• Beyond the Mountain - What it takes to be the best mountain climber in the world

Reinhold Messner calls Steve House "The best high-altitude climber in the world today", an honor he declines. "Being called the best", says Steve, " makes me very uncomfortable. My intension is to be as good as I can be. Mountaineering is too complex to be squeezed into a competition. Climbing is about process, not achievement. The moment your mind wanders away from the task of the climbing-at-hand will be the moment you fail."

Steve House built his reputation as a climber's climber by completing thousands of ascents throughout the Alps, Canada, Alaska, the Andes, the Karakoram, and the Himalaya. He has organized and led over fifty climbing expeditions around the world. In Alaska he established a record three new routes on Mount McKinely, North America's highest summit. In Canada starting in 1999 he put up a string of difficult and dangerous routes, none of which have been repeated by another party. In the Karakoram Steve climbed 6,950-meter-high K7 in 26 hours for the mountain's second ascent, the first ascent had taken nine men 40 days of labour. In the Himalaya Steve and a single partner, Vince Anderson, completed what has been called the greatest ascent in the history of mountaineering. On 8,125-meter high Nanga Parbat they two climbed unsupported for six days from the meadow to the icy summit of the Rupal Face--the biggest mountain wall in the world.

But perhaps his most impressive climbs in Alaska were the 60-hour non-stop ascent of the Slovak Direct route on Denali’s South Face with Mark Twight and Scott Backes and the 25-hour ascent (plus 20-hour descent) of the Infinite Spur on Mount Foraker with Rolando Garriboti. Prior to these ascents, the fastest time for either climb was seven days.

Again and again, House has imagined the next step in mountaineering and with hard training, careful preparation, and determination he has expanded the concept of what is physically possible. Says Michael Kennedy, editor-in-chief of Alpinist magazine, "Steve is a once-in-a-generation visionary who has changed the way we think about climbing on the world's most challenging peaks."

House earned a Bachelor of Science in ecology from The Evergreen State College in 1995. He has been a fully Union Internationale des Associations de Guides de Montagnes-certified guide since 1999, and is the seventh American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) guide to complete the certification. House has guided for Exum Mountain Guides, the American Alpine Institute, and North Cascades Mountain Guides. He now guides independently. His primary work is as an ambassador for the technical outdoor clothing company, Patagonia, where he works with both marketing and product design, development, and testing

During the 2009 promotional tour for his book, Beyond the Mountain, Steve spoke at thirty locations in four countries and won invitations to speak at Amazon, Symantec, and Four Seasons

Resorts. Using images and stories from his most exhilarating climbs, and many near-death experiences, he discloses with uncommon frankness what got him through: a long apprenticeship with great mentors, good partners, solid preparation, unerring concentration and rock-hard determination.

Steve has won every major award in mountaineering, including the coveted Piolet d'Or (Golden Ice Axe) for his 2005 ascent of the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat.

His book won both the Banff Mountain Literature Award and the Boardman-Tasker Prize.

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Beyond the Mountain - What it takes to be the best mountain climber in the world

What does it take to be one of the world’s best high-altitude mountain climbers? It takes raising funds for an expedition, negotiating some of the world’s most dangerous countries, suffering freezing-cold bivouacs and enduring the discomforts of high altitude. It also means learning the hard lessons the mountains teach. This speech explores those lessons

• Beyond the Mountain

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