The 29029 Podcast

Snowbasin 2023: Steve & Crystal Caruthers were the newbies on the mountain. In Steve’s words “unprepared both mentally & physically”.12 months later…..Snowbasin 2024: Steve & Crystal, were no longer the new kids on the mountain, they were trained, prepared, but the mountain is never easy. Crystal earned a red hat. Steve didn’t. Steve kept climbing. Another year passed…..Sun Valley 2025: Steve alone would take on this new mountain. More prepared holding a toolbox filled with lessons from the mountains he already climbed. He’d earn a red bib. Then a red hat. Easier but never easy and it wasn’t the red carpet moment that lingers in his memory. Coach Caruther’s, as we lovingly call Steve, has a lot to teach you about this thing we call 29029. He’s allowed the mountain to change him. He’s evolved into more than just a guy who was inspired by our co-founder Jesse Itzler and thought “it’s JUST hiking”. The mountain didn’t change over three years. But Steve sure did.

In 2022, from the outside looking in you might think Vija Williams had it all. A successful real estate career that wasn’t just growing but thriving. A beautiful family. Dreams that were coming true. But what wasn’t true is that narrative. Vija’s weight had skyrocketed to over 235 pounds. Her health wasn’t what it use to be. It was like she didn’t notice what was happening and maintained a skewed view of who she was and what she could accomplish. She signed up for not one, but two marathons that fall. When she brushed off her training, her coach told her she had an “Upper Limit problem”. This concept of an “Upper Limit Problem” comes from a book, Big Leap by Gae Hendrick. It’s the idea that people set internal limits on how much success, happiness, and love they deserve. When you experience something great, like a promotion or a financial windfall, (or a blossoming real estate career) you subconsciously invite negative thoughts to bring yourself back down to a more comfortable level of happiness. At Vija’s first marathon in Patagonia she made it just over half way before being pulled off the course. A few months later in New York City and only 100 yards from where her daughter stood cheering for her mom from the sidelines, Vija hid herself and walked off the course. Something had to change. Vija had to change. Subscribe to the 29029 Podcast for more inspiring content. Learn more about 29029 Events and our community HERE

You’ve probably thrown a small stone into a still pond before. The small rock breaks the glassy water into ripples that reach out from the rocks entry point seemingly forever if uninterrupted. This ripple effect in nature is the perfect example of what happens within the community at 29029. Thomas Zebley is a 29029 original, a legend on the mountain. He has climbed and finished 12 mountains since 2018. But you don’t reach legendary status in this world showing your own strength and endurance. The legend of Zebley is less about his red hat collection and more about the impact those red hats have had within his circle of influence. It would be hard to put a number to how many 29029 participant’s journeys began because of an invite from Thomas Zebley. He’s kind of like Kevin Bacon that way. If he didn’t talk you into climbing, someone he talked into climbing, talked you into climbing. The ripple effect. It’s real! This episode isn’t about Thomas Zebley….but it did start with him. This is about Abe Abich. Abe said YES to Thomas Zebley’s invitation to climb Snowbasin 22. That climb was the stone thrown into another pond and the ripples started again. In 2023 Abe would be joined by his brother Josh and close friend Jay at Whistler. In 2024 they have plans to complete 3 trail marathons in 3 days, 29029-style. Let’s go back to the original ripple, Snowbasin 22 and let Abe, Josh and Jay tell you their stories. Subscribe for more inspiring content from our 29029 community. Find out more about 29029 Everesting HERE

The boxer Mike Tyson once said “Everyone has a plan until you’re punched in the mouth” This feels like a truth we all understand; that things in this life are not going to unfold the way we want or expect them to. They never have and they never will. Yet, we go around creating our perfect plans and end up shocked and disappointed when our plans fail. On the mountain we know how many laps we need to do before lunch, what we will wear to start and the intervals at which we will change our socks and eat our meals. We know how long we will sleep and ride the gondola. We plan for showers and slow downs overnight. We’ve seen spreadsheets and laminated cards laying out minute-by-minute all 36 hours. Then the airhorn sounds and we start climbing. Noah Pines was a 3x alumni trying his hand at the newest mountain in the 29029 fleet - Jackson Hole 2023. He had 3 hats on his shelf back home and now he wore a black bib on his back. At 6am on Friday morning he began to work his plan to pull on his 4th red hat. No one ever plans to get punched in the mouth……except for if you are MIke Tyson.....Noah sure didn’t until it happened. What do you do when nothing goes to plan? What happens when you are faced with a choice that you never imagined you would face on the mountain? What of your goals? Your success? What if you can’t reach Everest? No one likes to talk about it, but we are going to talk about it in this episode.

