The Happiness Quotient

From New York to the top of the world in just three days, twenty-three hours, and seven minutes. That’s not a myth. That’s Andrew Ushakov. An American who quietly, stealthily went about his goal to climb Everest in a matter of days and has shocked the world with his historic ascent. Mountaineering news was focused on a team of four special forces elite from England - the Mission:Everest team - who’d made news with their splashy PR effort, a line of clothing for men and women, and their controversial use of xenon gas to boost their epo. They accomplished their goal of leaving London, summiting Everest and returning back to London in seven days. And then: Andrew Ushakov slips in there with a faster ascent, without the use of xenon. Will mountaineering forever be changed by his climb? I had the opportunity to interview Andrew from his hotel room just two days after his climb. Yes, he did the unthinkable—launching from sea level in New York to standing on the summit of Everest in under four days. Send us a text If you've been enjoying the podcast and find value in the content, we'd be incredibly grateful for your support. Your monthly contribution helps ensuring that we can continue delivering great content for you to enjoy. Click on the link below: https://www.buzzsprout.com/268133/support Thank you! Thom Dharma Pollard Support the show Here are a few ways you can help support us: Patreon for access to exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/everestmystery EVEREST MYSTERY Membership for access to perks and exclusive content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEk3e_XGyNnqwK2ZlxH7fEA/join Tip Jar for anyone who would like to help support us: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/EverestMystery

In this awesome episode, we speak with musician and radio host Jonathan Sarty, the creative force behind the Cold River Radio Show — a live variety show bringing music, literature, and storytelling to life in a remote mountain tourist town where culture can feel hard to come by. We talk about the need for artistic connection in small places, and our new collaborative segment: Within the Zone. Whether you’re a longtime listener or hearing about Cold River for the first time, this episode is a reminder that creativity thrives wherever we make space for it. 🎶 New season of Cold River Radio opens May 18, 2025 🌲 Learn more/tickets for in-person or virtual live: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/may-18th-season-premier-of-the-cold-river-radio-show-tickets-1200252630929?aff=oddtdtcreator&fbclid=IwY2xjawKQae1leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFKVWJXcHNheXI5MUVqRGJIAR5VrkLj_L2LCYV2FFM1BBil74tH_PgLMyG1We8gNsfZqcgPsf4Jxy74-apCAg_aem_lYvub0w_eUXPXWFI_tjbfg Send us a text Support the show Here are a few ways you can help support us: Patreon for access to exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/everestmystery EVEREST MYSTERY Membership for access to perks and exclusive content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEk3e_XGyNnqwK2ZlxH7fEA/join Tip Jar for anyone who would like to help support us: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/EverestMystery

In this episode: Prof. Sam Vaknin explains narcissism as a disruption in early childhood self-formation, leading to a lack of boundaries, empathy, and a false self. He describes narcissists as having an "empty schizoid core" that feeds on others to maintain a fantasy of grandiosity. Vaknin highlights the narcissist's ability to manipulate others through shared fantasies, exploiting their vulnerabilities. He contrasts narcissism with other mental illnesses, noting its unique blend of emotional dysregulation and controlled behavior. Vaknin also critiques social media's role in fostering negative emotions and isolating individuals, contributing to a broader societal disconnection from reality. Attend the free 3-day seminar on healing and recovery from narcissistic abuse. Contact Prof. Sam Vaknin at samvaknin@gmail.com Send us a text If you've been enjoying the podcast and find value in the content, we'd be incredibly grateful for your support. Your monthly contribution helps ensuring that we can continue delivering great content for you to enjoy. Click on the link below: https://www.buzzsprout.com/268133/support Thank you! Thom Dharma Pollard Support the show Here are a few ways you can help support us: Patreon for access to exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/everestmystery EVEREST MYSTERY Membership for access to perks and exclusive content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEk3e_XGyNnqwK2ZlxH7fEA/join Tip Jar for anyone who would like to help support us: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/EverestMystery

