The Seven Summits and Healing through Cancer with Lisa Thompson | For The Love Of Ep. 11

Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Being a woman isn’t easy, period. But being a woman who climbed the high points of all seven continents fresh after a cancer diagnosis? We’ve got a lot to learn from Lisa.

Lisa Thompson ventured into male-dominated mountaineering after overhearing others’ adventures in her corporate office. Soon, she was climbing globally and had eyes on some of the world’s highest mountains. Before a Himalayan journey, breast cancer entered the scene. She continued to climb through what cancer brought, which also reshaped her priorities.

Lisa fervently empowers women in mountain exploration. Her 2022 all-women's Cholatse summit birthed philanthropic climbs. As Alpine Athletics' founder, she readies mountain athletes physically, mentally, and tactically, using her firsthand mountain wisdom to craft tailored coaching. Her memoir, Finding Elevation: Fear and Courage on the World’s Most Deadly Mountain illustrates how she got to where she is.

We talk about...

Finding her way into mountain climbing through external validation

  • Starting mountaineering in her late 30’s after not having an athletic background

  • Working a corporate job in Seattle, surrounded by men who would climb the Cascades on the weekends

  • Wanting to be considered a capable equal, so taking it upon herself to hike a mountain ny herself

  • Deciding to climb Rainier that summer to prove herself even more

Pursuing the Seven Summits with a new mindset

  • Realizing after K2 and therapy that validation has to come from herself

  • By guarding yourself with perfection, you keep away connection with others

  • When her climbing coach let her go because they didn’t think she was ready to climb K2

  • The mountains demand respect: how that makes her intentional and mindful

  • How mountains and cancer taught her boundaries, values and how to listen to her body

Getting diagnosed with cancer and continuing her passion

  • A layered identity through a breast cancer diagnosis at 42 years old

  • Realizing that being strong looks many different ways, and it isn’t perfection

  • Looking back at cancer now as something that changed her in a positive way

  • Shaking up her life quickly: diagnosis, a divorce, pets’ deaths, and selling almost everything she owned to focus on climbing

  • Friends’ and family’s perception of you when you change: they get uncomfortable

  • A double mastectomy and going to climb Manaslu in Nepal months later, then deciding to climb Everest

  • Listening to her intuition on K2, even if it differed from what the leader said

  • Realizing how fragile life is, and wanting to get the most out of it by focusing on passion

Supporting women in the mountains

  • Becoming the second American woman to stand atop K2 (and what it means to be second)

  • Returning to K2 the year after she reached the summit to support other women

  • Currently focusing on all-women’s expeditions all over the world, and hiring Nepalese women who have lost their partners while raising money for girls’ education in Nepal

  • Being a woman on a male-dominated team on Everest: inconveniences, expectations, and standing up for herself turning into no longer hiding her femininity or putting up with sexist jokes

  • Problematic words society uses: “conquering” mountains, “battling” cancer

  • Lisa’s process for studying and preparing for a new climb and how different mountains have different personalities

How to connect with Lisa:

How to connect with Jeni and Angie:

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Music: The Kind of Sandwich Island by Shut-ins

Thank you to The Ruins, the best wedding venue in Oregon, for supporting the show.

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Academia and Managing High Expectations with Dr. Hannah Prather | For The Love Of Ep. 12

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Teaching and the Zone of Disequilibrium with Doug Beardsley | For The Love Of Ep. 10