Jake Norton

Jake Norton tends to wear many hats: climber, guide, photographer, filmmaker, UN Ambassador, writer, father, husband, and more. This array of roles all points in one direction: undefined. He has never adhered to strict definitions in life. For him, life resembles a mountain with a distant summit, always looming far overhead and pushing onward and upward. However, there are myriad valleys and ridges, winding trails, and unknown passes along the way. Sometimes, the closer one gets, the more it becomes clear that the distant summit was a false one, with the real goal lying elsewhere, waiting to be discovered.

Most of Norton's personal and professional life has revolved around the high mountains of the world, but he has always been drawn to seeking out stories, nuances, hidden valleys, and remote villages often missed along the way. Society tends to push people into silos of thought and experience, driving them ever upward toward the summit, the C-Suite, the end goal, almost at all costs. For Norton, the deepest joys and sparks of passion come not from going ever higher but from discovering new mysteries, unanswered questions, and trails branching off into the unknown—and then following them, seeking answers, knowledge, and the filling of a new cup.

While not for everyone, his horizontal traverse through the vertical realm has enabled him to develop a diversity of skill sets and a wide array of experiences. From eight Everest expeditions to unearthing 3,000-year-old human remains on a cliff face, following the Ganges River source-to-sea to helping tell the stories of rural Kenyan farmers innovating differently, back-dooring essential supplies for Nepali earthquake victims to raising nearly $500,000 for global water and education causes, addressing the United Nations about mountains to addressing letters for Tibetan refugees, Norton has been incredibly fortunate to follow his passions along the horizontal axis of life and climb upward where appropriate into the vertical.

He does not claim to be an expert in any one thing but has accumulated knowledge and experience in a multitude of disciplines, mountains, and adventures. His writing, photography, film, speaking, and expeditions reflect this diversity. The world is remarkably complex, and Norton is excited to share the few corners he has explored, the stories he has experienced and those shared with him, and the nuggets of thought and wisdom gathered along the way.

He invites others to join him on a hike along the horizontal, and together, find a vertical to ascend.