WEBVTT - Mark Pattison finally conquers Mount Everest 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.560 Hello, Welcome to the NFL Players Podcast. I am a 0:00:07.640 --> 0:00:11.760 nist Willie. It's a pleasure to have formal wide receiver 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:17.160 Mark Patterson back with us on the podcast. For those unfamiliar, 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:22.280 Mark Patterson is an NFL legend, an entrepreneur, currently an 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:26.400 executive at Sports Illustrated, and one of two former NFL 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:30.560 players to ever scale the Seventh Summits. If you like 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:34.160 to hear more about Mark's story, pause here and check 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:40.279 out episode seventy one on NFL Players Podcasts entitled Rescheduling 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:45.280 Everest Today, Marcus here to discuss the last leg of 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:49.640 his Seventh Summit journey, the sin of Mount Everest, and 0:00:49.760 --> 0:00:54.880 what life has been like ever since. Let's listen in Mark. 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:57.600 The last time we had you on the podcast was 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:02.440 May of. You were set to complete your seventh Summit 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:07.480 Journey when Mount Everest the highest mountain in the world 0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:14.840 at twenty nine thousand, thirty two. However, the world got 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:20.720 undersieged by COVID. Everything changed. You didn't plan it. You 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:23.680 share with us how the pandemic force you to postpone 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:28.760 the climb for an entire year. Fast forward to May of, 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:35.800 It's goal time. You're on the precipice of as sending 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:40.640 lucky number seven. I remember last time on our podcast 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:45.800 you touched on how important visualization is. Take us into 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:51.520 your head. It's you and everest now help us to 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:56.520 see what you see. Well, and ya, thank you for 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:59.120 being on the pod. I really appreciate it. And uh, 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:02.360 you know, lots going on since we last talked, And 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:05.559 you're right, visualization is so much of it. And until 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:09.560 you get up to you know, the death zone camp 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:14.679 for five feet, it's just a test of nothing else 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:18.080 and just endurance, right, And that's something I didn't quite 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:21.840 factor in in all this. Uh. I think the biggest 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:24.760 surprise for everybody's how long you're on that mountain. I 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:27.280 was up there for two months. That's a long time 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:31.160 to be somewhere at seventeen thousand, five hundred feet. Will 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:33.840 start there, working our way up to base camp, which 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:37.480 is at that that altitude. Every night going to bed 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:41.200 and sub zero temperatures, climbing into a sleeping bag, sleeping 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:44.960 on ice, sleeping on rocks, always going into that sleeping 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:49.639 bag with a beanie gloves full park. You know, things 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:52.639 on your on your on your legs to keep yourself warm, 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:56.280 socks and then climbing up and and you're not eating 0:02:56.280 --> 0:02:59.680 at the most gormet restaurants up there. In addition to 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:02.400 the at uh, this was literally every day we had 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:05.040 to avalanches coming down on us. And you know, the 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:09.160 first week, um, it's terrifying. You know, you run out 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:10.720 of your tent, like where you're gonna go, where you're 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:14.359 gonna hide and and uh, and after about a week 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:16.520 of that, it's just you realize there's no place to run, 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:18.560 there's no place to hide, and so you just stay 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:20.160 in your tent and like if you get hit, you 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:22.440 get hit, and that's just the way it is. And 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:25.320 then you know, as you as you get into the 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:29.240 ice fall, which is called a Kumba ice fall, is 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:32.200 a this is now coming right out of every space camp. 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:36.160 It's two thousand feet straight up from seventeen five up 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:39.840 to nineteen five to Camp one, and it's it's literally 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.760 straight up and you're dealing with these gigantic thirtyt ice 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:46.920 walls ice columns that are constantly collapsing. I had to 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:51.280 go through that thing six times, and um, every single 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:54.440 time I went through it, it was a new route. Uh. 