A vast number of those under the age of 35 spend between six and eight hours a day using computer simulated games, essentially in a world far from reality. And, what's worse, the vast and expanding realm of social media are designed to bring out and leverage the worst in their users, all negative affects such as anger and malicious envy. It is a toxic environment. The core philosophy of social media is asocial. They want you divorced or with no friends. They want your eyeballs on the screen at all times....more eyeballs, more advertising, more money for them. There is malice in social media platforms, they leverage elements of narcissism and violence, that is why there is so much trolling and hatred. Today I have with us Professor Sam Vaknin, professor of psychology and author of over a dozen books on narcissism including Malignant Self Love: Narcissism Revisited, The Narcissist on Instagram: Epigrams and Observations, and Toxic Relationships: Abuse and Its Aftermath. Prof. Vaknin's youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@samvaknin How I "Became" a Narcissist by Sam Vaknin: https://samvak.tripod.com/narcissisticroots.html Put everything down, especially that tiny screen in your hand, and listen. Send us a text If you've been enjoying the podcast and find value in the content, we'd be incredibly grateful for your support. Your monthly contribution helps ensuring that we can continue delivering great content for you to enjoy. Click on the link below: https://www.buzzsprout.com/268133/support Thank you! Thom Dharma Pollard Support the show Here are a few ways you can help support us: Patreon for access to exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/everestmystery EVEREST MYSTERY Membership for access to perks and exclusive content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEk3e_XGyNnqwK2ZlxH7fEA/join Tip Jar for anyone who would like to help support us: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/EverestMystery

She woke in the dead of night, unsure if she’d succeed, fail… or die. Because the last person to attempt what she was doing did die. Melissa Arnot would be walking right past one of Everest’s most infamous bodies—Sleeping Beauty on her sixth, but most perilous climb, of Mount Everest. She was climbing without bottled oxygen, a feat only a handful of women have ever accomplished. In this inspiring interview with Melissa Arnot Reid, she discusses her beautiful memoir - Enough: Climbing Toward a True Self on Mount Everest - a journey into the soul of one of the world’s great climbers, from the rarified heights of Chomolungma to the dark depths of her personal demons. It's a story familiar to anyone who has struggled to find compassion for themselves. About Enough A searching, uplifting memoir by the celebrated, groundbreaking climber: a journey of overcoming where the mountain’s highest peaks can only be reached by traversing the dark crevasses of the soul At twenty-seven, when Melissa Arnot Reid accepted a tank of oxygen just short of the summit of Mount Everest, she felt ravaged by defeat. Driven by a relentless, lifelong quest to prove to herself, her family, and the world that she was enough, she had set herself an incredible goal—to become the first American woman to summit Everest without supplemental oxygen. The failure battered her spirit and left her struggling to keep her tenuous grip on hope. In the candid and adventurous spirit of Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, Enough is a story of a life in which the most dangerous mountain faces became a refuge—until suddenly they, too, no longer seemed safe. From a childhood marked by conflict, betrayal, and predation, Reid propelled herself to the top of the mountain climbing world, summiting and guiding on the world’s most challenging peaks and establishing herself as a woman unafraid to throw elbows in a milieu dominated by men. And yet for every summit she reached, her valleys of inner turmoil—over her estrangement with the family she believed she’d destroyed as a child; over relationships that cycled through deception and infidelity—grew deeper and more self-destructive. Eventually, she could not keep these worlds from colliding, especially after a series of tragedies at dangerous elevations took the lives of her mentors and friends. Forced at last to face herself, Reid made her most perilous climb yet—toward the uncertain promise of forgiveness and self-acceptance. A beautiful, aching memoir of a journey with life-and-death stakes on the mountain and off, Enough bares the soul of one of the world’s greatest climbers, from the rarified heights visible only at thin-air altitudes to the dark depths home to demons familiar to anyone who has struggled to find compassion for themselves. Send us a text If you've been enjoying the podcast and find value in the content, we'd be incredibly grateful for your support. Your monthly contribution helps ensuring that we can continue delivering great content for you to enjoy. Click on the link below: https://www.buzzsprout.com/268133/support Thank you! Thom Dharma Pollard Support the show Here are a few ways you can help support us: Patreon for access to exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/everestmystery EVEREST MYSTERY Membership for access to perks and exclusive content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEk3e_XGyNnqwK2ZlxH7fEA/join Tip Jar for anyone who would like to help support us: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/EverestMystery

