:10,720 Speaker 1: of your tent, like where you're gonna go, where you're 46 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:14,359 Speaker 1: gonna hide and and uh, and after about a week 47 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:16,520 Speaker 1: of that, it's just you realize there's no place to run, 48 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: there's no place to hide, and so you just stay 49 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 1: in your tent and like if you get hit, you 50 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: get hit, and that's just the way it is. And 51 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:25,320 Speaker 1: then you know, as you as you get into the 52 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:29,240 Speaker 1: ice fall, which is called a Kumba ice fall, is 53 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:32,200 Speaker 1: a this is now coming right out of every space camp. 54 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 1: It's two thousand feet straight up from seventeen five up 55 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:39,840 Speaker 1: to nineteen five to Camp one, and it's it's literally 56 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:43,760 Speaker 1: straight up and you're dealing with these gigantic thirtyt ice 57 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 1: walls ice columns that are constantly collapsing. I had to 58 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 1: go through that thing six times, and um, every single 59 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 1: time I went through it, it was a new route. Uh. 60 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:56,360 Speaker 1: It was a new route because it's a glacier, and 61 00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:59,040 Speaker 1: a glacier means it's a frozen river, and because it 62 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 1: warms up during the day, all these ice columns and 63 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:05,160 Speaker 1: big rocks and everything else come down on you. And 64 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:08,120 Speaker 1: so you know you're navigating through a lot of people 65 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:10,560 Speaker 1: get hurt, a lot of people get killed. Um. I 66 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:14,880 Speaker 1: fell off a ladder backwards, hit my head. UM. Surprised, 67 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 1: lucky that you know, something worse didn't happen. And then 68 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 1: and then you know, the just kind of the unknown 69 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:23,640 Speaker 1: COVID hit camp up there big time and knocked a 70 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:26,200 Speaker 1: lot of expedition parties off. And then we had two 71 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 1: cyclones today. So when you and I talked again in 72 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:33,240 Speaker 1: twenty right, we weren't talking about cyclones. We weren't when 73 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:34,880 Speaker 1: we were talking about COVID. But I think we all 74 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:37,479 Speaker 1: thought it would be over by then, And I wasn't 75 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 1: talking about avalanches coming down and ice falls collapsing, and 76 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 1: falling off ladders and climbing up sixty ft ice ice 77 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:48,039 Speaker 1: ice walls. These are all things that because I didn't 78 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:50,479 Speaker 1: have the experience on that mountain, it was just all 79 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:52,760 Speaker 1: new for me, and I had to go through that 80 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:55,720 Speaker 1: and mail and get my head around that. But Mark 81 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:58,200 Speaker 1: you met Jerry Real and you say you were a surprised. 82 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:00,680 Speaker 1: You said, you know about the endurance and those things. 83 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:05,400 Speaker 1: You hadn't experienced this mountain but other people had, so 84 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:09,240 Speaker 1: I know you did your homework. What was the biggest surprise. 85 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: It's just it's just a different deal, you know. It's 86 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:15,719 Speaker 1: just like you know, we're we're till we're talking ball, 87 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:17,640 Speaker 1: you know, in terms of this is what this pod 88 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:20,040 Speaker 1: is about. You know, ex former players coming on and 89 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:22,640 Speaker 1: chatting with you, and you know, I I spent a 90 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 1: ton of time. I literally saw every YouTube video there was, 91 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:29,000 Speaker 1: you know, just see to really scout it out. But 92 00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:32,040 Speaker 1: until you're in it and you feel that small and 93 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:34,960 Speaker 1: you've always seen it and you've seen it in movies, 94 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:36,839 Speaker 1: you've seen it on TV shows, and you've seen it 95 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:39,720 Speaker 1: on this YouTube video, it's just a different deal. Just 96 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:41,680 Speaker 1: like when you're playing the NFL as a kid, you're 97 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:44,320 Speaker 1: watching it on the field until you get out there, 98 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:46,279 Speaker 1: right and they blow the whistle and you kick off 99 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:49,159 Speaker 1: and run down and you get whacked by somebody like you. 100 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:52,160 Speaker 1: It's a different game, right, and like, wow, welcome to 101 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:54,479 Speaker 1: the NFL. You know, that's that's the type of thing. 102 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 1: So what what did you learn through it? Now looking 103 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:01,599 Speaker 1: back telling me this experience. Yes, we headed a football. 104 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:04,719 Speaker 1: It's nothing like until you go on the field. One 105 00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 1: life lesson have you taken just from this aspect of 106 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:13,000 Speaker 1: it what we're talking about, Well, I mean getting back here. 107 00:06:13,279 --> 00:06:15,720 Speaker 1: I think to me, it ties back into your first question, 108 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 1: like you know, you get up there and you're ready 109 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 1: to take that on and you know we're we It 110 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:25,680 Speaker 1: was very tricky in terms of us even getting into 111 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 1: that position. And so what it took is a heck 112 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:31,200 Speaker 1: of my mindset, you know, to make sure that this 113 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:36,480 Speaker 1: thing could actually happen. And I had trained um extremely hard, 114 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:39,000 Speaker 1: mostly here in some valley Ida who had six thousand 115 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:41,480 Speaker 1: feet and going up and down the mountain and going 116 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:44,000 Speaker 1: up and down the mountain to train my body. And 117 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:45,680 Speaker 1: I had to tap in at the end of the day. 118 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:47,839 Speaker 1: I had to tap into all those chips I'd put 119 00:06:47,839 --> 00:06:50,680 Speaker 1: in the bank. And so having a very strong mental 120 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:55,680 Speaker 1: u mindset of being able to overcome everything. And what 121 00:06:55,920 --> 00:06:58,960 Speaker 1: happened to me when I set out at twelve thirty 122 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:03,880 Speaker 1: in the morning on May days ago was we had 123 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:07,240 Speaker 1: a strong wind blown and left right with all these 124 00:07:07,279 --> 00:07:10,720 Speaker 1: ice particles, and I wasn't wearing the right kind of 125 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:14,320 Speaker 1: of of eyewear, and I end up getting snowblind in 126 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 1: the first hour. Okay, so that was number one. Number 127 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:20,960 Speaker 1: two is I hadn't been eating really anything in the 128 