Reaching that windswept perch, I decided, would cleanse my spirit and heal my wounds. More than that, it would send me home with a title: The First American Woman to Climb Everest.

For those moments when it's just you and the rock and the ice and the snow, life always makes sense.

Our ability to respond positively to setbacks, fuels our creativity and lays the foundation for future successes.

If you see yourself as trying to beat the mountain, eventually the mountain will win. You don't conquer mountains, you cooperate with them.

Reaching that windswept perch, I decided, would cleanse my spirit and heal my wounds. More than that, it would send me home with a title: The First American Woman to Climb Everest.

the deepest part of me is, and will always be, a climber. ... No matter where I go, I always feel like a climber.

When life gets tangled there's something so reassuring about climbing a mountain. The challenge is unambiguous.