Ego vs Honesty: My Everest Story | Adrian Ballinger | TEDxSouthLakeTahoe
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ม.ค. 2018
- After eight years guiding on Mt. Everest, and six summits of the world’s tallest peak, high altitude guide and professional climber Adrian Ballinger returned to attempt his childhood dream - a summit of Mt. Everest without the use of supplemental oxygen. His attempts, in 2016 and 2017, required much more than fitness and experience. Success (and even coming down alive) required a battle with his ego, and a re-thinking of where honesty fits in the stories we tell others and ourselves. Adrian Ballinger is a world class mountaineer, skier, and business leader. As founder and head guide of the internationally acclaimed Alpenglow Expeditions, Adrian envisioned a more holistic climbing experience for his clients than the status quo.
This vision, with a focus on small groups and client education, continues to change the way big mountains are climbed. What started in 2004 with three trips on one continent with one lead guide has grown into a thriving company running 30 trips annually on 5 continents with six lead guides. In 10 years, Alpenglow has helped more than 100 clients successfully summit Everest, Lhotse (the 4th tallest mountain in the world), Manaslu (8th tallest), and Cho Oyu (6th tallest).
As a professional athlete first and foremost, Adrian is the only American who has skied two 8,000 meter peaks, was the first person to ski Manaslu, the 8th tallest mountain in the world, and in 2011 became the first person to summit three 8,000 meter peaks in only 3 weeks. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx
i was watching this until i thought "lemme just check comments cus i´m in middle and he only talks about himself" thanks comment team
Afonso Ventura haha my Exact thought! Thanks public comments!
Yuppp...same with me...and the moment i found your comment, i wrote this comment, clicked OK and moved to the next real heroes...
The moment he bragged I was the first to summit in less than 1 month and for the first time in history, hot girlfriend, getting thousands of likes, millions of views bla bla.., I paused and read the comments. I guess it's all about his ego than honesty. It was hard to watch him oscillating left and right made me dizzy. I'm done in 4 mins.
Haha I did the same, at 7 minutes it start to get ridiculous and boring, he doesn’t know that no one like to watch someone bragging... silly guy and didn’t learn the big lesson yet
After watching the whole video, I read the comments. Then went back to read the title. I think he explained it okay. He said that his honesty won. He had to be honest and remind his ego to go slower and not race up the mountain. He has a good story, may be not the best delivery.
This is the kind of guy who would be a promoter for a “Burning Man” event on Everest.
This guy taught me to climb more than 20 years ago. I never thought I would see him on the TED stage. He asked me a few times if I would like to go with him on an expedition to the top of a high mountain. I told him that I would rather rock climb somewhere on a warm day, have a nice meal when we were finish, then spend the night in a nice hotel.
Sus
@@Itskarl. What is "Sus", Karl?
have a glass of water man
With a smidge of Christopher walkin
I had to go get a glass myself watching this haha
Oh man it’s true this guy’s face is grossing me out, mouth movements
This man is a better example of what a broken ego looks like. This is not honesty at all.
Mt. Everest ruined this guys relationship with his ego. His ego is definitely still in control, not him. He's so confused without knowing it. I wish you the best man.
I pity your ignorance & am literally embarrassed for you 🙄
lmao this is just 19 minutes of Adrian Ballinger telling others how cool Adrian Ballinger really is...
This whole thing was an ego boost
I felt the same as most commenters, but I was waiting for something. I'm sure most others were as well. Then at the end, it came. but I can see how most people missed it. It was basically only one line and he didn't tie the whole thing together very well. "Just tell the truth.". His point was he felt he needed to be the hero in his field, so he found himself maintaining that image through dishonesty. Then he saw his gf's life of honesty and realized his whole life had been driven by his ego. So he tried honesty out despite the apparent damage it would do to his ego. He was honest about his weaknesses to himself and others, and about his failures to others, and he found out he didn't need d to be dishonest to maintain his life, that people responded in ways he didn't expect. They still loved and respected him.😮 Shocking! You don't have to be perfect. And looking back on analysis he succeeded the second time because of that honesty.
It's an incredibly important message cz most ppl are delusional and have to lie to maintain their ego many times everyday. To the spouse, the kids, bf/gf, the boss, the gov't, the bank, the parents, the babysitter, the doctor, teachers, the milkman, the customer, the merchant, the team, the cops, the warden, the victim, the pimp, the President, God, the room, the sun and the sky........ it's killing us and messing with the planet, actually.
