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“I climbed Everest so that my children wouldn’t have to.”

Ever since Jamling Tenzing Norgay’s father, Tenzing Norgay, spoke these words to his son, Jamling had been seized by a passion to follow in his father’s historic footsteps — to step onto Mount Everest’s icy skin and learn the lessons she has to teach.

Not only did Jamling Tenzing Norgay make it to the top of the world’s most forbidding mountain – described by the Sherpa people as “The Mother Goddess of the World” – but he also helped capture it all on film. As the star of director David Breashear's Imax film 'Everest', Norgay helped to portray not only the physical challenges of the mountain, but also the mental and spiritual challenges faced by the climbers.

In his book, 'Touching My Father’s Soul – An Odyssey to the Top of Everest' (released in 2001), Jamling brings to life a profound and compelling adventure, interweaving the lives of a family, a mountain and a people, and of climbers facing nearly insurmountable obstacles. It is a story of disaster, triumph, professionalism and the resilience of the human spirit.

Clearly, it takes an unusual level of aspiration simply to decide to attempt Everest. And to reach the summit and return safely to base camp demands extraordinary commitment and perseverance. The stakes are high: only one climber in seven who attempt it reaches the top. Of every five who do reach the summit, one dies trying.

Today Jamling Norgay runs an adventure travel company in India. His message to audiences is that while aspiration and ambition are essential, a mountain cannot be climbed on hopes and dreams alone. His audience learns what it really takes to succeed, and some of the lessons that this dangerous mountain has to teach us all.