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:56.360 It was a new route because it's a glacier, and 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:59.040 a glacier means it's a frozen river, and because it 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:01.880 warms up during the day, all these ice columns and 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:05.160 big rocks and everything else come down on you. And 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:08.120 so you know you're navigating through a lot of people 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:10.560 get hurt, a lot of people get killed. Um. I 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:14.880 fell off a ladder backwards, hit my head. UM. Surprised, 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:17.760 lucky that you know, something worse didn't happen. And then 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:20.680 and then you know, the just kind of the unknown 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:23.640 COVID hit camp up there big time and knocked a 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:26.200 lot of expedition parties off. And then we had two 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:29.440 cyclones today. So when you and I talked again in 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:33.240 twenty right, we weren't talking about cyclones. We weren't when 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:34.880 we were talking about COVID. But I think we all 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:37.479 thought it would be over by then, And I wasn't 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:40.520 talking about avalanches coming down and ice falls collapsing, and 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:44.080 falling off ladders and climbing up sixty ft ice ice 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:48.039 ice walls. These are all things that because I didn't 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:50.479 have the experience on that mountain, it was just all 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:52.760 new for me, and I had to go through that 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:55.720 and mail and get my head around that. But Mark 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:58.200 you met Jerry Real and you say you were a surprised. 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:00.680 You said, you know about the endurance and those things. 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:05.400 You hadn't experienced this mountain but other people had, so 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:09.240 I know you did your homework. What was the biggest surprise. 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:13.080 It's just it's just a different deal, you know. It's 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:15.719 just like you know, we're we're till we're talking ball, 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:17.640 you know, in terms of this is what this pod 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:20.040 is about. You know, ex former players coming on and 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:22.640 chatting with you, and you know, I I spent a 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:26.120 ton of time. I literally saw every YouTube video there was, 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:29.000 you know, just see to really scout it out. But 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:32.040 until you're in it and you feel that small and 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:34.960 you've always seen it and you've seen it in movies, 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:36.839 you've seen it on TV shows, and you've seen it 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:39.720 on this YouTube video, it's just a different deal. Just 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:41.680 like when you're playing the NFL as a kid, you're 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:44.320 watching it on the field until you get out there, 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:46.279 right and they blow the whistle and you kick off 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:49.159 and run down and you get whacked by somebody like you. 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:52.160 It's a different game, right, and like, wow, welcome to 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:54.479 the NFL. You know, that's that's the type of thing. 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:58.440 So what what did you learn through it? Now looking 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:01.599 back telling me this experience. Yes, we headed a football. 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:04.719 It's nothing like until you go on the field. One 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:09.200 life lesson have you taken just from this aspect of 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:13.000 it what we're talking about, Well, I mean getting back here. 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:15.720 I think to me, it ties back into your first question, 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:18.440 like you know, you get up there and you're ready 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:23.080 to take that on and you know we're we It 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:25.680 was very tricky in terms of us even getting into 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:29.240 that position. And so what it took is a heck 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:31.200 of my mindset, you know, to make sure that this 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:36.480 thing could actually happen. And I had trained um extremely hard, 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:39.000 mostly here in some valley Ida who had six thousand 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:41.480 feet and going up and down the mountain and going 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:44.000 up and down the mountain to train my body. And 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:45.680 I had to tap in at the end of the day. 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:47.839 I had to tap into all those chips I'd put 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:50.680 in the bank. And so having a very strong mental 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:55.680 u mindset of being able to overcome everything. And what 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:58.960 happened to me when I set out at twelve thirty 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:03.880 in the morning on May days ago was we had 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:07.240 a strong wind blown and left right with all these 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:10.720 ice particles, and I wasn't wearing the right kind of 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:14.320 of of eyewear, and I end up getting snowblind in 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:17.400 the first hour. Okay, so that was number one. Number 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:20.960 two is I hadn't been eating really anything in the 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:23.800 previous thirty six hours because we thought we'd be summiting 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:27.200 around and so I had to run out of food 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:30.720 and we're eating this freeze dried stuff that is like 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:33.240 sawt ust with hot water on and my system just 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:35.960 