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:23,800 Speaker 1: previous thirty six hours because we thought we'd be summiting 129 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:27,200 Speaker 1: around and so I had to run out of food 130 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:30,720 Speaker 1: and we're eating this freeze dried stuff that is like 131 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:33,240 Speaker 1: sawt ust with hot water on and my system just 132 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 1: didn't take well to it. So I was whatever I 133 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,080 Speaker 1: was putting down, I was coming back up. So I 134 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:41,440 Speaker 1: was running on very little energy. And you just can't 135 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 1: underestimate how steep going from twenty six thousand up to 136 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: nine thousand two feet is and so the entire time 137 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:52,280 Speaker 1: it's just a the steepest lab you can possibly manage, 138 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:54,440 Speaker 1: and it's just a grind. And I was just not 139 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:57,440 Speaker 1: on my game on that particular day. And and where 140 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:01,840 Speaker 1: that um a snowblindness really kicked in, which was very difficult, 141 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:04,320 Speaker 1: is as you get to the top third of the mountain, 142 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:07,200 Speaker 1: you're going through something called the Hilary step. A lot 143 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:10,720 Speaker 1: of famous things have happened up there, and as you're 144 00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: reaching down to try to clip in, uh, your care 145 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:18,040 Speaker 1: of beaner, which is attached to your waist on this harness, 146 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 1: to a fixed line that is tied to the mountain. Um. 147 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:25,200 Speaker 1: That was hard enough because my depth perception. But there's 148 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:28,960 Speaker 1: also five other roach land there too from past expeditions 149 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:32,079 Speaker 1: that are frayed and cut, and so if you don't 150 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:35,120 Speaker 1: tie into the right line, you know, you can find 151 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:38,360 Speaker 1: yourself twelve thousand feet straight down. You're looking at Tibet, 152 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:40,679 Speaker 1: you know, down the other side. Not to mention, I'm 153 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:43,080 Speaker 1: stepping over dead bodies, you know, and one of which 154 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:47,400 Speaker 1: was my tentmate um in Antarctica, Don Cash. And so 155 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 1: I was fighting, like all these different elements of going, 156 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:53,679 Speaker 1: and I just kept saying, you know, I just keep going, 157 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:57,200 Speaker 1: keep going, don't quit, don't give up. There's so many 158 00:08:57,200 --> 00:09:00,559 Speaker 1: people out there, like my daughter, both my daughter's but 159 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:03,160 Speaker 1: my daughter and Millie who is epilepsy and she's gone 160 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:05,240 Speaker 1: through so much and if she doesn't quit, I'm not 161 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:07,880 Speaker 1: going to quit. And so it became just a complete 162 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:10,400 Speaker 1: battle of trying to get myself off that mountain in 163 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:15,200 Speaker 1: one piece. So we know, you prepare it physically. I'm 164 00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:17,880 Speaker 1: hearing you how you were able to continue to going. 165 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:23,840 Speaker 1: You at self talk, How did you practice the mental 166 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:26,640 Speaker 1: point of it? You know, And I really believe this 167 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:29,400 Speaker 1: that it goes back to for me. You know, there 168 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:31,760 Speaker 1: was no other football player up there, and then I'm 169 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:35,080 Speaker 1: in a small club of people have actually pulled this 170 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:38,520 Speaker 1: off as being a former NFL guy. But but I 171 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:41,520 Speaker 1: really believe it is from my preparation what my coaches 172 00:09:41,559 --> 00:09:43,680 Speaker 1: taught me back in the day, my Hall of Fame 173 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:47,800 Speaker 1: coaches from from Tom Flores, you know, Jim Moore, senior, 174 00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:52,079 Speaker 1: Don James, my college coach, and others, about what it 175 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:55,360 Speaker 1: takes to excel on the field, to keep going to 176 00:09:55,480 --> 00:09:59,040 Speaker 1: don't quit no matter what um. And that's really what 177 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:01,160 Speaker 1: I had to tap in too. And like I said, 178 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:03,240 Speaker 1: I don't think I would have got there if I 179 00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:07,400 Speaker 1: hadn't prepared my body to go to depths that I 180 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:10,199 Speaker 1: didn't know I even had right to pull this up. 181 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:12,280 Speaker 1: And the other thing I didn't tell you too, is 182 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:16,200 Speaker 1: when you're at twenty six thousand feet plus, it's called 183 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:19,200 Speaker 1: the death zone for particular reasons, because you're you're you're 184 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:22,439 Speaker 1: you're actually you're you're dying. Your body is going backwards. 185 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:25,760 Speaker 1: And and I had run out of oxygen on the 186 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:29,880 Speaker 1: mountain and so this is coming down about five and 187 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:32,760 Speaker 1: I literally was gasping for ever trying to get back. 188 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:34,760 Speaker 1: And then even once I got back and I got 189 00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:37,280 Speaker 1: a new tank, uh at, because I spent the night 190 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:40,520 Speaker 1: at twenty success from five hundred through a series of mishaps, 191 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:44,400 Speaker 1: I ended up spending the entire night with no oxygen 192 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:47,160 Speaker 1: and I was hallucinating, I was going through all kinds 193 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:49,240 Speaker 1: of stuff. And then I ended up going down the 194 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:52,640 Speaker 1: mountain by myself, which wasn't supposed to happen. And it's 195 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:55,160 Speaker 1: the steepest of the steep that you can possibly imagine. 196 00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:57,960 Speaker 1: So this is where a lot of times people die 197 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:00,720 Speaker 1: is when they are coming back down the mountain because 198 00:11:00,760 --> 00:11:04,319 Speaker 1: you're so fatigued and you're you're not checking in with yourself, 199 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:06,960 Speaker 1: you're not clipping in, and people fall over and they 200 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:09,400 Speaker 1: just can't make it. And you know, I tell you, 201 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:12,000 Speaker 1: I've never been to that edge before. And there's not 202 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:14,040 Speaker 1: many times at least of my life where I was 203 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:16,960 Speaker 1: I was saying, today is not the day that Mark dies. 204 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:19,079 Speaker 1: I've got to keep going. Today is not the day 205 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:20,640 Speaker 1: that Mark dies. And I don't know, I mean, I've 206 00:11:20,679 --> 00:11:23,080 Speaker 1: never said that to myself, but it happened to me 207 00:11:23,160 --> 00:11:26,199 Speaker 1: coming down that mountain, so Mark, I was dragging a 208 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:35,880 Speaker 1: question point