120: Luis Benitez: Challenge yourself and change your world! Pro mountain guide, climbed the 7 summits multiple times & is involved in multiple non-profits. What a life…
Luis Benitez
Host Mark Pattison sums up his new guest Luis Benitez with the quote: “The only thing that isn’t ok is to quit trying.” Luis Benitez grew up in Ecuador and the United States with asthma. But that breathing complication didn’t prevent him from going up the famous Cotopaxi mountain, the second highest summit in Ecuador, which reaches a height of over 19,000 feet: “Spending time in altitude really helps your lungs get stronger. The air is thinner, cleaner, and it forces you to breathe hard.”
On this episode of Finding Your Summit Podcast, we talk with Luis Benitez, Professional Mountain Guide in Colorado, who takes his role in mountaineering seriously: “You got to put in the work. The thing I love about mountaineering is that it doesn’t matter how big of a check you write to work with a guide in some remote corner of the world, if you are not prepared, and if you haven’t put in the work, it is going to be the biggest waste of money you have ever put on the table. I think one of the things that is so rewarding about mountaineering is, you can’t fake it.”
What You Will Learn:
The love of the great outdoors and mountaineering itself began at a young age. It was also connected to his fight against the restrictions of asthma: “The higher we would go, the calmer it would make me. Because those were the things that really kept my breathing in check and kept me calm during an asthma attack as a kid…When I really started getting into mountaineering, it think it was like any other professional athlete that really finds that passion at a young age. It is all consuming. You sleep it, eat it, drink it, live it.”
Luis Benitez lives up to his own quote: “Challenge yourself and change your world.” But what was it in his life that was the driver behind this message? Luis discusses the importance of human evolution, the need to challenge ourselves to exceed our perceived limitations. “The more advanced we are from a technology standpoint, the more complacent we are with stepping out of our mental and physical comfort zones. It is one of those unique things where technology has brought us so much and has helped so much. But then there is still this thing of human vs. nature.”
Luis talks about examples of going beyond his limits by talking about his first time on Mount Everest, a mountain he has now been on seven times, with the first blind man to climb it, Erik Weihenmayer. “It was the experience of a lifetime for sure. Thank God for all of us. We said a quiet prayer everyday that, Erik was and is an incredibly capable teammate. So he is not somebody who showed up and expected to be dragged somewhere. He was a very competent and safe climber. Which, we never would have been able to get it done without his level skill.”
Luis Benitez gets into what it has been like becoming a professional mountain guide who was a part of Adventure Consultants, founded by Rob Hall Into Thin Air who passed away on the top of Mount. Everest. Luis met the successor of the company, Guy Cotter, as well. Into Thin Air is the 1997 bestselling non-fiction book written by Jon Krakauer that covers the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, in which eight climbers were killed on an expedition led by guide Rob Hall.
Luis Benitez has done the seven summits 32 times. What was the most challenging mountain out of all of them? Find out when he shares it along with picking his hardest trip. He also talks about how no one summited in 2010. “What can makes a mountain challenging varies. The terrain can be great but the team can be awful, and vice-versa.”
Consulting and Green Space
Learn about how the consulting side of mountaineering has been like for Luis Benitez, along with his interest in politics and economic development: “I have been lucky enough to grow up within the outdoor industry. I was an outward bound instructor starting when I was 19. My American grandfather owed a sporting goods store. I got into mountaineering in high school, and later on in life, which became my professional career. As you know when you are a guide, you have to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, priest, rabbi, politician all rolled into one.” Find out how green space can impact are health and daily lives: “Green space does something to your chemical makeup. In your brain and in your body. There is actually direct causality and health benefits to spending time outside. To the point where doctors now in four countries and in three states are legally allowed to prescribe time outside instead of prescribing a course of medication.”
Warriors to Summits
Luis Benitez talks about starting his non profit organization Warriors to Summits: “We wanted to help create an organization that not only gave back to the veteran community, but do it in our own way. This wasn’t just about sitting under a tree and trying to reconnect with nature and heal a little. This was about going out and stepping out of your comfort zone.” Don’t miss a moment of mountaineering passion with this episode of the Finding Your Summit Podcast with guest Luis Benitez.
Links to Additional Resources:
- Luis Benitez: LuisBenitez.info
- Luis Benitez: Twitter
- Laird Superfood – Code: Markp20 [Sponsor]
- Cascade Mountain Tech [Sponsor]
Want to Advertise/Sponsor The Podcast?
Please contact Mark if you are interested in working together and sponsoring the Finding Your Summit podcast.