What a world it would be if we encouraged just one human being once each day, what a world it would be, if we followed the core spirit of our being. Send us a text Support the show Here are a few ways you can help support us: Patreon for access to exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/everestmystery EVEREST MYSTERY Membership for access to perks and exclusive content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEk3e_XGyNnqwK2ZlxH7fEA/join Tip Jar for anyone who would like to help support us: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/EverestMystery

Nothing says life on the road and all that comes along with than the life of a touring musician. It’s not Leer jets and posh hotels, sold out auditoriums. The music you hear pouring out of small bars and music houses, cafes come from people like you and me, passionate, driven, inspired…..they drive 8 hours from gig to gig, sleep in modest hotels - or behind the bar after it closes. They set up their own kits and amplifiers, collect their hard-earned cash after the gigs, get up the next morning and do it all over again. Here's a bonafide troubadour. Seth Walker, touring since the mid 90’s. Seth is an American blues, guitarist singer songwriter….author, poet, painter…..has followed the song of his soul. He wrote his own book during covid called YOUR VAN IS ON FIRE...poetry, art, anecdotes from life - he grew up on a commune - and on the road, like playing with Alain Toussaint, Willie Nelson...he’s chased the vibe his whole life, lived in New Orleans, Austin, Nashville...he wanted to eat, sleep, drink and breathe every single note he could possibly hear until it flowed through him, like osmosis. You know that kind of musician when you hear one. I caught up with Seth from his hotel room in Chicago*. By now he’s probably half way to Minnesota where his next gig is. Seth is more than the sum of his parts. His music is soulful, bright…., sometimes dense, ’’that’s his word...like his song Inside, written during a trip to Cuba right after Fidel Castro died. *EPISODE originally released Oct. 29, 2021 ©ThomPollard All music used with permission of Seth Walker. ---- LINKS For more on Seth and to find his book and music, visit: https://sethwalker.com/ Seth's Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/sethwalker Send us a text If you've been enjoying the podcast and find value in the content, we'd be incredibly grateful for your support. Your monthly contribution helps ensuring that we can continue delivering great content for you to enjoy. Click on the link below: https://www.buzzsprout.com/268133/support Thank you! Thom Dharma Pollard Support the show Here are a few ways you can help support us: Patreon for access to exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/everestmystery EVEREST MYSTERY Membership for access to perks and exclusive content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEk3e_XGyNnqwK2ZlxH7fEA/join Tip Jar for anyone who would like to help support us: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/EverestMystery

Alone on Everest*. No Oxygen. No Support. No Limits....IN WINTER! Jost Kobusch is redefining the boundaries of human endurance. In the dead of winter, with temperatures plunging to -40°F and winds howling through Everest’s infamous West Ridge, he set out on a nearly impossible mission: to climb Everest solo, without supplemental oxygen, on one of the most dangerous routes in history. Doubted by the world’s top climbers—some giving him just a 0.1% chance of success—Jost pushed higher than any solo winter climber before him, reaching 7,537 meters (24,727 feet). In this exclusive interview, he reveals the mental and physical battle of facing Everest alone, his obsession with testing his limits, and what it truly takes to survive where few dare to go. Send us a text If you've been enjoying the podcast and find value in the content, we'd be incredibly grateful for your support. Your monthly contribution helps ensuring that we can continue delivering great content for you to enjoy. Click on the link below: https://www.buzzsprout.com/268133/support Thank you! Thom Dharma Pollard Support the show Here are a few ways you can help support us: Patreon for access to exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/everestmystery EVEREST MYSTERY Membership for access to perks and exclusive content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEk3e_XGyNnqwK2ZlxH7fEA/join Tip Jar for anyone who would like to help support us: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/EverestMystery