why, a great question? Why? I know a 209 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:38,440 Speaker 1: lot of people, you know. Look, I've always been I've 210 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:41,040 Speaker 1: always set some some big goals, you know, And and 211 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:45,480 Speaker 1: from from from going and playing at Washington, and and 212 00:11:45,679 --> 00:11:48,120 Speaker 1: it really taught me to think big, especially when I 213 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:50,839 Speaker 1: hit the NFL and Ellen Davis and playing with the 214 00:11:50,920 --> 00:11:54,079 Speaker 1: Raiders and seeing how big big business works and like 215 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:57,440 Speaker 1: you can do. And I kept asking myself like why 216 00:11:57,480 --> 00:11:59,280 Speaker 1: not me? Why can't I be the guy to be 217 00:11:59,640 --> 00:12:02,440 Speaker 1: the start Aready went receiver? Why can't I make the NFL? 218 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:05,240 Speaker 1: Why can't I be an executive sports illustrated? Why can't 219 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:08,320 Speaker 1: I climb out? Ever? And these other six mountains I 220 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:11,120 Speaker 1: got there. I don't know if you remember this, but 221 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:13,040 Speaker 1: when we originally talked to I think you asked the 222 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:15,560 Speaker 1: question like, how did you get into climbing Wally? You know? 223 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:17,920 Speaker 1: And And the reason was because I was going through 224 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:20,200 Speaker 1: a tough time. And look, we all go through rough patches, 225 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:23,320 Speaker 1: and and the only thing, after being stuck in this 226 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:25,360 Speaker 1: place for a couple of years that I could find 227 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:27,640 Speaker 1: myself out of it was put the biggest goal I 228 00:12:27,679 --> 00:12:29,720 Speaker 1: could possibly think of, and I wanted to do something 229 00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:33,120 Speaker 1: athletic because I always stayed active. And so I said, 230 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:35,880 Speaker 1: can I play in the NFL still? And the answers 231 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:38,880 Speaker 1: now and they won't let me back in. And so 232 00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:42,760 Speaker 1: growing up in Seattle, Washington, I'm sure you played up 233 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:45,000 Speaker 1: there many times. And you've got Mount Raineer out there 234 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:47,480 Speaker 1: and all these mountains around and I had, So I 235 00:12:47,480 --> 00:12:50,160 Speaker 1: had grown up a lot of legends that had had 236 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:52,600 Speaker 1: some of the many of these mountains around the world, 237 00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:56,040 Speaker 1: including the Mount Everest, and I typed in the computers 238 00:12:56,040 --> 00:12:58,880 Speaker 1: any NFL player ever climbed the seventh Summers I said, 239 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:00,960 Speaker 1: I'm gonna be that guy. And it really helped me 240 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:05,200 Speaker 1: pull myself out of that dark place and into the 241 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:08,960 Speaker 1: light and through nature just calming me. And and all 242 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:12,560 Speaker 1: the gifts have come, um, I mean many many gifts, 243 00:13:12,559 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 1: non financial, but many gifts in terms of what this 244 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:18,760 Speaker 1: journey has meant to me. So that's the reason why 245 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:21,080 Speaker 1: I got into it. So you're going through a challenging 246 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:25,640 Speaker 1: time of your life, and your antidote is to do 247 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:32,400 Speaker 1: something enormously physically challenging. That that was your thoughts. Yeah, 248 00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:35,480 Speaker 1: it was my thoughts because I I just I had 249 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:38,880 Speaker 1: to distract myself as something I could get really excited about, 250 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:41,400 Speaker 1: and I had to step into the fear and do 251 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:44,360 Speaker 1: something that I had never done before and never done 252 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:47,160 Speaker 1: high altitude mountain climbing. I didn't know anything about it. 253 00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:50,120 Speaker 1: I didn't even know where to start. And so by 254 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:53,200 Speaker 1: putting my energy in that, you know, there's this whole 255 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:57,319 Speaker 1: saying that where your where your focus goes, your energy 256 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:00,000 Speaker 1: always follows. And so my energy all of a sudden 257 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:02,880 Speaker 1: and my focus went towards something I was really excited about, 258 00:14:03,160 --> 00:14:04,760 Speaker 1: like what was going to happen, And then it just 259 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:06,920 Speaker 1: took me into this whole new world and meeting people. 260 00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:09,240 Speaker 1: And now I've been literally all over the globe. I've 261 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:11,960 Speaker 1: been on seven contons. Seven summons represent of the seven 262 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:15,880 Speaker 1: highest peaks. I've been the most extreme conditions. I thought 263 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:18,319 Speaker 1: when I originally started this, and the is is that 264 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:21,400 Speaker 1: it would be seven summons seven years, but I didn't 265 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:24,440 Speaker 1: factor in mother nature and code um. In two thousand 266 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:27,600 Speaker 1: and seventeen, I was knocked off Dennelle, which is the 267 00:14:27,680 --> 00:14:31,040 Speaker 1: highest mountain up in North America and in Alaska, by 268 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:34,520 Speaker 1: minus eighty degree weather. And so again it's just like 269 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:36,400 Speaker 1: the grit that you've gotta have to come together and 270 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:42,200 Speaker 1: sleeping and being really uncomfortable, um, you know, and suffer. Um. 271 00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:44,120 Speaker 1: Is this something. I came down and I said, I 272 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:45,920 Speaker 1: can't quit this goal. I can't quit this goal. So 273 00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:48,280 Speaker 1: two eighteen I came back and I was able to 274 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:50,640 Speaker 1: summon it. And then just like when we talked in 275 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:53,200 Speaker 1: two thousand twenty, I was all set to go, and 276 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:55,760 Speaker 1: then the whole world, as you know, shut down one 277 00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:58,640 Speaker 1: by one. And I put so much into this one goal. 278 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:01,360 Speaker 1: Would be like, you're gonna playing the super Bowl, and 279 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:03,840 Speaker 1: now the super Bowl gets canceled? So what are you 280 00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:07,640 Speaker 1: gonna do? And it's just I reset my mind about 281 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:09,000 Speaker 1: a week later and said, you know what, I'm going 282 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:12,560 Speaker 1: to create an opportunity out of this disappointment and I'm 283 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:15,600 Speaker 1: going to train even harder for what this is gonna be. 284 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:17,880 Speaker 1: And that's what I did. And you know, here I 285 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:20,800 Speaker 1: sit now in this place of having just come off 286 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 1: Mountain Everest, which you know, I look back on it 287 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:25,360 Speaker 1: and I just I pinched myself because I was so 288 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:27,440 Speaker 1: much But I just had to do with luck of 289 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:29,600 Speaker 1: the weather because we had this cyclone that hit us 290 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:33,080 Speaker 1: on the before and after that we came up the mountain. 