didn't take well to it. So I was whatever I 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:38.080 was putting down, I was coming back up. So I 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:41.440 was running on very little energy. And you just can't 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:45.160 underestimate how steep going from twenty six thousand up to 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:49.480 nine thousand two feet is and so the entire time 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:52.280 it's just a the steepest lab you can possibly manage, 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:54.440 and it's just a grind. And I was just not 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:57.440 on my game on that particular day. And and where 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:01.840 that um a snowblindness really kicked in, which was very difficult, 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:04.320 is as you get to the top third of the mountain, 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:07.200 you're going through something called the Hilary step. A lot 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:10.720 of famous things have happened up there, and as you're 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:14.440 reaching down to try to clip in, uh, your care 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:18.040 of beaner, which is attached to your waist on this harness, 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:21.640 to a fixed line that is tied to the mountain. Um. 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:25.200 That was hard enough because my depth perception. But there's 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:28.960 also five other roach land there too from past expeditions 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:32.079 that are frayed and cut, and so if you don't 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:35.120 tie into the right line, you know, you can find 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:38.360 yourself twelve thousand feet straight down. You're looking at Tibet, 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:40.679 you know, down the other side. Not to mention, I'm 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:43.080 stepping over dead bodies, you know, and one of which 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:47.400 was my tentmate um in Antarctica, Don Cash. And so 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:51.240 I was fighting, like all these different elements of going, 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:53.679 and I just kept saying, you know, I just keep going, 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:57.200 keep going, don't quit, don't give up. There's so many 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:00.559 people out there, like my daughter, both my daughter's but 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:03.160 my daughter and Millie who is epilepsy and she's gone 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:05.240 through so much and if she doesn't quit, I'm not 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:07.880 going to quit. And so it became just a complete 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:10.400 battle of trying to get myself off that mountain in 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:15.200 one piece. So we know, you prepare it physically. I'm 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:17.880 hearing you how you were able to continue to going. 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:23.840 You at self talk, How did you practice the mental 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:26.640 point of it? You know, And I really believe this 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:29.400 that it goes back to for me. You know, there 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:31.760 was no other football player up there, and then I'm 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:35.080 in a small club of people have actually pulled this 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.520 off as being a former NFL guy. But but I 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:41.520 really believe it is from my preparation what my coaches 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:43.680 taught me back in the day, my Hall of Fame 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:47.800 coaches from from Tom Flores, you know, Jim Moore, senior, 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:52.079 Don James, my college coach, and others, about what it 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:55.360 takes to excel on the field, to keep going to 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:59.040 don't quit no matter what um. And that's really what 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:01.160 I had to tap in too. And like I said, 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:03.240 I don't think I would have got there if I 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:07.400 hadn't prepared my body to go to depths that I 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:10.199 didn't know I even had right to pull this up. 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:12.280 And the other thing I didn't tell you too, is 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:16.200 when you're at twenty six thousand feet plus, it's called 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:19.200 the death zone for particular reasons, because you're you're you're 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:22.439 you're actually you're you're dying. Your body is going backwards. 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:25.760 And and I had run out of oxygen on the 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:29.880 mountain and so this is coming down about five and 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:32.760 I literally was gasping for ever trying to get back. 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:34.760 And then even once I got back and I got 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:37.280 a new tank, uh at, because I spent the night 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:40.520 at twenty success from five hundred through a series of mishaps, 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:44.400 I ended up spending the entire night with no oxygen 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:47.160 and I was hallucinating, I was going through all kinds 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:49.240 of stuff. And then I ended up going down the 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:52.640 mountain by myself, which wasn't supposed to happen. And it's 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:55.160 the steepest of the steep that you can possibly imagine. 