EP 209: Graham Zimmerman
March 11, 2024
Photo by Chris Wright
Graham Zimmerman is an award-winning alpinist, writer, filmmaker, and climate advocate. We talked about his harrowing ascent of Mt. Bradley in his early 20s, getting injured in New Zealand, how his relationship with risk has evolved, losing friends in the mountains, the mystery of passion, the 100-year-plan, falling in love with his wife Shannon, getting shut down on K2 by global warming, the climate crisis, the concept of imperfect advocacy, and his new book, A Fine Line: Searching for Balance Among Mountains.
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Show Notes:
Related Podcast Episodes:
Buy Graham’s Book:
References:
Barbarian Days by William Finnegan
Climate:
Graham’s Links:
Nuggets:
00:00:00 – Intro
00:01:38 – Daddy style
00:03:59 – Mt. Bradley
00:12:23 – The recipe for success
00:14:32 – How I related to the book
00:19:03 – Graham’s injury in New Zealand
00:21:54 – The Burger King story
00:24:04 – Falling for mountains
00:30:24 – The mystery of passion
00:32:07 – Mark Allen
00:40:45 – What makes alpinism hard?
00:44:04 – The logistics of mountain ascents
00:48:11 – Building a relationship with places
00:52:09 – The 100-Year Plan
00:57:48 – Shannon
01:04:06 – Compromise and purpose
01:08:30 – Getting engaged
01:16:13 – Loss and risk
01:25:58 – K2 and climate
01:34:16 – Imperfect advocacy
01:43:15 – Voting
01:50:40 – Energy and water
01:51:39 – POW
01:52:29 – Don’t stop climbing
01:54:11 – Graham’s book and EXTRA teaser