Mount McKinley (Denali) was Johan’s first mountain, and he was now at a crossroads in his life after his biking expedition from Sweden to Africa. Was the biking adventure a “once-in-a-lifetime” thing, or was it a start to a new lifestyle?
Johan’s life took a sharp turn, and he started looking for new challenges. His friends told him that biking to Africa was just luck. This had nothing to do with motivation or focus.
Johan decided to climb one of the most challenging mountains he had ever heard of: Mount McKinley in Alaska. The problem was that he didn’t know how to climb and had never been in the mountains before. He came up with a great idea and called 10 of the best climbers in Sweden with one single question: What mistakes have you made?
Not “what do you recommend” or “what do you suggest,” which can be read about in books. He wanted to know the real answer to how to climb a mountain, what mistakes to avoid, and what problems to plan for.
He wanted to learn how to minimize the risks and how to prepare himself for obstacles, so he studied the mistakes that other climbers had made so he could avoid at least a few of those problems.
Johan got one of the climbers (Nicholas Gafgo) to join him, and 11 days later, they climbed the highest peak in North America and the first of the Seven Summits. The average climbing time is 18-21 days, so they were happy, and Johan started to realize that this might be a new lifestyle after all. This was also an important expedition for Johan since this was his first time working in a team, and he now understood the value of finding the right team members.
