Embrace every win no matter how big or small, acknowledge when hard work delivers a breakthrough, and never forget that everything in life requires a team!

.... I crested this never-ending pitch on our summit push not knowing how much longer we had until we reached the summit ... it's sunrise, I'm in the Himalayas, my watch tells me I'm at 8,111m in elevation and my Sherpa and I are the highest humans on the planet in that moment

... and in that moment, I paused to catch my breath after 5 hours of steady ascent without more than 20 minutes rest, and as I looked up I'm instantly struck

... there in front of me is the final summit ridge of Manaslu, the exact image I'd been staring at on my phone for motivation over the last 2 years. It's a moment and a feeling I'll never forget

... I stop and hit Pasang my Sherpa and through my oxygen mask I blurt-out "that's the summit ridge, we did it" he replies hurriedly "I know I know ... we have to go. More climbers coming, single track on last ridge ... summit summit, let's go!"

I turn my gaze away from that ridge for a brief moment and calmly tell him that I'd been staring at this image for 2 years, over 500 workouts of at least 1,000 hours, and that we'd be fine for this one minute

... he saw the look of sheer joy on my face as I spoke those words through my tears, and he softened ... and then he agreed

... and I cried for every second of that minute as he put his arm around me to share the moment

... we're not even on the summit yet! We're simply standing in front of the final pitch, but we both know the summit is an inevitability ... and in many ways this penultimate moment was more emotional for me than standing on the true summit 20 minutes later

... I'm grateful I knew to lean into this moment even though it might seem premature

... I climb for the epic achievements that I tell maybe 50 people about, but I mostly climb for these emotions, to feel these feelings, that only 1 person knows ... ME

What lessons from these experiences do I share with my son, my colleagues, and the ball players I coach?

 ... I tell them to cry on top of mountains, whatever their 'mountain' may be. I tell them to embrace every win, to always acknowledge when hard work delivers a breakthrough no matter how big or small, to never forget that everything in life requires a team ... and to always remember to take that minute!