On the Active After 35 Thrive to 105 Podcast host Stephanie Kay Atwood and Mountaineer Sharon Wood  go over the three periods of climbing Mt. Everest.

1. The exploratory period when the question was "Is it possible to get to the to top"?
2. The best method period when the question was "What is a better, more efficient and challenging way to climb the mountain"?  
3. The commercial period when the question was "How much will it cost to get me to the top of Everest"?

They will discuss Sharon's own experience from 30 years ago and will also cover climbing ethics and today's commercialism on Everest.

A brief bio of Sharon Wood:

Sharon is an ACMG certified Alpine Guide with over four decades of experience in mountain guiding and instruction. Her approach is rooted in work with worldwide organizations, Outward Bound and the YMCA.

Sharon is best known for becoming the first woman from North America to climb Mount Everest.  She and her small team did so by a new route and without Sherpa support. However considers her greatest personal accomplishment as having raised two high-spirited boys, and her role as co-founder and chairperson of an alternative fully-accredited private school in Canmore, grades K through six. Sharon divides her time between mountain guiding and climbing instruction, writing, inspirational speaking, and climbing and hiking in mountain ranges throughout the world.  

She remains ever passionate about helping others realize their mental and physical potential in the mountain environment.  Having just broken into her sixth decade, she is particularly interested in supporting her current clients between the ages of fifty and eighty-five years of age, achieve a graceful transition from a drive to thrive state of being. 

She is co-author with Pat Morrow, of i-book, ‘Everest – High Expectations’ and is working on another book.

“My goal is to stay in the adventure of life, where every day asks something new of me to unwrap and fulfill.”

Resources:

Sharon Wood www.sharonwood.net/