291 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:45,160 Speaker 1: So Mark, when what was the light facing depth? You 292 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:52,720 Speaker 1: could have died what what I was? I was. I 293 00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:54,840 Speaker 1: was just the last person up on that mountain and 294 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:56,360 Speaker 1: I was the last person to come off. I was 295 00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 1: the only person. I was the last person on that mountain. 296 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:01,120 Speaker 1: I was the last person standing on top of that world. 297 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:03,200 Speaker 1: It was just me and I had a shirt and 298 00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:07,360 Speaker 1: my sharp was I couldn't understand the English number one, 299 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:09,760 Speaker 1: and so I had a hard time communicating at this 300 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:13,560 Speaker 1: I issue that couldn't see and um number two. He 301 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:15,680 Speaker 1: was in a big, big time hurry to get back 302 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:17,720 Speaker 1: down the mountain because that he had plenty of energy 303 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:19,880 Speaker 1: and he was doing great, and I just wasn't happen. 304 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:22,120 Speaker 1: I mean, we all bunk, you know, at certain times, 305 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:25,880 Speaker 1: and that's what happened to me. And I was I 306 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:29,200 Speaker 1: was a part of a charity program that I'm involved 307 00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:32,360 Speaker 1: with here in in some valley UM called Higher Ground, 308 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:34,840 Speaker 1: and it's a big, big fundraiser. Got up in front 309 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:38,280 Speaker 1: of everybody, and honestly it was like PTSD to a 310 00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:40,880 Speaker 1: certain expense because I showed this photo of me up 311 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:43,000 Speaker 1: on top of the mountain, and then I was talking 312 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:44,960 Speaker 1: about what that was like to try to get off 313 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:47,160 Speaker 1: the mountain, right, because people said, what's it like when 314 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:48,600 Speaker 1: you get out on and you know, you think you'd 315 00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:50,480 Speaker 1: be up there, like you just scored a touchdown and 316 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:53,080 Speaker 1: hands in the air, and I was like, good God, 317 00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:55,800 Speaker 1: now I gotta go all the way back down. And 318 00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:58,400 Speaker 1: I felt the moan out there, and um, you know it, 319 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:01,960 Speaker 1: it was very emotional from me, and in front of 320 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:05,200 Speaker 1: all these people, you know, I I shed some tears 321 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:08,920 Speaker 1: and and and it's like this still this connection between 322 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:12,640 Speaker 1: fighting for my daughter um and knowing that she wouldn't 323 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:16,520 Speaker 1: quit because she has epilepsy, and my survival of Now 324 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:18,200 Speaker 1: I got to figure out how to get all the 325 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:20,280 Speaker 1: way down, and you know, I really framed it up 326 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:22,879 Speaker 1: because at the end of the day, I actually failed 327 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:26,160 Speaker 1: on my goal. My goal was on that particular day 328 00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:29,360 Speaker 1: was to climb Mount Everest, come down, calling my tent, 329 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:31,720 Speaker 1: and then go back up and climb loads to the 330 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:33,960 Speaker 1: fourth highest mountain in the world. And as I was 331 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:36,600 Speaker 1: coming down that mountain and I was facing you know, 332 00:17:36,760 --> 00:17:39,479 Speaker 1: no oxygen, I was sliding on my butt down the mountain, 333 00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:42,480 Speaker 1: um trying to get back to the base camp. And 334 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:44,520 Speaker 1: I was just like if I do that mountain, I 335 00:17:44,520 --> 00:17:46,480 Speaker 1: will for sure die. And I had to go back 336 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:49,680 Speaker 1: to the original goal, which is just you know, everest 337 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:52,879 Speaker 1: is the prize loads thees is to throw in. But 338 00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:55,080 Speaker 1: I had to, like my ego, had to cough that 339 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:57,639 Speaker 1: up and say, you know, there's other things out there. 340 00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:00,000 Speaker 1: They are more important, like my kids and the girl 341 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:03,080 Speaker 1: alm with my my my mom and you know, my friends. 342 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:05,720 Speaker 1: And I felt so much love and support out there 343 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:09,080 Speaker 1: from all the people that were that we're coming in 344 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:11,400 Speaker 1: on Instagram and other places and rooting me on when 345 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:14,560 Speaker 1: I've seen those things, you know, a week before. But 346 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:16,679 Speaker 1: I just felt like, you know, that was that and 347 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:19,080 Speaker 1: it's just a mad It's just amazing that when you 348 00:18:19,119 --> 00:18:21,959 Speaker 1: are faced with you, if I lay down right now 349 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:26,639 Speaker 1: and I don't keep moving, um, I'm gonna die. I 350 00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:29,679 Speaker 1: gotta tell you this, this, this this great quote I 351 00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:33,359 Speaker 1: heard from Martin Luther King that that just really moved me. 352 00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:36,920 Speaker 1: And he said, um, if you can't fly, then run. 353 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:40,240 Speaker 1: If you can't run, then walk. If you can't walk, 354 00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:44,239 Speaker 1: then crawl. But whatever you do, keep moving. And that 355 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:46,240 Speaker 1: is the one thing that I just no matter what 356 00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:48,680 Speaker 1: I knew, if I laid down and just like let 357 00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:51,560 Speaker 1: me just take a ten min a nap. You know, 358 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:55,480 Speaker 1: I'd never come down that mountain, So I mean it 359 00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:59,960 Speaker 1: was it was real. It was real, which was hard 360 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:05,960 Speaker 1: and coming down that's a great question. They were they 361 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:08,080 Speaker 1: were both equal to me because going up was so 362 00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:10,159 Speaker 1: steep and I had no energy. I mean, I was 363 00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:13,600 Speaker 1: only I was. I was existing on these small little candies. 