The love of Truth shall set you free....
People in the comments are rejecting his message because it is a hard truth to accept. Im not a religious man but i was looking at the Ten Commandments the other day and found it quite interesting that telling the truth is one of them.
Thanks for taking the time to explain👍
@@laurab972 The subject is at the heart of who I am. I consider it my duty. Thank you for your kindness, madam. Peace
@@generationfallout5189 it's the only one that matters. It should be the golden rule, and the golden rule should be a commandment. It's more fundamental to civility. Treating others as you would be treated first requires an honest analysis of oneself, for oneself, a good bout of Truthtelling to oneself, as it were. Nothing that flows from nontruth has value.
couldn't have worded it better myself sir
This is what the ego does. It crosses out what matters and replaces it with what doesn’t. An example of this could be spending 43 hours summiting Mt. Everest without oxygen while others put aside their own push to summit in order to motivate and care for you so that you can accomplish a very selfish, and completely unnecessary goal. The fact is, this is a prime example of a wounded, out of control ego that is guiding your actions whether you realize it or not. The right thing to do was to recognize and accept you were not going to be able to accomplish this on your own and, not wanting to put others in danger, called off your summit bid so you could support fellow climbers with their push.
I was hoping for a quality moral to the story - was instead blasted with how important and self absorbed this guy is. if you were looking forward to someone sharing an inspirational story on how to utilize the ego, don't waste your time. This ted talk is a full on slideshow-bragfestall the way to the end.
Glad I fast-forwarded in a bit and took only a sample. Guess ego beat honesty.
So bang on. I wanted to like this guy... his accomplishments are legendary yet his Ego is out of control. I too thought there would be a lesson to learn but no; 'it's all about me!'
@@ashleyjones852 and whats wrong with that?
@@ashleyjones852 the lesson is clear, dont let your ego Take over when climbing because it will get you killed.
I loved this! The whole moral of the story is that ego & without honesty you will never accomplish the big things in your life! Tbh kinda sad so many people clearly need to have everything literally said to them out loud because they lack the intelligence & insight to see the nuances of subtly 🙄
Ffs you stand on a stage & admit you had to make up bs to stroke your ego & you lied lol.
These speech in and of itself was about his ego. When it came full circle it was still a puff piece!
Yup
Agreed 100%. No ego would mean climbing STEVE without oxygen and not telling anybody about it.
@@JayMeDee yup no such thing as no ego and we are the last people who can judge him
the funny thing is i have this suspicion with a lot of the everest talks out there. they're subtle brags or masked brags with shallow humility
good work man... realizing this things and apologizing with action is very rare...
Me me me me ..and ME !
without everest, this guy would still be a nerd living with his parents
He's climbed all the 8000m peaks without oxygen. Everest isn't even the best mountain or hardware to climb
I like honesty, but, I like even more full honesty. All this thing about Everest is nothing but a waste of time and...life. Vanity. Tell that on Ted and I will applaud much more. I'm a mountain hiker, and love mountains, but, not to this money pit, worthless feats of human ego charge.
full honesty🙌🙌🙌
Adrian Ballinger use to work for Himalayan Experience owned by Russell Brice. I hear him saying how fast he is and that he was always out front etc ahead of everyone else especially when rope fixing. Is he claiming he faster at climbing then some of the Sherpa's, like Phurba Tashi who he used to work with at Himalayan Experience. Phurba has 21 summits on Everest alone and holds the record for most summits of the 8 thousanders. I think Adrian needs to check his ego at the door b/c he diffidently full of it. I can assure you of that.
That analysis of yours makes no sense. He can still be the fastest climber in that team. Sherpas have less problems in 2000-7500 ish meters above sea level. But it's not a given that they are faster then anyone else.
Killian have climbed it faster then anyone, he did it solo, no ropes, no oxygen.. and he also went two times in one week.
He could be a great guide on Everest with supplementAl oxygen. He is taking about his experiences without oxygen. The idfference between having it and not can be extreme. He is a guide for a reason. Because he can make and help others make it. He made it without supplemental oxygen. That is a major feat.