The mountain has a way of checking our soul, of challenging us on multiple levels all at once. We met David Allen at Snowbasin this year. He was strong, fit and capable, a gym owner, former athlete and powerlifter.. He always smiled when we referred to him as “Dr. David Allen” when he would return to the base of the mountain to brand his board. (Sidenote: David’s not a “doctor” but his name sure made us think of one from a daytime soap opera.) At the Ascent Board, we see participants multiple times. At Snowbasin, participants come through the base as many as 13 times in their quest to conquer Everest. We didn’t think much of “Dr. David Allen” other than a guy with a great smile going home with a red hat on his head……until Colleen received a DM from him the following Tuesday……David wanted to connect with Coach Derek who had helped him on the mountain. Colleen asked him how he was feeling and made a “Doctor” joke……..His response took her back….He said……"My body feels fine, I’m a little sore but not any more than a normal workout. Emotionally I’m completely wrecked.” David had been invited by a friend to take on what he thought would be the physical challenge of climbing 29,029 feet. He was shocked to find himself emotionally torn open by the experience and really wasn’t prepared on where to go from there. Listen and subscribe for more inspiring content from our 29029 Community. Learn more about 29029 Everest events https://29029everesting.com/https://29029everesting.com/.

If I can climb 29,029 feet in 36 hours, with very little sleep and live to tell the tale…..What else can I do? If you are signed up for 29029 get ready to ask yourself this question when you get home from the mountain. It’s inevitable. Doing hard things is a key that unlocks future potential. We gain a great perspective of what might be possible when we take on the seemingly impossible and find success. The tale we have to tell you today didn’t actually start on the mountain, but the mountain was pivotal in setting the course for this adventure. Ben Towill and Charlie Layton have a close relationship. They are friends and business partners, but this test had nothing to do with business and everything to do with rowing a two-man boat thousands of miles from the Canary Islands across the Atlantic to the tiny Western Caribbean Island of Antigua. It’s probably important to note that Ben isn’t a rower, neither is Charlie. They jumped feet first into a challenge that most people would say they had no business even attempting. Not to spoil the ending, but they make it and pull out of port wearing a 29029 RED hat! So let’s go back to that red hat, the first one Ben earned in Snowbasin 2021, when Ben and Charlie were still testing their relationship. Subscribe & Follow for More Inspiring Content Learn More about 29029 Everesting HERE

Have you ever watched a great athlete perform? They can look flawless. Light on their feet. Perfect form. They make everything look effortless. Whether it's at 29029 or another endurance event it’s easy to see the “front of the pack” and think “how can this be so easy for them”.....”and why isn’t it that easy for me” I’m not sure what it is that makes us think that those who are winning the races and climbing in front of us are somehow having an easier time. No matter your ability, everyone is covering the same distance and even the best of us have underlying struggles, not visible to the outside world, that threaten to derail our performance. Amber Conlin was the first woman to find her Everest at Snowbasin #2 in 2022. She was fast and fit, completing 29,029 feet of climbing and 30 miles of distance just after midnight 19 hours after beginning the challenge. If you were standing at the summit in those dark, early morning hours, you would have seen a mom being greeted by her 4 children, her husband Tyler and her in-laws. All of them beaming and overflowing with pride. But this 29029 finish was not the only Everest Amber climbed on her way to this point. We may not always know the battles and challenges that rage on the other side of a smiling face and a brilliant performance, but as we dig below the surface what we uncover can teach us things for our own journey. Amber can teach us what true happiness is and how she finally found it……not on the mountain…….but within herself!

We don’t know about you, but we just can’t get enough of Joannie Rich! If you haven’t, go back and listen to episode 41 so you can meet Joannie and get a glimpse of why she owns 13 red hats and plans to keep climbing. Joannie is a wealth of knowledge not only on the mountain but at home too. She is generous with her time taking calls and answering messages from participants in our community. It’s part of what makes her such a legend. While we had Joannie in the podcast hot seat, we figured it was a great time to get some answers to those questions everyone is always asking her. Enjoy a little bonus episode with Joannie Rich. Find out more about 29029 Everesting HERE