Love. Adventure. Tragedy. Some couples chase dreams together, but for these three, their love stories ended high in the mountains—where eternity and ice became their final resting place. In this special video, we explore three heartbreaking mountaineering love stories: 💔 Francys & Sergei Arsentiev (Everest) – She became known as Sleeping Beauty after being left behind near the summit. He gave everything to save her. 💔 Liliane & Maurice Barrard (K2) – She was the second woman in history to summit K2, but just minutes later, their fate was sealed. 💔 Hilaree Nelson & Jim Morrison (Manaslu) – A love story of adventure, daring, and heartbreaking loss. 🌨️ What drives people to risk it all for love and adventure? What happens when the mountain takes them forever? 🔔 Subscribe for more deep-dive stories into the mysteries and tragedies of high-altitude mountaineering. Let me know in the comments: Which of these stories affected you the most? 📢 Join the Everest Mystery community: [Your Patreon/Discord/Membership links] #EverestMystery #Mountaineering #TrueLove #ClimbingLegends #Everest #K2 #Manaslu Send us a text Support the show Here are a few ways you can help support us: Patreon for access to exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/everestmystery EVEREST MYSTERY Membership for access to perks and exclusive content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEk3e_XGyNnqwK2ZlxH7fEA/join Tip Jar for anyone who would like to help support us: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/EverestMystery

The cost of climbing Everest just went up—A LOT! But, at what cost? Nepal has raised permit fees to $15,000 per climber, yet none of that money is going toward improving Sherpa safety. In this video, we expose how Everest has become a business where money talks, and ethics disappear. Featuring an exclusive interview with Angela Benevides of ExplorersWeb, we uncover the heartbreaking story of Nawang Sherpa, who had no prior Everest experience but was assigned to assist a climber attempting a no-oxygen summit bid. When things went wrong, Nawang refused to leave his client’s side. Both men perished. No safety reforms. No accountability. Just another tragedy buried under Everest’s growing commercialization. So we ask—what's a life worth? Send us a text Support the show Here are a few ways you can help support us: Patreon for access to exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/everestmystery EVEREST MYSTERY Membership for access to perks and exclusive content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEk3e_XGyNnqwK2ZlxH7fEA/join Tip Jar for anyone who would like to help support us: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/EverestMystery

For 100 years the fate of Sandy Irvine has been shrouded in speculation and mystery, even mis-direction. Now, new evidence is emerging that could re-write what we thought we knew. In this episode, we’ll update you on the groundbreaking DNA testing currently underway, share what we know about the discovery of Sandy Irvine's boot in October of this year, explore what might come next. We’ll also hear from Everest historian Tom Holzel, and Mark Synnott and Jamie McGuinness. Here is the video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/gxhDXeqZMRE RESOURCES REFERRED TO IN THIS EPISODE: Sandy Irvine & the Camera Were Discovered? Mark Synnott's Revealing Intel https://youtu.be/glMT08zmAP0 Why We Can't Find Sandy Irvine's Body on Everest - w/Jamie McGuinness https://youtu.be/SDbRRU1YMLw Family of Everest Victim Sandy Irvine STUNNED by Discovery of His Remains with Julie Summers https://youtu.be/NR8NG0ei9SA China's SECRET: The Camera & Irvine's Body Were FOUND on Everest https://youtu.be/qv_sKAEeQyA Robert Edwards - blog on recent Irvine boot discovery location on the central Rongbuk Glacier https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/25228588-mallory-irvine-everest-irvine-the-oxygen-bottle-and-the-central-mora?fbclid=IwY2xjawHRX4lleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHXUzEbxTDtz7EAKp5I8A5GUBJFK-q3-75QQTFd_MCd6T2Jq_NeNodA1tLA_aem_PIF3DfabNkKsqyuPUkOqvQ Send us a text Support the show Ways you can help support us: Patreon for access to exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/everestmystery EVEREST MYSTERY Membership for access to perks and exclusive content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEk3e_XGyNnqwK2ZlxH7fEA/join Tip Jar for anyone who would like to help support us: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/EverestMystery

BREAKING NEWS: SOME OF THE REMAINS OF legendary mountaineer Sandy Irvine have been discovered on the Rongbuk Glacier of Mount Everest in Tibet by a National Geographic team that had been endeavoring to do a ski descent of the Hornbein Couloir. World's foremost authority on all things Mystery of Mallory and Irvine Jochen Hemmleb is interviewed here only hours after he learned of the momentous discovery. Here is the interview with Jamie McGuinness mentioned in the interview, Sandy Irvine's Body Is Gone: https://youtu.be/SDbRRU1YMLw Jochen Hemmleb's website: https://jochenhemmleb.com/web =================== Ways you can help support this channel: Our Patreon for access to exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/everestmystery Channel Membership for access to perks and exclusive content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEk3e_XGyNnqwK2ZlxH7fEA/join Tip Jar for anyone who would like to help: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/EverestMystery Send us a text Support the show