Amazing humility and honesty in his own words, because of that, to me even after all meisner did it puts him up there with him because of His character,, truly remarkable climbing legend,, my account of course
First to climb 3 x 8000m peaks in a month? No. Erhard Loretan and Marcel Ruedi did three in three weeks in 1983 (G1, G2 and Broad Peak) and Elisabeth Revol did the same in 2008. Ballinger has publicised this claim several times, it's not just a typo.
@@larsvegas6001 No he definitely said he and some Sherpa friends summited 3 8000-meter peaks in "less than a month." The skiing was separate.
@@mdinnen5930 The comment referred to a "typo". In the description of this Video is clearly written that they were the first peoples to climb 3 - 8000 peaks in 3 Weeks! And this is true!
In the Video he said " in less then a month" - and in less then a month other dudes climbed 3- 8000 peaks aswell.
A lot of hate here. Why? He has accomplished a great deal both physically and mentally. The likes that 99.9% of people at best would never even attempt. Now he is showing the spiritual growth he learned along the way, of relinquishing the ego. There will always come a time in ones life that they become aware that there is always someone better, stronger, faster, smarter etc. This realization makes you a more humble and empathetic person in my opinion...I enjoyed this!
I was thinking the same thing- freakin keyboard warriors. I don’t think most ppl understand how insanely difficult it is to climb any 8000m peak. Both physically and mentally. Especially w/out oxygen. There will ALWAYS be haters. No matter how you do it. This guy is the least of your problem(s).
I kept wondering when the honesty would kick in. He needs to learn complete rigorous honesty, but even this story was BS. I have always been suspicious of his K2 ski claim, as he blatantly makes false claims. Everest now is not alpinism, it's ego like this and not impressive.
It’s hard for me to relate because Mount Everest doesn’t seek anyone. Everyone else seeks it. It’s a self imposed problem that you invite in your life.
Honestly Adrian - you have a huge Ego!!!!
am sure without the sherpas he wont achieve it
He climbed k2, the world harest mountain.
@@ymatT601 supported by Esteban Mena, Gelje Pemba Sherpa and Palden Namgye Sherpa
Everest has become a bucket list aspiration for many wealthy people to give their life meaning or create some sense of achievement. The guides who benefit from that are just good opportunists & the culture of base camp is presumably full of ego-driven alpinists. We can hardly fault Adrian for being ego driven when that's generally a necessary condition of summiting Everest.
My respect goes out to you for telling the truth. I'm sure it wasn't that easy telling people that you lied to many.
I really enjoyed it!! I love to hear any stories of the mountains. It must be so incredible up there. thank you.
its a simple story...most of the people in the comments can only imagine what he has done yet can churn up so much hate
You just wasted 15 minutes of my life... Look to heroes like Maurice Herzog or Erhard Loretan for honesty.
This dude is the ultimate chach
How many sherpas climbed and set the ropes first so he could climb “solo”?
There is a great video about a surgeon who lay part of his face and hands on Mount Everest. Afterward, he decided not to get complete reconstruction surgery. He wanted at least one reminder of how selfish he had been and what he put his family through.
I'm here because of the K2 documentary hahahahaha
Teamwork - no i in it
nice
Your ego is writing cheques your body can’t cash.
Top Gun
Wait.. he is calling himself a mountain guide..
He called the sherpers his team mates ... He is taking credit for helping others summit....
Ummm.. 🤔... am I missing something or is this guy his own best fan...
I get his ending point however .. he is still missing a big piece of the puzzle...
So enough about me , let’s talk about you . What do you think of ME?
I do not like this guy. But I like his idea. So definitely a like for me.
You climb everest with heart, determination, brotherhood of the mountain (cory) u should have a ego , u r the man
EGO-MANIAC....
I see you
Amazing talk, Adrian! I can't believe I'm just now seeing this but I've been out of the climbing loop for some time. It's amazing what you've accomplished and your talk was powerful. Towards the end, when you talk about your teammates constantly pushing you and waking you up, you remind me of when you were leading us to the summit of Cayambe way back when and I wanted to stop just before the summit and wait for everyone else to come back down. You refused, yelled at me, and insisted that I had the energy. Sure enough, I did have the energy and it made for one of my favorite pictures ever - you and everyone else all smiles in the blizzard at the summit and me looking miserable covered in icicle tears. Haha. I'll never forget that moment and it's all thanks to you for searing that into my memory. Thank you! - Matt Graeber
❗Trump TAKE NOTE❗
This guy is honest but no humble.