364 00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:16,200 Speaker 1: That was it going. And I was out there and 365 00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:19,120 Speaker 1: for eighteen hours. I mean think about like for as 366 00:19:19,119 --> 00:19:23,199 Speaker 1: football players, you know, we're not durance athletes necessarily. We 367 00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:26,359 Speaker 1: were going We're sprint guys, right, you know you're a 368 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:29,280 Speaker 1: dB I was. I was a receiver, and so it's 369 00:19:29,320 --> 00:19:31,520 Speaker 1: forty yard desk when you come back and you reaset 370 00:19:31,560 --> 00:19:34,879 Speaker 1: forty yards and you reset. But eighteen hours for anybody 371 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:37,080 Speaker 1: is a long time to be exposed, especially at the 372 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:40,200 Speaker 1: top of the world. And getting up there was just 373 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:43,520 Speaker 1: like all I could do, and then getting down just 374 00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:45,679 Speaker 1: it seemed like it became even harder because I was 375 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:48,600 Speaker 1: out there for all that time. And the only fortunate 376 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:51,560 Speaker 1: thing for of that day is that the weather had 377 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:56,560 Speaker 1: been awful, uh for the month of May except for 378 00:19:56,640 --> 00:19:59,920 Speaker 1: that day and the day after the cyclone hit it 379 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,520 Speaker 1: in and dumped another four feet as snow. So the 380 00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:05,560 Speaker 1: amount of luck that had to play, Like if the 381 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:07,600 Speaker 1: cyclone had hit, and then we would have been back 382 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:10,480 Speaker 1: into an in the thin air situation where it was 383 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:13,520 Speaker 1: the superstorm that came in. In the condition I was in, 384 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:16,280 Speaker 1: I doubt it would have made it off. You doubt 385 00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:21,199 Speaker 1: you would have made it off. Yeah, I'm thinking of 386 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:26,200 Speaker 1: guys who played in the National Football League legends if 387 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:29,440 Speaker 1: we would, if our careers would be getting to the top. 388 00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:36,919 Speaker 1: I'm hearing some kind of connection to how guys feel 389 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:44,000 Speaker 1: when they finished plan going down any point comes to 390 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:47,000 Speaker 1: mind as you hear me connect those two just as 391 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:49,200 Speaker 1: you were telling a story. That's what was going through 392 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:52,119 Speaker 1: my mind. As far as the legend. Yeah, you know, 393 00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:56,320 Speaker 1: you're actually you're really insightful. Nobody's asking that question, But 394 00:20:56,760 --> 00:20:59,439 Speaker 1: I think I want to first say I want to 395 00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:03,480 Speaker 1: credit trust UM and all the people involved in the 396 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:06,959 Speaker 1: NFL for the programs they have developed today, which, as 397 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:09,240 Speaker 1: you know, many many years ago, when I came out, 398 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:12,560 Speaker 1: there were no programs. You just went off the cliff 399 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:17,000 Speaker 1: and UM and so again I was on that cliff 400 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:20,199 Speaker 1: right and for two years I was lost, and as 401 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:22,800 Speaker 1: I was coming down that mountain. You know, I felt 402 00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:24,600 Speaker 1: lost because my shirt would left me and I was 403 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:27,560 Speaker 1: the only one up there, you know, coming down, and 404 00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:31,159 Speaker 1: it's a scary feeling because it is straight down and 405 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:34,280 Speaker 1: any mistake you make, it's over. And not just to 406 00:21:34,359 --> 00:21:37,080 Speaker 1: me just falling over and and and dying like my 407 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:41,400 Speaker 1: tentmate from two thousand and nineteen when he died up there. Um. 408 00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:47,240 Speaker 1: But but just avalanches. Um, you don't clip in and 409 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:50,800 Speaker 1: you trip, you know you're done. There's all these variables 410 00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:53,040 Speaker 1: that come into it, you know, just the the aralone. 411 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:55,000 Speaker 1: You there's something when you get up to that altitude 412 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:59,440 Speaker 1: called cerebral which is your brain, adma impulmonary, which is 413 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:02,160 Speaker 1: your lungs, a deema. That's where because you're at such 414 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:04,720 Speaker 1: high altitude and you have hardly any oxygen, your brain 415 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:07,199 Speaker 1: or your lungs swell. And that's why I got so 416 00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:10,159 Speaker 1: lucky on that particular night. Um, when I spent the 417 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,320 Speaker 1: night they could. A super came in about ten o'clock 418 00:22:13,359 --> 00:22:16,560 Speaker 1: and said, you know, is everything okay? And I said, 419 00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:18,840 Speaker 1: I ran out of oxygen. He goes, well, we ran out, 420 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:22,359 Speaker 1: he can't have any And I'm like, they hadn't, But 421 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:25,040 Speaker 1: that's what he told me. And I don't know why 422 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:26,439 Speaker 1: he told me that, but that's what he told me. 423 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:28,639 Speaker 1: So I spent the entire night. So just the fact that, 424 00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:31,560 Speaker 1: forget the mountain and everything we've been talking about, just 425 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:35,399 Speaker 1: the fact that I survived, you know, another ten hours 426 00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:39,639 Speaker 1: in my tent with no oxygen was a miracle, you know. 427 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:43,040 Speaker 1: And so going back to your question, I was lost 428 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:47,240 Speaker 1: for a couple of years, um and trying to struggle 429 00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:49,000 Speaker 1: and find a way and find a way and find 430 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:51,479 Speaker 1: a way. But what I did find is that you 431 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:53,520 Speaker 1: just can't give up. You got to keep going no 432 00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:56,080 Speaker 1: matter what. And that's what I did, whatever it was 433 00:22:56,119 --> 00:22:58,720 Speaker 1: twenty plus years ago, and that's what I did, you know, 434 00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:01,159 Speaker 1: forty five days ago. He was just I can't give up, Ia, 435 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:03,800 Speaker 1: just keep going. After you did the challenges you met 436 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:06,639 Speaker 1: your earlier and you said because a dark time I 437 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:10,399 Speaker 1: was going through. And once you created these challenges and 438 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:15,440 Speaker 1: you begin focusing on these mountains, did it give you 439 00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:20,159 Speaker 1: clarity to be able to deal with the darkness that 440 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:25,800 Speaker 1: precipitated this? Yeah, it sure did. And that's another fantastic question. 