Mount Everest—legendary, dangerous, and shrouded in myths. But how much of what you've heard is actually true? Are climbers really lining up like rush hour traffic at 29,000 feet? Is the mountain littered with bodies and trash? Let's peel back the layers of Everest’s most shocking myths and separating fact from fiction. You’re NOT going to want to miss the last one because it’s a doozie! Videos referenced in this video: Ryan Mitchell: https://youtu.be/w1mJsdeE81Q Green Boots: https://youtu.be/T_LHay8ZuoA David Sharp: https://youtu.be/qGKDFjXLAf4 ================================= Ways you can help support this channel: Our Patreon for access to exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/everestmystery Channel Membership for access to perks and exclusive content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEk3e_XGyNnqwK2ZlxH7fEA/join Tip Jar for anyone who would like to help: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/EverestMystery Send us a text Support the show

The ultimate Earth Day observation: following is a conversation with a modern day Charles Darwin, biologist, herpetologist, Adjunct Professor of Biological Science at Florida State University Dr. Bruce Means. We discuss a March 2021 expedition in which Means and writer/climber Mark Synnott traveled to a virtual Shangri-la in the deep, mysterious and ever dangerous jungles of Guyana to study an unclimbed tapui, where new species were discovered. American climber Alex Honnold is featured in the National Geographic film and article, both released in April 2022. This is the Happiness Quotient. Please subscribe wherever you are listening or watching Send us a text If you've been enjoying the podcast and find value in the content, we'd be incredibly grateful for your support. Your monthly contribution helps ensuring that we can continue delivering great content for you to enjoy. Click on the link below: https://www.buzzsprout.com/268133/support Thank you! Thom Dharma Pollard Support the show

Lessons come in all sorts of packages. And, a beautiful, poignant poem from a recently found journal of my late brother's. For the YouTube version of this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AABp82bfR7g For more about Thom Dharma Pollard, about personal coaching or his inspirational presentations, virtual or in person, look for him at eyesopenproductions.com To join his mailing list for A Course In Happiness, email him at thom.dharma.pollard@gmail.com Send us a text Support the show

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE, LIKE AND COMMENT AND SHARE Recorded on 26 March 2022 Iryna Kabluchko is a journalist from Ukraine. Full Episode on YouTube The Happiness Quotient at: https://youtu.be/2-dVs0wGVg4 To help the effort please visit Come Back Alive and donate: https://savelife.in.ua/en/donate/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/backandalive Twitter: https://twitter.com/BackAndAlive Send us a text If you've been enjoying the podcast and find value in the content, we'd be incredibly grateful for your support. Your monthly contribution helps ensuring that we can continue delivering great content for you to enjoy. Click on the link below: https://www.buzzsprout.com/268133/support Thank you! Thom Dharma Pollard Support the show

Andy Politz has climbed Everest, again, thirty years after his first ascent. At age 61, Andy first climbed the mountain in 1991. I reached Andy in Kathmandu, where he is currently before catching his flight home. This debrief from Kathmandu is an inspiring interview who describes some of the challenges he encountered on summit day with a malfunctioning oxygen mask. ========= For more information about Thom Dharma Pollard: http://eyesopenproductions.com/ For a free downloadable copy of A...

How can the words and philosophy of the learned Socrates and the war on truth against Ptolemy and Galileo assist us in these troubled times? How can we grasp the idea of unmarked vans and warriors clad in armor and masks coming to whisk away peaceful protesters? In this episode I offer some wise words about malevolence, and why you should look out for it in your life, why you should purge it from you, and why you, me, all of us must go deep into our hearts for Truth, and not stand for...

I'm done standing idly by. I watched live as the president stood in front of St. John's Church in Washington, DC this week, after calling for a violent dissemination of a peaceful protest. That he was holding in his hand a brand new, obviously never opened Bible was a show of sheer sanctimony, to say the least. Worse so, it was another of a thousand tiny lies we've witnessed since the inauguration of DJT to deceive the American public. We are slipping toward totalitarianism at the hands of a...