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:57.960 So this is where a lot of times people die 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:00.720 is when they are coming back down the mountain because 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:04.319 you're so fatigued and you're you're not checking in with yourself, 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:06.960 you're not clipping in, and people fall over and they 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:09.400 just can't make it. And you know, I tell you, 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:12.000 I've never been to that edge before. And there's not 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:14.040 many times at least of my life where I was 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:16.960 I was saying, today is not the day that Mark dies. 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:19.079 I've got to keep going. Today is not the day 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:20.640 that Mark dies. And I don't know, I mean, I've 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:23.080 never said that to myself, but it happened to me 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:26.199 coming down that mountain, so Mark, I was dragging a 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:35.880 question point why, a great question? Why? I know a 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:38.440 lot of people, you know. Look, I've always been I've 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:41.040 always set some some big goals, you know, And and 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:45.480 from from from going and playing at Washington, and and 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:48.120 it really taught me to think big, especially when I 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:50.839 hit the NFL and Ellen Davis and playing with the 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:54.079 Raiders and seeing how big big business works and like 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:57.440 you can do. And I kept asking myself like why 0:11:57.480 --> 0:11:59.280 not me? Why can't I be the guy to be 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:02.440 the start Aready went receiver? Why can't I make the NFL? 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:05.240 Why can't I be an executive sports illustrated? Why can't 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:08.320 I climb out? Ever? And these other six mountains I 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:11.120 got there. I don't know if you remember this, but 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:13.040 when we originally talked to I think you asked the 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:15.560 question like, how did you get into climbing Wally? You know? 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:17.920 And And the reason was because I was going through 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:20.200 a tough time. And look, we all go through rough patches, 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:23.320 and and the only thing, after being stuck in this 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:25.360 place for a couple of years that I could find 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:27.640 myself out of it was put the biggest goal I 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:29.720 could possibly think of, and I wanted to do something 0:12:29.760 --> 0:12:33.120 athletic because I always stayed active. And so I said, 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:35.880 can I play in the NFL still? And the answers 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:38.880 now and they won't let me back in. And so 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:42.760 growing up in Seattle, Washington, I'm sure you played up 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:45.000 there many times. And you've got Mount Raineer out there 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:47.480 and all these mountains around and I had, So I 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:50.160 had grown up a lot of legends that had had 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:52.600 some of the many of these mountains around the world, 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:56.040 including the Mount Everest, and I typed in the computers 0:12:56.040 --> 0:12:58.880 any NFL player ever climbed the seventh Summers I said, 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:00.960 I'm gonna be that guy. And it really helped me 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:05.200 pull myself out of that dark place and into the 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:08.960 light and through nature just calming me. And and all 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:12.560 the gifts have come, um, I mean many many gifts, 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:15.920 non financial, but many gifts in terms of what this 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:18.760 journey has meant to me. So that's the reason why 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:21.080 I got into it. So you're going through a challenging 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:25.640 time of your life, and your antidote is to do 0:13:25.800 --> 0:13:32.400 something enormously physically challenging. That that was your thoughts. Yeah, 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:35.480 it was my thoughts because I I just I had 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:38.880 to distract myself as something I could get really excited about, 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:41.400 and I had to step into the fear and do 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:44.360 something that I had never done before and never done 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:47.160 high altitude mountain climbing. I didn't know anything about it. 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:50.120 I didn't even know where to start. And so by 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:53.200 putting my energy in that, you know, there's this whole 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:57.319 saying that where your where your focus goes, your energy 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:00.000 always follows. And so my energy all of a sudden 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:02.880 and my focus went towards something I was really excited about, 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:04.760 like what was going to happen, And then it just 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:06.920 took me into this whole new world and meeting people. 