441 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:28,520 Speaker 1: And it you know, at first you were going through 442 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:30,159 Speaker 1: the pain, and how am I going to go forward 443 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:32,040 Speaker 1: and and what it was I was going through a 444 00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:34,200 Speaker 1: painful divorce. And so I know a lot of guys 445 00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:37,240 Speaker 1: that are listening to this pod, either a friends or themselves, 446 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:38,960 Speaker 1: have gone through this, and so for me it was 447 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,159 Speaker 1: tough to break up the family and everything. But you know, 448 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:44,600 Speaker 1: ultimately I got over that and move forward. And there's 449 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:47,440 Speaker 1: this funny little thank called perspective. And as I got 450 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:50,280 Speaker 1: traveling around the world and I started getting involved in 451 00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:53,280 Speaker 1: in various charities. The first one was with Chris Long 452 00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:56,040 Speaker 1: and I was in the first class of water Boys, 453 00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:58,440 Speaker 1: and so I went down to Tanzania and we went 454 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:02,919 Speaker 1: into the Serengetti, which is the desert down there, and 455 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:07,480 Speaker 1: in Tanzanian visits the people of the Massi tribe and 456 00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:10,520 Speaker 1: it's just so interesting that, you know, they're one of 457 00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:13,560 Speaker 1: the poorest countries in the world and they have so 458 00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:16,399 Speaker 1: little their currency as a goat, yet they're one of 459 00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:19,040 Speaker 1: the happiest people I've ever ever been around. And then 460 00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:22,359 Speaker 1: I just experienced the same thing with in Nepal with 461 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:25,760 Speaker 1: all the sharp all they use Napoleon East people, you know, 462 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:28,040 Speaker 1: they make there there. I mean, I think they're lucky 463 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:31,120 Speaker 1: if they pull in, you know, six to ten dollars 464 00:24:31,119 --> 00:24:35,080 Speaker 1: a year totally, and yet they are so happy, and 465 00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:38,600 Speaker 1: they're so grateful, and every time you say anything to them, 466 00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:41,919 Speaker 1: they're so you know, there's they're so loving and kind 467 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:44,280 Speaker 1: and and you know that the audience can't see this, 468 00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:47,399 Speaker 1: but I've got these um these cords around the neck, 469 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:50,360 Speaker 1: and I was blessed twice by by these holy Lamas 470 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:53,480 Speaker 1: that where grant can stay passage and blessings to me 471 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:56,000 Speaker 1: to make it up and down, you know, Mount Everest, 472 00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:59,040 Speaker 1: and it's just such an enduring thing. So you know, 473 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:01,680 Speaker 1: to your question, Yeah, I thought I was in over 474 00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:03,760 Speaker 1: my head and how could I ever survive this and 475 00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:05,440 Speaker 1: all this stuff? When I was going through my bad 476 00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:08,200 Speaker 1: patchman with a little bit of perspective, was going, well, 477 00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:09,920 Speaker 1: I might be going through a kind of row pass, 478 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:11,359 Speaker 1: but I got a way better than a lot of 479 00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:14,320 Speaker 1: these other people, you know, through the world. Yeah. The 480 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:17,080 Speaker 1: other thing I'm hearing what you got in your tight spots. 481 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:22,320 Speaker 1: You were not the only person going up the mountain. 482 00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:25,840 Speaker 1: It sounds like it was your daughter. It was other 483 00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:29,800 Speaker 1: people as well that you were thinking about. Tell me 484 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:34,040 Speaker 1: about that. I had to as a as a this this, 485 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:36,840 Speaker 1: I mean, this was going in both directions, but I 486 00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:39,720 Speaker 1: could only go like ten steps at a time. So 487 00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:42,320 Speaker 1: I go, Okay, give me ten steps, and I go 488 00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:44,600 Speaker 1: ten steps and then I sit through on one knee 489 00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:47,480 Speaker 1: and rest for another couple of minutes. I go, okay, 490 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:50,600 Speaker 1: Amelia wouldn't quit, so I gotta take another ten steps. 491 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:53,040 Speaker 1: So I go another ten steps and then rest on 492 00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:56,399 Speaker 1: another for another couple of months. I got my other daughter, Claudette. 493 00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:59,800 Speaker 1: I go, Claudette would never quit. She needs me going 494 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:03,000 Speaker 1: on point ten steps and and I just did the 495 00:26:03,119 --> 00:26:06,239 Speaker 1: same pattern over and over and over and over and 496 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:10,359 Speaker 1: over for eighteen hours. And it seems crazy, but I 497 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:13,480 Speaker 1: just you know, you you're not talking to anybody. You're 498 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:15,960 Speaker 1: all alone out there. I've got a shirt, but who 499 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:19,320 Speaker 1: can't communicate in English? And he's just an arrush to 500 00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:22,040 Speaker 1: get up and get back down. And so it's just me, 501 00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:27,080 Speaker 1: like I had to self motivate myself through mentally this 502 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:30,480 Speaker 1: mental gymnastics with all these people, and I was going 503 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:33,639 Speaker 1: through all the categories, the cousins, the mom that you know, daughters, 504 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:36,399 Speaker 1: all these people, and it was just that the supply 505 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:39,800 Speaker 1: was endless. And like I said before, it was amazing 506 00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:45,000 Speaker 1: too to see and feel all the support that I 507 00:26:45,119 --> 00:26:49,000 Speaker 1: received mostly on Instagram. Um, I mean people by the 508 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:51,880 Speaker 1: hundreds coming into port the journey and whatever I said 509 00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:55,000 Speaker 1: or however I was saying that it really seems to 510 00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:58,720 Speaker 1: identify with like this challenge and this this new big 511 00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:02,080 Speaker 1: challenge and the plight I was going through from not 512 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:05,679 Speaker 1: taking showers for you know, a week or two and 513 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:08,280 Speaker 1: you know, I never saw myself. I didn't see myself 514 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:12,240 Speaker 1: for really for two months, um, in terms of looking 515 00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:15,399 Speaker 1: in the mirror. Just all those those normal things that 516 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:18,959 Speaker 1: you you you have, you know they'll go away. And 517 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:21,000 Speaker 1: so it's just it really meant a lot to me 518 00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:24,000 Speaker 1: to have all that support. Did at any point you 519 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:29,040 Speaker 1: think about quitting, let's just just enough. What's going on 520 00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:32,480 Speaker 1: with Mark? No, that's it, I'm finished. You never had 521 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:34,719 Speaker 1: any thought like that, You know what. I don't go 522 00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:42,960 Speaker 1: into anything ever with any kind of a I guess, um, 523 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:47,640 Speaker 1: having the idea that I'm gonna quit that that's that's 524 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:50,560 Speaker 1: impossible to me, you know, like, there isn't anything that 525 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:52,919 Speaker 1: ever going like maybe I'll make it. Maybe. I mean, 526 00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:56,199 Speaker 1: if you say that to me, it's done. I go 527 00:27:56,240 --> 00:27:58,720 Speaker 1: into everything with the confidence that I'm going to get 528 00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:01,600 Speaker 1: it done. And if there's tours, and there's always detours 529 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:03,840 Speaker 1: