EH Talks to Henrik Kristiansen of 7 Summits, Denmark

Henrik of 7 Summits is on a mission to create a world record by scaling the seven highest summits on the seven continents. He has summitted all the highest peaks in 6 continents .Now only Denali(6194m) the highest peak in North-America is left. Just back after summitting Everest along with Soeren, his partner, EH had a time to catch up with the climbers on 29th May , amidst their plans to fly out ,Henrik to Alaska for the Denali summit and Soeren to Denmark.

They summitted Everest on 25th May. Henrik is 43 years old entrepreneur. Excerpts from the interview with Henrik

EH: You have taken alpinism as a challenge. What inspired you to do this?
Henrik: I don’t know from childhood, I actually found it interesting.I used to cut out articles from newspapers because there was something that would interest me. And the first time I stood on top of a mountain I felt something, a feeling very difficult to describe. It is an unbelievable feeling .Its only you and the mountain.

EH: Among the peaks you have which has been the difficult till date?
Henrik: I would say Everest.

EH: How did you find climbing Everest?
Henrik: I feel very good. It’s a huge,huge mountain.

EH: You are from the corporate world. Do you find any similarities between mountaineering and corporatism?
Henrik: Yes, its similar, because its both about setting up goals and reaching them.

EH: How do you connect your climbing with your corporate life?
Henrik:When you are on a mountain and you find out how difficult things are you try to find solutions and also help in rescues. There’s a lot of things you can take with you into the business area.

EH: Do you have plans to come back to Nepal?
Henrik: Yes, I would like to come back again to do some trekking. But I am also interested in some charity stuff, maybe some scholarships for some academy for Sherpas so they can develop their skills. I think this would be a good way to contribute to Nepal somehow.