Bear Grylls

I was privileged to be part of a group who met Bear Grylls. Bear is the youngest ever British to reach Mount Everest and return alive - at the tender age of 23. If that wasn't inspiring enough, listen to this - this was after he had a parachuting accident whilst with the Special Forces and broke his back in three places. Major W-O-W! AND after his return from Mount Everest, he crossed the North Atlantic Arctic Ocean in a small open inflatable boat. As our Managing Partner put it - Don't you feel like an underachiever now? :)

His talk included pictures and videos of his climb. One of his videos was of him crossing metal ladder across a crevasse (with a drop of about 11000 feet). He stopped halfway at the ladder and the video provided a view of the drop. My knees went weak just looking at that. To think the photo of me standing on the glass floor at CN Tower made some people's knees weak, think what this video would do. And the video he showed of reaching the summit - the view from the Roof of the World. Spectacular. Simply incredible. No words can describe it.

Bear spoke so humbly about his adventure. He was honest about his feelings during trip. I didn't feel as if he was boasting at any point, although I felt he was surely allowed to, after climbing the highest mountain in the world!

He told of having to pass Rob Hall's body on the way up and related how Rob died. Rob radioed back to base camp when he realised he was running out of oxygen. Base camp was unable to help him as he was in the 'death zone', so they patched his call to his wife in New Zealand. She pleaded with him to just stand up but he couldn't. In the end, they spend his dying hours choosing a name for their unborn child.

Bear attributed his safe return to the grace of God. He was almost killed in a fall if not for a second rope he attached to himself just a second before the 'floor' collapsed beneath him. He talked about teamwork and how important it was in that journey as you spent 24hours a day attached to another person by a rope. His last message to us? The only difference between an extraordinary person and an ordinary person is that little word 'extra'. It is the special thing within us that would set us apart from others - ordinary people who will go the extra bit or will give the extra bit more. We need to find that 'extra' bit.

I'm probably not doing Bear's talk much justice so visit Bear's website www.beargrylls.com for more details on his adventures and some fab photos. It was really motivating listening to him recall his adventure and talk about climbing with such passion despite the obstacles that were in his way. He is planning to paraglide over Everest next year so we'll pray for his training and safe return on the next trip!