A Journey Beyond the Summit
After six years of setbacks, near-fatal encounters on Mount Everest, and coming within 900 meters of the summit only to turn back, Samir Patham and Sauraj Jhingan have returned with a powerful memoir that explores leadership, loss, and perseverance. Their story is not just about climbing mountains but about navigating life’s challenges with courage and resilience.
When most people think of Mount Everest, they imagine triumph. For Samir Patham and Sauraj Jhingan, co-founders of Adventure Pulse, it was a journey marked by failure, survival, and eventual transformation. Their newly released memoir, What’s Your Everest: A Path to Passion and Purpose, published by Bloomsbury India, is a deeply personal account of what it means to keep showing up in the face of adversity—whether on the slopes of the world’s highest peak or in the everyday struggles of life.
The book traces their journey over nearly a decade of challenges and turning points. It includes moments like narrowly surviving the 2015 Nepal earthquake and avalanche, abandoning an Everest summit attempt just 900 meters from the top, and then returning one final time against all odds. But What’s Your Everest isn’t about the climb itself—it’s about everything that happens when you’re forced to turn around.
Drawing parallels between mountaineering and modern-day resilience, Samir and Sauraj reflect on leadership, fear, ego, humility, and the discipline required to try again. With honesty and insight, they share their experiences not just as climbers but as entrepreneurs, teachers, and friends who have spent the last 15 years building a homegrown adventure company that has taken people of all ages to their own personal summits.
“We’ve all had to walk away from something we wanted deeply,” says Sauraj. “That moment of letting go is the real Everest. Climbing again after that? That’s where the story begins.”
“This book isn’t just for mountaineers,” adds Samir. “It’s for anyone who’s faced failure and still believes they can come back stronger.”
Through moments of awe and exhaustion, self-doubt and quiet breakthroughs, the book takes readers from the unforgiving slopes of the Himalayas to the invisible mountains we face in our everyday lives: ambition, fear, burnout, loss, uncertainty, and the long wait between trying and arriving.
The narrative captures the unglamorous yet defining realities of extreme altitude—tents collapsing under wind at Camp 4, frostbitten hands, frozen oxygen tanks, and the unlikely comfort of hot tea and UNO cards at 8,000 meters. These scenes strip Everest of its heroism and reveal the quiet camaraderie and human resilience that lie beneath the surface.
The book also pays tribute to Mingma Tenzi Sherpa, who had submitted Lhotse just the day before, yet returned without pause to lead their final climb up Everest. Without oxygen, without fanfare, just sheer resolve.
Earlier in their journey, the 2015 avalanche that killed 17 at Base Camp could have sent them home. Instead, they turned their tent into a relief center, offering food and first aid to survivors. That decision to stay and serve became a quiet, formative act of leadership long before the summit was in sight.
Early Endorsements for What’s Your Everest
The book has received praise from prominent voices across business, film, sport, and the mountaineering community:
“What’s Your Everest challenges you to look beyond the daily grind and focus on what truly matters—uncovering your passion and pursuing it with unwavering determination.”
– Anand Mahindra
“An inspiring account of the importance of never giving up on your dreams. This is a tale of self-discovery and perseverance in the face of insurmountable odds.”
– Anupam Kher
“What’s Your Everest? is: when you get knocked down, you get up again. Everest is tough. This is a great achievement.”
– Peter Hillary, mountaineer and son of Sir Edmund Hillary
“A moving and insightful exploration of grit and resilience. This book will inspire you to rise above adversity and chase your dreams.”
– Krishnamachari Srikkanth, former captain of the Indian cricket team
About the Authors
Samir Patham and Sauraj Jhingan are the co-founders of Adventure Pulse, a mountaineering and adventure consultancy that has guided hundreds of people across the Himalayas, Africa, and South America. Both certified climbers and educators, they’ve mentored first-time trekkers from diverse backgrounds, from corporate professionals to schoolchildren, senior citizens, and those recovering from illness or loss. Their work is rooted in the belief that the outdoors is for everyone and that the climb is always about more than the summit.
About Adventure Pulse
Founded by mountaineers Samir Patham and Sauraj Jhingan, Adventure Pulse is a boutique adventure and mountaineering company that has spent over 15 years guiding first-time trekkers, corporate teams, cancer survivors, and senior citizens across some of the world’s most iconic terrains. Built on the values of safety, inclusion, and inner resilience, the company has taken people from all walks of life to their own personal summits, proving that the real climb is always about more than just the mountain.
