Successful Everest expeditions have a leader working behind the scenes to build unity amongst team members. Given the headstrong personalities often attracted to mountain climbing, this is no easy task. But through weeks of constant effort, he establishes an environment of trust and cohesion for the team. He teaches them to belay, or attach a fixed rope to another climber to protect each other against a fall. By the time the team approaches the extreme altitudes of Everest, they must be able to work together, depend on each other, and trust one another with their lives—knowing that there’s another person on the end of the 150-foot rope who is willing to risk life and limb for them. In Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer puts it like this, “Roping up in this fashion is a serious and very intimate act.” Climber Jochen Hemmleb adds, “When you know you have to rely on another person for your own safety, and he upon you, you learn a level of trust that simply doesn’t exist very often in the normal world.” Read more on my Amazon Blog »