HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Talking about courage, discipline, and the will to face failure, Alison Levine provided a strong message to the nearly 1,00o people who attended Monday night’s Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner.
Levine is one of fewer than 45 people to climb the highest mountain on each of the seven continents and ski to both the North and South poles. Every adventure starts somewhere, and in a one-on-one interview with hutchpost.com, Levine told of how hers started. “When I was younger, I was always intrigued by the stories of Arctic explorers and the early mountaineers, so I’d read these books and watch documentary films,” Levine recalled. In that moment, Levine realized, “I should be doing this.”
Overcoming heart issues and other health problems, Levine made her first seven summit ascent of the 19,000 foot Mount Kilimanjaro. From there, the adventures continued. Levine led the first all-female ascent of Mount Everest. Unfortunately, a terrible storm forced the team to turn around just a few hundred feet from the summit. “If the conditions aren’t right, you turn around, cut your losses and walk away.”
After being so close to the ultimate goal, disaster struck Levine’s team. They were caught in a whiteout at 26,000 feet, then nearly died in an ice avalanche at Khumbu Icefall. In the two-month expedition, Levine’s team passed the treacherous crevasses of Khumbu Icefall seven times. The team used rickety aluminum ladders to pass over the deep gaps.
The team had no problems on the first seven passes of Khumbu even though each person had to trust a shaky ladder with her life. The eighth pass, however, was a different story. Levine and her team had no choice but to brace for the impact of the falling ice. Miraculously, the avalanche stopped five feet from the climbers.
Convinced she would never reach the summit of Mount Everest, Levine was content to accept the failure as a lesson. Her friend Meg Berte Owen, however, knew Levine better. “You’re going up again next year, right?” Berte Owen inquired of her friend in 2002. Levine assured Meg she had no plans to climb Everest again. Not next year, the year after that, or even three years from now.
In 2009, at the age of 37, Meg Berte Owen died. An outstanding athlete, Berte Owen battled a lung disease that stemmed from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 1997. “At 37, she died of the flu,” Levine told the Chamber crowd. The chemotherapy and radiation left her friend with limited lung capacity. Meg’s body was incapable of beating the flu.
Eight years after her first attempt and one year after the death of her dear friend, Levine set out for the world’s tallest peak once more. Once again, just a couple hundred feet from the summit, bad weather hit. Levine watched as numerous climbers turned back and cautioned her of the storm. But Levine pressed on.
She overcame that bad weather to complete the seven summits, a feat known as the Adventure Grand Slam. Carrying an ice pick with Meg’s named engraved on the side, Levine honored her friend with an unforgettable experience. She learned lessons that really helped her in the business world and helped her overcome life’s obstacles. Levine says it also helped her avoid complacency and fear in the workplace.
Levine says that failure should be a learning tool and that “backing up isn’t necessarily backing down.” She also spoke about the best-laid plans and how they don’t always work when the unexpected happens.
Levine is now busy writing a book on Pasang Lhamu. Lhamu was the first Nepali female climber to reach the summit of Everest, but she died during the descent. Levine is using her story to stress that one person can overcome great odds and make a difference.