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:09.240 And now I've been literally all over the globe. I've 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:11.960 been on seven contons. Seven summons represent of the seven 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:15.880 highest peaks. I've been the most extreme conditions. I thought 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:18.319 when I originally started this, and the is is that 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:21.400 it would be seven summons seven years, but I didn't 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:24.440 factor in mother nature and code um. In two thousand 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:27.600 and seventeen, I was knocked off Dennelle, which is the 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:31.040 highest mountain up in North America and in Alaska, by 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:34.520 minus eighty degree weather. And so again it's just like 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:36.400 the grit that you've gotta have to come together and 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:42.200 sleeping and being really uncomfortable, um, you know, and suffer. Um. 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:44.120 Is this something. I came down and I said, I 0:14:44.160 --> 0:14:45.920 can't quit this goal. I can't quit this goal. So 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:48.280 two eighteen I came back and I was able to 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:50.640 summon it. And then just like when we talked in 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:53.200 two thousand twenty, I was all set to go, and 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:55.760 then the whole world, as you know, shut down one 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:58.640 by one. And I put so much into this one goal. 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:01.360 Would be like, you're gonna playing the super Bowl, and 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:03.840 now the super Bowl gets canceled? So what are you 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:07.640 gonna do? And it's just I reset my mind about 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:09.000 a week later and said, you know what, I'm going 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:12.560 to create an opportunity out of this disappointment and I'm 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:15.600 going to train even harder for what this is gonna be. 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:17.880 And that's what I did. And you know, here I 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:20.800 sit now in this place of having just come off 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:22.880 Mountain Everest, which you know, I look back on it 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:25.360 and I just I pinched myself because I was so 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:27.440 much But I just had to do with luck of 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:29.600 the weather because we had this cyclone that hit us 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:33.080 on the before and after that we came up the mountain. 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:45.160 So Mark, when what was the light facing depth? You 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:52.720 could have died what what I was? I was. I 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:54.840 was just the last person up on that mountain and 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:56.360 I was the last person to come off. I was 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:58.920 the only person. I was the last person on that mountain. 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:01.120 I was the last person standing on top of that world. 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:03.200 It was just me and I had a shirt and 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:07.360 my sharp was I couldn't understand the English number one, 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:09.760 and so I had a hard time communicating at this 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:13.560 I issue that couldn't see and um number two. He 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:15.680 was in a big, big time hurry to get back 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:17.720 down the mountain because that he had plenty of energy 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:19.880 and he was doing great, and I just wasn't happen. 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:22.120 I mean, we all bunk, you know, at certain times, 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:25.880 and that's what happened to me. And I was I 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:29.200 was a part of a charity program that I'm involved 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:32.360 with here in in some valley UM called Higher Ground, 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:34.840 and it's a big, big fundraiser. Got up in front 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:38.280 of everybody, and honestly it was like PTSD to a 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:40.880 certain expense because I showed this photo of me up 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:43.000 on top of the mountain, and then I was talking 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:44.960 about what that was like to try to get off 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:47.160 the mountain, right, because people said, what's it like when 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:48.600 you get out on and you know, you think you'd 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:50.480 be up there, like you just scored a touchdown and 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:53.080 hands in the air, and I was like, good God, 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:55.800 now I gotta go all the way back down. And 0:16:55.960 --> 0:16:58.400 I felt the moan out there, and um, you know it, 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:01.960 it was very emotional from me, and in front of 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:05.200 all these people, you know, I I shed some tears 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:08.920 and and and it's like this still this connection between 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:12.640 fighting for my daughter um and knowing that she wouldn't 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:16.520 quit because she has epilepsy, and my survival of Now 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:18.200 I got to figure out how to get all the 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:20.280 way down, and you know, I really framed it up 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:22.879 because at the end of the day, I actually failed 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:26.160 on my goal. My goal was on that particular day 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:29.360 was to climb Mount Everest, come down, calling my tent, 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:31.720 and then go back up and climb loads to the 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:33.960 fourth highest mountain in the world. And as I was 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:36.600 coming down that mountain and I was facing you know, 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:39.479 no oxygen, I was sliding on my butt down the mountain, 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:42.480 um trying to get back to the base camp. And 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:44.520 I was just like if I do that mountain, I 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:46.480 will for sure die. And I had to go back 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:49.680 to the original goal, which is just you know, everest 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:52.879 is the prize loads thees is to throw in. But 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:55.080 I had to, like my ego, had to cough that 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:57.639 up and say, you know, there's other things out there. 