As the first rays of dawn crept across the Tibetan plateau, Ian Woodall stepped on to the summit of Mount Everest and into history, one of a select few to have climbed the world’s highest mountain by both its south and north sides.

During his first ascent from the south, Ian’s team was trapped at 8,000 metres in the worst storm in Everest history which claimed the lives of five fellow climbers.  After the trauma and tragedy of the storm, Ian and his team chose to try again, finally reaching the summit as the only ones left on the mountain.

Two years later while attempting the north side of Everest, Ian stopped only a few hundred metres below the summit to try and help a dying American climber.  The woman’s first words were, “Don’t leave me.”  Yet ultimately, Ian had to leave her to secure the safety of his own team.

Nine years later, in May 2007, Ian returned to 8,500 metres on Everest to bury the woman he had been forced to leave behind.  After wrapping her in the American flag, he slid her gently down the North Face to join her husband lying somewhere below.

Through the power of emotional storytelling, Ian brings the triumphs and tragedies of climbing Mount Everest directly to you, showing how the insights gained on the mountain can enhance everyone’s Personal Inspiration and Practical Leadership skills.

The American climber Ian was forced to leave behind, and who he subsequently went back nine years later to bury, was Francys (Frankie) Arsentiev from Norwood, Colorado.  Frankie had just become the first American woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest without using supplementary bottled oxygen, an amazing feat of courage and endurance. Tragically she did not make it back down to receive the accolades her achievement deserved.

Frankie was married to Serguei Arsentiev who, eight years earlier, had become the first Russian to climb Mount Everest without bottled oxygen, an achievement which resulted in him being presented with the National Friendship Medal by President Gorbachev.  Frankie and Seguei had met while climbing in the Himalayas and had immediately fallen in love.  After sneaking away to get married at the Soviet Consulate in Kathmandu, they were affectionately known as the Romeo and Juliet of the Cold War.  They later settled in Norwood where Serguei built them a home of their own.  At some point during their climb back down from the summit of Everest, Serguei fell down the north face.