that come in, and I had plenty of detours and 530 00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:06,080 Speaker 1: obstacles that hit me on that day. We're going to 531 00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:08,080 Speaker 1: figure out a way to get around it. But whatever 532 00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:10,920 Speaker 1: you do, just keep going. And this is serving me 533 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:15,280 Speaker 1: well for business, and it served me well for my relationships, 534 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:18,239 Speaker 1: and it's certainly worked for and things don't always go 535 00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:21,600 Speaker 1: you know, it's it's it's rainbows and butterflies. I totally 536 00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:25,000 Speaker 1: get that, but it's just to me, if you go 537 00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:28,520 Speaker 1: into these things like half ass, then you're probably gonna 538 00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:30,840 Speaker 1: get a half ass result. And I saw this in 539 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:33,600 Speaker 1: terms of full commitment, and that's really what the that 540 00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:38,360 Speaker 1: the the response that that you know that comes to mind, 541 00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:40,920 Speaker 1: and we had there. You know, there's twenty one in 542 00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:43,560 Speaker 1: our expedition party that started this and only tenimated at 543 00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:47,120 Speaker 1: the top, so that's what we're people did not make it. 544 00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:48,960 Speaker 1: And there was probably three or four in that group 545 00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:55,360 Speaker 1: that were very, very wealthy individuals that had the ability 546 00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:58,160 Speaker 1: just saying, no, what this isn't for me. I want 547 00:28:58,160 --> 00:28:59,880 Speaker 1: to go back and eat New York steak and have 548 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,840 Speaker 1: a beer and wine and you know which like would 549 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:05,200 Speaker 1: be nor right? I told he get that, but I 550 00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:07,680 Speaker 1: don't think they were, Like they came into it with 551 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:11,440 Speaker 1: a committed right. They came into maybe they're they're eighty percent, 552 00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:14,240 Speaker 1: maybe they're seventy, but they were committed and so that 553 00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:17,320 Speaker 1: choice of being able to take a helicopter fly off 554 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:20,880 Speaker 1: the mountain was right there for them, which they actually did. 555 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:25,840 Speaker 1: And so so yeah, I mean it's all in commitment. 556 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:29,040 Speaker 1: Read again, and Mary, Here's why I asked. Mike Tyson 557 00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:31,840 Speaker 1: said when he was writing at at his peak, he said, 558 00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:35,040 Speaker 1: everybody has a game plan untiling you punched in the mouth. 559 00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:38,880 Speaker 1: That's what made me ask once you went, I know 560 00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:42,080 Speaker 1: what the plan was, I know what your middle preparation was. 561 00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:45,480 Speaker 1: I'm talking about once you're blind, Like, I'll find a question, 562 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:48,800 Speaker 1: what was it like to be blind? Well, I've never 563 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:51,520 Speaker 1: been blind before. I've never experienced that. And I did 564 00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:53,520 Speaker 1: get punched in the mouth, is Mike Tyson? You know? 565 00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:56,400 Speaker 1: And I well a matter of fact, I got punched 566 00:29:56,400 --> 00:30:00,400 Speaker 1: in the mouth like fifty times, right, And it's haunting 567 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:03,960 Speaker 1: and and like gets real, Like even when I pulled 568 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:06,880 Speaker 1: into camp in twenty six thousand and five and I'm like, wow, 569 00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:08,560 Speaker 1: this is barren and this is not a place you 570 00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:10,480 Speaker 1: want to spend a long time too. I had a 571 00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:12,520 Speaker 1: dead guy laying in a tent next to me six 572 00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:16,320 Speaker 1: ft away right, who had died on me twelve from exposure. 573 00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:21,760 Speaker 1: And it's like, Mark, but you say that like like 574 00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:26,040 Speaker 1: I had a did guy like like and then you 575 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:29,120 Speaker 1: like move it on. You do know a lot of 576 00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:32,040 Speaker 1: people are listening when they hear that, that's like, whoa, 577 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:38,640 Speaker 1: this is in a graveyard A lot he wasn't. Yeah, 578 00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:40,520 Speaker 1: well there's a lot of people in the graveyard up there, 579 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:45,720 Speaker 1: and it's gone, No, Mark, I'm talking about you. You know, 580 00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:48,680 Speaker 1: I appreciate. I appreciate your question. What I'm trying to 581 00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:51,240 Speaker 1: tell you is that as we're sitting here on zoom 582 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:55,520 Speaker 1: talking through this, you know, into anybody who's listening. If 583 00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:58,040 Speaker 1: I were listening, I would say, oh my god, he seriously. 584 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:01,400 Speaker 1: And when you get up there there is there's such 585 00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:06,360 Speaker 1: a mindset of self preservation because you're hungry, you haven't eaten, 586 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:09,240 Speaker 1: you haven't shared in ten days. You know you're you 587 00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:10,960 Speaker 1: were supposed to be up there. Three days earlier the 588 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:14,000 Speaker 1: cyclone hit at Camp three. Our tents were on a 589 00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:16,800 Speaker 1: forty five degree slow right, we had the avalanche is 590 00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:20,240 Speaker 1: coming down on us. Um, you're you're hungry and the 591 00:31:20,280 --> 00:31:23,200 Speaker 1: only thing you care about is yourself and that's the 592 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:25,840 Speaker 1: only way from the time that you get up there, 593 00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:29,160 Speaker 1: and then you're looking straight up at this daunting like, Okay, 594 00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:33,880 Speaker 1: this final, this final journey from camp four to the 595 00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:37,160 Speaker 1: top and back down is going to take everything I got. 596 00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:40,560 Speaker 1: And so what what your normal response when you see 597 00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:43,800 Speaker 1: dead people like my tentmate up on the hillier step 598 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:45,520 Speaker 1: and this guy that was laying next to me or 599 00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:50,280 Speaker 1: tent You know, you have compassion and and you know 600 00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:53,280 Speaker 1: you feel bad and and and and you kind of 601 00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:55,800 Speaker 1: go through that and it's just a whole different world 602 00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:58,560 Speaker 1: when you get up there, and it's just like if 603 00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:01,800 Speaker 1: you don't pay attention, that's going to be YouTube, right, 604 00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:05,600 Speaker 1: And that's how picture it was. Literally when you share 605 00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:08,600 Speaker 1: that wiment, what I saw was like you are alive 606 00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:13,600 Speaker 1: and a grade so to speak, because people but you 607 00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:18,640 Speaker 1: were still alive. And that