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Published on July 9th, 2017 | by David Morales

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Corporate Leader Turned Expert Mountaineer

Lisa Thompson is an accomplished mountaineer who has climbed to the top of six of the world’s highest mountains including Mt Everest. Her latest journey was captured in Sports illustrated “Capturing Everest” virtual reality documentary and now she joins The Hype magazine in a satellite interview presentation. But Lisa is more than just a champion mountain climber, she is a cancer survivor. Thompson is also the first person in her family to graduate from college. She is well accomplished. Since graduating, she has successfully grown her career from a field service engineer, becoming the leader of a $25 million organization and is now preparing for her most challenging climb to date, the K2, a mountain range on the China-Pakistan border. There is definitely more to come of Thompson as she takes on a new challenge departing this past June.

Lisa, what led you to make such a life change – from a corporate life to climbing?

It has been exciting you’re right! It started for me in 2009, which was the year that I summited Mount Rainier and after that climb, I knew that mountaineering would be a big part of my life. I decided that I would pick a different more challenging peak somewhere in the world, and along the way, I learned a lot of things about myself. I grew as a mountaineer. I also gained a bigger sense of self-confidence from the mountains and that new self-confidence became really important for me in 2015, because that year I was diagnosed with breast cancer. As I was battling cancer, the mountains took on a much broader meaning for me, because I found a lot of strength and healing there. After I survived cancer, I made the decision to reevaluate my life and the whole trajectory that I had taken so far, and ultimately that’s what prompted me to put my corporate career on pause for a little bit while I focus on other passions like climbing.

In spring of 2016, you summited Mt. Everest. What was your biggest challenge on that trek?

Everest is a huge mountain to climb and when I arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal last year, the statistics really weren’t great. No one had summited in two years and of all the people who have stood on the summit of Everest only about eight percent are women, so I knew that everything would have to align just perfectly, if I was going to be successful on Everest! I’ve learned over the years that there are a lot of things that can go wrong on a big mountain and there are also a lot of things that I just can’t control.

So on Everest one of my biggest challenges was really to not waste any energy worrying about things like the weather, but instead to focus on my attitude and staying healthy. With that kind of ethic, I learned that both my mind and my body are so much stronger than I could ever imagine, and that we’re all capable of more than we believe we are. For me, Everest also taught me that despite setbacks in life which have ranged from having cancer to suffering from dry eye symptoms that if I focus on the right things and work really hard I can accomplish amazing things, which is why my next goal is to climb K2.

As you prepare to summit K2, what are your essentials for packing for such harsh elements?

Mountains as you as you alluded to or cold and harsh and unforgiving, and that kind of an environment exasperates my dry eye symptoms. So, it’s important to me not only to take the gear that you would expect like warm clothes, crampons an ice axe, but also to be prepared for everything that my eyes will take in on the mountains. So of the 30 or 40 pounds that I’ll be carrying with me one of the most important things is actually the smallest thing, which is sustained I dropped because using them gives me temporary relief from that irritation that I sometimes feel in the mountains and it allows me to climb confidently.

When you’re at those altitudes and under that much physical demand, your senses have to be completely focused.  How can our viewers use what you’ve learned in everyday life?

It’s a good question! I’ve learned a lot and one of the things is that it’s important to speak up when things aren’t right with my body. That’s what led me to the right doctor who diagnosed my dry eye and also helped me to find the right products that would offer some relief.

Finally, where can our viewers go for more information and to follow your progress?

That would mean a lot to me! Systane is the official sponsor of my K2 climb this summer and you can follow along on their Facebook page which is sustained lubricant eye drops. I would really love it if your audience would give me that support it means a lot to me fantastic.


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About the Author

is the Executive Editor of The Hype magazine. A graduate of Eastern Michigan University, David has a background as an artist manager, writer, blogger, drummer, and in the human services industry. He is passionate about helping others, learning and has a deep empathy for the creative process. You can follow his social media @dcypherstudios


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