Episode 04
Climber and Adventurer Emily Harrington
The North Face athlete on El Cap, Everest, anger, rock climbing, expeditions, origins and her evolution from one of the greatest competitive climbers ever to big mountain alpinist, skier and explorer.
Emily Harrington has summited Everest, free climbed El Capitan in Yosemite and completed numerous first ascents of 5.14 sport routes. She has been on expeditions around the world seeking out big mountains to ski, big wall free climbs and high altitude peaks in Nepal, China, Myanmar, Crimea and Morocco. At a young age, she was one of the best sport climbers in the world. As a member of the USA Climbing Team, she competed on the national and world competitive circuit winning 5 US National Sport Climbing Championships and 2 North American Championships. But her path has not been easy. In this episode, Emily shares the doubts and fears she has felt on her journey and how she turns her frustration to her advantage as she continually pushes herself in new directions. You can follow Emily on Instagram @emilyaharrington and on her website.
If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe, share with your friends and give us a positive rating. You can find more at www.choosethehardway.com and you can get in touch @hardwaypod on Twitter or send an email to choosethehardway@gmail.com.
Episode 03
Former Green Beret & GoRuck Founder Jason McCarthy
Special Forces qualification, startup growing pains & successes + the tools it takes to succeed in the military and business.
Jason McCarthy is a combat veteran, former U.S. Army Green Beret and entrepreneur. In 2008, Jason founded GoRuck, the gear, apparel and events company that created the GoRuck Challenge--events modeled after Special Forces selection led by SOF cadre that last between a few hours and several days during which participants ruck with packs loaded with 20-40 pounds and get a small taste of what Jason calls ‘Good living.’ GoRuck gear is bomber, they have a unique, transparent approach to doing business and their community-led approach to marketing has helped propel the brand and the sport of rucking to rapid growth. But not without a few painful bumps along the way. In this episode we talk about Jason’s experience in Special Forces including selection, the hard decisions and sacrifices he has had to make to do great things and much more. Find @GoRuck on Instagram and on the web and check out the GoRuck Show podcast.
If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe, share with your friends and give us a positive rating. You can find more at www.choosethehardway.com and you can get in touch @hardwaypod on Twitter or send an email to choosethehardway@gmail.com.
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Episode 02
Adrian Ballinger on Everest & Life
7x summiter, 1x without supplemental oxygen, on the sacrifices made to fulfill a lifelong dream. Adrian Ballinger has summited Mt. Everest seven times. He attempted Everest without supplemental oxygen in 2016 as part of the Everest No Filter expedition with national geographic photographer Cory Richards. Cory made the summit. Adrian didn’t. They went back in 2017, and Adrian achieved his goal of summiting without oxygen. It wasn’t easy. In 2011 Adrian and two Sherpa partners became the first people to summit three 8,000 meter peaks in only 3 weeks (Everest twice and Lhotse once). He’s the first person to ski Manaslu, the 8th tallest mountain in the world, from its summit, and the first American to successfully ski two 8,000-meter peaks.
You can follow Adrian on Instagram @adrianballinger, through his website and if you’d like to climb with him, check out Alpenglow Expeditions.
If you like this episode, please subscribe, share with your friends and give us a positive rating. You can find more at www.choosethehardway.com and you can get in touch @hardwaypod on Twitter or send an email to choosethehardway@gmail.com.
MORE ABOUT ADRIAN:
He is also the founder and CEO of Alpenglow expeditions and has led expeditions where more than 100 clients have successfully summited Everest, Lhotse (the 4th tallest mountain in world), Cho Oyu (6th tallest) and Manaslu (the 8th tallest mountain in the world). He climbs, guides and skis all over the world including North and South America, the Himalayas and Africa.
Adrian has been a sponsored climber since he was a teen. His current sponsors include Eddie Bauer, La Sportiva, Petzl, Kaenon, Goal Zero, Hypoxico, Alpenglow Sports and High Altitude Fitness.
One of my favorite musicians is Bob Mould. And one of my favorite Bob Mould songs is Wishing Well. I’m not great at is remembering song lyrics. But a Bob Mould lyric that I do remember, is this--There’s a price you pay for a wish to come true--trade a small piece of your life. In this episode you’ll hear about what Adrian Ballinger has had to trade to be who he is and achieve what he has achieved.
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Episode 01
Crisis Management with Barbara Morgan
Anthony Weiner’s mayoral campaign head of comms/Booker+Bloomberg administration comms veteran shares her story of a crisis on the Weiner campaign. Morgan is a VP at the strategic communications firm Greenbrier and the founder of Apex Strategies. She served as a former senior aide to the NJ State Department of Education and the former administrations of Mayors Bloomberg and Booker. Barbara also headed communications for the mayoral campaign of Anthony Weiner.
She plays a gripping roll in the documentary Weiner about that campaign where both he and Barbara go through their own very public crises. During the Weiner campaign, Barbara became the news when a reporter wrote a story about comments she thought she had made off the record about a former campaign intern who had published a tell-all about working on the campaign. On this episode we’ll hear about what happened, what she learned, how she grew from it and much more.
As VP at SKDKnickerbocker, Barbara oversaw and managed strategic communication planning and execution for high-profile clients in finance, government, philanthropy and education such as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, The Rockefeller Foundation, 100 Resilient Cities, AT&T, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Columbia University, the State University of New York (SUNY), and others. You can find Barbara on Twitter @barbarakmorgan.
If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe, share with your friends and give us a positive rating. You can find more at www.choosethehardway.com and you can get in touch @hardwaypod on Twitter or send an email to choosethehardway@gmail.com.
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