quote with Dr King, it's 608 00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:23,240 Speaker 1: like you kept moving no matter what's happened, what you experience, 609 00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:25,640 Speaker 1: you kept moving. Man. I want to tell you I 610 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:29,480 Speaker 1: have a few quick hits on behalf of every legend, 611 00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:33,720 Speaker 1: all the current players, the league, the owners whoever, Man, 612 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:38,320 Speaker 1: I feel like you did it for us. We are 613 00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:42,000 Speaker 1: obviously you did all the work, but to have to 614 00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:46,120 Speaker 1: know that we have a legend that that climbed the 615 00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:52,240 Speaker 1: seven Summits, kudos man. I got a few quick hits 616 00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:56,120 Speaker 1: and then we out favorite mountain climb of all time 617 00:32:56,240 --> 00:33:02,440 Speaker 1: and why I could probably act in Coagua, which is 618 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:05,600 Speaker 1: down in Argentina, and uh, that was just fun to 619 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:10,800 Speaker 1: be in South America. It was fantastic being Mendoza. Mendoza 620 00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:14,040 Speaker 1: is like the Napa Valley, so that's where all the 621 00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:17,480 Speaker 1: um a lot of the wines come out of. And 622 00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:19,520 Speaker 1: we just had a great group and I had a 623 00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:22,400 Speaker 1: great experience and made at the top is the first 624 00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:25,280 Speaker 1: time I've been to twenty three thou feet with no oxygen, 625 00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:28,720 Speaker 1: no something mental anything, And uh, it was just a 626 00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:31,120 Speaker 1: really fantastic time. And it was really a time where 627 00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:33,920 Speaker 1: I was turning the corner in this dark patch that 628 00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:36,840 Speaker 1: that I had gone through. Your favorite go to snack 629 00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:42,320 Speaker 1: when you had high altitude, Well, I would love to 630 00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:44,800 Speaker 1: have said it was a cheaper, because that's what I 631 00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:50,040 Speaker 1: loved you at the time, Right, that didn't happen. Uh, 632 00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:53,760 Speaker 1: just any kind of bar that will go down. But 633 00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:56,320 Speaker 1: you know that's the hard thing to do because again 634 00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:58,640 Speaker 1: there's all these tricks that come into play, and all 635 00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:01,240 Speaker 1: those bars that you might get a grocery store, they 636 00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:03,560 Speaker 1: freeze like brick. So the whole trick is how do 637 00:34:03,640 --> 00:34:05,520 Speaker 1: you keep those things moist so they can actually go 638 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:08,680 Speaker 1: down your mouth? Taking on a linebarger across the middle, 639 00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:14,160 Speaker 1: or taking all elements atop of mountain. Well, listen, I 640 00:34:14,200 --> 00:34:17,560 Speaker 1: got hit. I wrote a lot plenty and that was 641 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:20,520 Speaker 1: so fun. I think after everything I just went through 642 00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:23,839 Speaker 1: get by ten Ronnie Lyons. So I'll take Ronnie as 643 00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:27,240 Speaker 1: he was on the field of forty niners, measure twice 644 00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:31,400 Speaker 1: cut once are risk it for the biscuit. What does 645 00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:35,600 Speaker 1: that say to you? Risk it for the biscuit, Risk 646 00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:40,000 Speaker 1: it for the biscuit? Yeah? Mark, how can people find 647 00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:42,759 Speaker 1: out more about you and what it is you're doing? 648 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:47,040 Speaker 1: It thinks a lot. You can reach me at Mark Pattison, 649 00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:49,560 Speaker 1: NFL dot com. I've got on my social channels. It's 650 00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:52,719 Speaker 1: something I didn't mention the that is this is important 651 00:34:52,719 --> 00:34:55,359 Speaker 1: that the NFL is doing a film of this whole 652 00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:58,480 Speaker 1: Everest journal, so that is coming out in early September. 653 00:34:58,600 --> 00:35:01,239 Speaker 1: They've decided to make it the feat your program on 654 00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:04,920 Speaker 1: NFL three sixty and hopefully everybody out there can watch 655 00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:07,800 Speaker 1: and see what I went through. I mean, it's tons 656 00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:12,080 Speaker 1: of footage. They've interviewed Humillian and former NFL player Jamura, 657 00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:15,040 Speaker 1: who's my training partner here at Vester, is the world's 658 00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:17,800 Speaker 1: greatest mountaineer who lives here in some valley. My daughters 659 00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:20,399 Speaker 1: are in it, and so it will be I think 660 00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:23,720 Speaker 1: it's gonna be really exciting. Piece. Well, is there any 661 00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:28,360 Speaker 1: thing that you've experienced on the seventh Summits that you 662 00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:33,040 Speaker 1: would like legends to be inspired by that comes to 663 00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:36,200 Speaker 1: your mind right now? I think the biggest thing for 664 00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:39,120 Speaker 1: me that I've learned is number one is step into 665 00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:41,880 Speaker 1: the fear. And we are all fearful of can I 666 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:43,719 Speaker 1: do this or can I do that? I think that's 667 00:35:43,719 --> 00:35:46,880 Speaker 1: a big, big thing, right And then number two is 668 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:50,880 Speaker 1: action creates reactions. So you know, if you don't know 669 00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:53,520 Speaker 1: which way to go in your stock, which I was 670 00:35:54,239 --> 00:35:57,000 Speaker 1: um to take a step and and and that step 671 00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:59,160 Speaker 1: will either lead you in the right direction, or you'll 672 00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:01,560 Speaker 1: meet somebody will taking a different direction, or at least 673 00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:04,280 Speaker 1: you'll know that that wasn't the right direction. But whatever 674 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:06,160 Speaker 1: you do, we got we were talking about the Martin 675 00:36:06,239 --> 00:36:08,400 Speaker 1: Luther King, but you gotta keep moving and that's the 676 00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:10,879 Speaker 1: biggest key. And then my my quote that I say 677 00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:13,360 Speaker 1: all the time, I say to my daughter's every day 678 00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:15,320 Speaker 1: is it takes a little more to make a champion. 679 00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:17,960 Speaker 1: And you know, I had to train like that and 680 00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:19,719 Speaker 1: at the end of the day, that's probably what saved 681 00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:27,520 Speaker 1: my life. Man, Mark, This has been amazing man. Thank you, congratulations. 682 00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:30,280 Speaker 1: It is an honor. Thank you for sharing your story 683 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:33,919 Speaker 1: with us, and the best is yet to come. Thank 684 00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:36,239 Speaker 1: you so much, Matt. I appreciate all the support from 685 00:36:36,239 --> 00:36:43,960 Speaker 1: you and the NFL. Oh this has been the NFL 686 00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:48,440 Speaker 1: Legends podcast. To provide feedback or request a topic for discussion, 687 00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:53,440 Speaker 1: email us at NFL Legends at NFL dot com.