He never claims to be humble. In fact, he eludes to the exact opposite in regards to his first marriage failing.
That is true. He didn't say he is humble. Because he is not. My sentece it's just statement of the fact :)
like ALL Americans ... :)
no name he is not American.Being humble or not doesn't depend on your nationality but rather on your personality..
Still I have some doubts about his honesty, as basically he succeeded in climbing the mountain because of his sponsors, because of his team, and because of his ego. And honesty is not a name for reasoning, unless he is not being truthful to himself on an everyday basis, which indicates a low IQ.
Ballinger and Bauer must be the most self-centered mountaineers on this planet. They would do everything to be the first/best/quickest. Horrible. Its men like that you really don’t want in your team
There are two branches of definitions for "ego", the general and the specialized. He is using the general one which is common sense, not scientific and generated from misunderstanding the concept of "ego".
I personally feel that so many people are missing the point of the talk. hes not boosting himself i guess hes saying all those things to show us how big hes ego was and wat he had that enabled it to be like that
The problem is those people have a genetic defect,
they can't help it and they don't even recognize that they can't help it.
I dont get it.
A long, drawn-out story that promises to lead to some type of self-realization with a message that can be applied to our lives so that we can overcome the trappings of self, only to end with a picture of him sleeping in the death zone during a 43-hour descent, as he says that he’s "NOT SURE" if he would have made it down without the help of others. Ok, I would have thought that there would be no ambiguity when making that statement, but maybe it was just a mistake, something poorly worded. Then he stated that the reason he was able to reach the top of Mt. Everest was because HE was able to put aside HIS EGO. Not because of the people that encouraged him on and helped him down, putting their own lives at risk, suffering needlessly so that he could accomplish something that does nothing but increase the ego he apparently no longer has, along with increasing sponsorships and making him more money. This talk is about how he is able to deal with the fact that he realizes, along with the world, that there are others better than him. This isn’t an ego that has been tempered. This is an ego that is desperate, attempting to create a means of dealing with his new reality. It's obvious that his second summit attempt put others at great risk; they helped someone who knew his weaknesses prior and was willing to risk their lives regardless so that he could accomplish something that benefited him. We laugh at the picture of him sleeping because it has been used and set up to elicit just that, laughter. However, I doubt everyone else helping him at the time found it humorous, as it repeatedly occurred during their desperate fight for his and their survival. This man did not fail the first time because he had tried to keep up with his climbing partner up to 27,000 feet. He failed because the first time he didn’t have a bunch of other people there to assist him in doing what he couldn’t do himself, he was unable to accept it. I’m not a climber, but it is hard to recognize an accomplishment that relies on others endangering themselves in order for the one to accomplish something that is, in and of itself, a very personal, selfish undertaking that happens to benefit him, not charity, not those who aided in his ascent, just him monetarily. Those 43 hours of video footage that he jokes with audiences about, are undoubtedly the most important 43 hours of video footage he has. I mean, does anyone have 43 hours of footage of their family or kids? Yet, this dude made sure that every second of his climb, possible cause of HIS honesty, was documented for posterity and personal….wait for it…ego.
I like the guy:)
Ego ego ego - boring!
Is his dad Ted or something? why are you here?
Great presentation!
So many hate in comments for this guy...
The story doesn't really fit the moral?
OMG! So many negative comments. I hate to see negative comments. This guy does not deserve that. I understand his entire speech about honesty versus ego. I understand people who are driven to accomplish lofty goals most others cannot, or choose not, to follow through on. I understand the ego that gets in the way. And I appreciate Adrian's conclusion that honesty helped him finally achieve his goal. Good job, sir. Thanks for helping me with your talk.
Isn’t it a 14,000 drop into Nepal he said 4,000
We learn how to tell the truth as children? 😂😂😂 Hardly. All I learned from the people who raised me and who I grew up with was that I was not valuable and I had to hide my true self in order to survive. Passive-aggression was my first language. It's just not that simple to just "tell the truth, just do it!" First I had to learn what my truth even IS, let alone how to express it. Maybe someone with an ego this big got a lot more support as a child, *shrug*
Biggest self absorbed humans are climbers. They care about themselves and it’s all about them. Leaving for months and not compromising anything. There all divorced! For good reason!