0:17:57.640 --> 0:18:00.000 They are more important, like my kids and the girl 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:03.080 alm with my my my mom and you know, my friends. 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:05.720 And I felt so much love and support out there 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:09.080 from all the people that were that we're coming in 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:11.400 on Instagram and other places and rooting me on when 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:14.560 I've seen those things, you know, a week before. But 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:16.679 I just felt like, you know, that was that and 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:19.080 it's just a mad It's just amazing that when you 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:21.959 are faced with you, if I lay down right now 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:26.639 and I don't keep moving, um, I'm gonna die. I 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:29.679 gotta tell you this, this, this this great quote I 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:33.359 heard from Martin Luther King that that just really moved me. 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:36.920 And he said, um, if you can't fly, then run. 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:40.240 If you can't run, then walk. If you can't walk, 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:44.239 then crawl. But whatever you do, keep moving. And that 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:46.240 is the one thing that I just no matter what 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:48.680 I knew, if I laid down and just like let 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:51.560 me just take a ten min a nap. You know, 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:55.480 I'd never come down that mountain, So I mean it 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:59.960 was it was real. It was real, which was hard 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:05.960 and coming down that's a great question. They were they 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.080 were both equal to me because going up was so 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:10.159 steep and I had no energy. I mean, I was 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:13.600 only I was. I was existing on these small little candies. 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:16.200 That was it going. And I was out there and 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:19.120 for eighteen hours. I mean think about like for as 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:23.199 football players, you know, we're not durance athletes necessarily. We 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:26.359 were going We're sprint guys, right, you know you're a 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:29.280 dB I was. I was a receiver, and so it's 0:19:29.320 --> 0:19:31.520 forty yard desk when you come back and you reaset 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:34.879 forty yards and you reset. But eighteen hours for anybody 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:37.080 is a long time to be exposed, especially at the 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:40.200 top of the world. And getting up there was just 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:43.520 like all I could do, and then getting down just 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:45.679 it seemed like it became even harder because I was 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:48.600 out there for all that time. And the only fortunate 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:51.560 thing for of that day is that the weather had 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:56.560 been awful, uh for the month of May except for 0:19:56.640 --> 0:19:59.920 that day and the day after the cyclone hit it 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:02.520 in and dumped another four feet as snow. So the 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:05.560 amount of luck that had to play, Like if the 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:07.600 cyclone had hit, and then we would have been back 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:10.480 into an in the thin air situation where it was 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:13.520 the superstorm that came in. In the condition I was in, 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:16.280 I doubt it would have made it off. You doubt 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:21.199 you would have made it off. Yeah, I'm thinking of 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:26.200 guys who played in the National Football League legends if 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:29.440 we would, if our careers would be getting to the top. 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:36.919 I'm hearing some kind of connection to how guys feel 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:44.000 when they finished plan going down any point comes to 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:47.000 mind as you hear me connect those two just as 0:20:47.000 --> 0:20:49.200 you were telling a story. That's what was going through 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:52.119 my mind. As far as the legend. Yeah, you know, 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:56.320 you're actually you're really insightful. Nobody's asking that question, But 0:20:56.760 --> 0:20:59.439 I think I want to first say I want to 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:03.480 credit trust UM and all the people involved in the 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:06.959 NFL for the programs they have developed today, which, as 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:09.240 you know, many many years ago, when I came out, 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:12.560 there were no programs. You just went off the cliff 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:17.000 and UM and so again I was on that cliff 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:20.199 right and for two years I was lost, and as 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:22.800