I was excited to hear an Everest story. Instead we get a dude stroking his ego.
This guy is an American? Then what is up w/ the British accent I keep hearing, sprinkled here and there, throughout the video (especially at the beginning)?
He's both American and britt
Daral Smith That makes sense!
Sounds like a heavy New York accent to me
The photo is not you .It is a representation of the body that your mind lives in. That body and mind are both mutable. The true Everest is in your own mind.
I, I, I, I, I....
How many sherpas carried his equipment and oxygen so he could give this talk?
All about his ego and how he builds his money
Why does it seem like every climber is bragging about their accomplishments they have climbed Its a great Feat but its not impossible many people have climbed Everest and other mountains
Something tells me he still has that ego🤔
it's genetic, they can't help it.
It sounds like this guy does have a big ego. There isn't anything wrong with that, tbh - unless you create a TED Talk misleading me to believe this is a story about honesty
While he's summited Everest 7 times, the world record is held by a Sherpa at 21 Summits (Last time I checked).
Now Kami Rita, 24 times.
Serious question; once you're done it once what's the point?
id rather die - than being in the same room for a minute
You don't learn humility up there
you are my hero..
Funny how angry some people get watching such a benign Ted talk. Even funnier when the talk is about ego as a character flaw.
1:21 The highest point on earth is the volcano "Chimborazo" in Ecuador. So... 🤷🏻♂️
No it's not. It's the farthest from the center of the Earth. Highest denotes it's elevation, or distance from sea level, which Everest towers over being close to 9000 feet higher.
@@wyattrollins3136 "Farthest from the center of the Earth" makes it the highest point on Earth in my book.
@@arrowintheknee9956 Elevation is not measured from the center of the Earth but I can't change what you think even if it is blatantly wrong.
@@wyattrollins3136 Chimborazo is the closest point to the sun, so it's the highest point. If the Earth stops rotating, Everest will be the highest. I'm not really wrong, you see?
@@arrowintheknee9956 How did you manage to dig yourself a deeper hole? Makes no sense but keep thinking that chief. It will get you far I'm sure.
Everybody says he has a huge ego , he climbed everest he should have a ego , if I climbed everest I would have a ego to
It’s actually “ego too” and not “ego to.” Can your ego handle that?
Ugh, another hipster trying to climb Everest and probably got at least 2 sherpas close to death. Smh
He's a professional guide.
Annoyingly self involved, and the self deprecating humour doesn't hide the fact that he seriously rates himself.
EGO…..Edging God Out.
Is it a right of passage to pay sherpas to haul you up Everest then do a Ted talk?
this guy was the one hauling people up as a guide. He's done it without oxygen too. he comes off full of himself but he is one of the best climbers out there.
Don't waste your time watching
Annoying. I could never handle him as a friend
Something missing from this talk, no real redemption.
All of you with bad things to say about adrian ballinger need to close their mouths. Try watching other videos about him before you pass judgement. He is a really good guy."Let him without sin cast the first stone".
Everest death
Mountain climbers are all the same... Me Me Me
Honesty? Charging 130 K $ for Everest is honest, Mr Ballsingel? C'mon.
I wonder how many Sherpas have died helping him get to the top?
Sorry but 10mins in and couldn't watch anymore, this guy is defo more interested in getting as much recognition as he can get and at one point even called himself a "hero" sorry but the only hero's on Everest are the Sherpa's who don't expect recognition but just enough money to put food on the table.
I thought this was brilliant and bravely honest
Forget removing a body. If they had removed at least one bottle of oxygen it would have been impressive. But this guy is obviously about one thing. Everything else is pointless and that is what makes his conquest important only to him. He has to convince us the dead are not part of his event. We need first remove the junk left and make a quest to remove at least one body before another Johnny Rambo fulfills his titanic ego for the 15 minutes on TH-cam or ESPN.
I guess he won't be happy if we only award him a few Hershey bars?
This guy has rhotacism.
Is this a joke? Biggest egomaniac EVER. Whoa?!
What a flog
Yuck.
The whole income peripherally consist because flame clinically regret astride a lewd t-shirt. talented, wealthy accordion
but the ego of your girlfriend must be huge ....since you mention her (with no particular reason) several times ! Like if you didnt mention her you will get in trouble
This has to be the worst speaker ever, extremely arrogant yet disturbing to look at.
Waste of time