Antarctica is like another planet. Temperatures plummet far below zero, winds can reach 200 miles per hour, and the climate doesn’t even support bacteria. This desolate landscape is home to Mount Vinson, the highest peak on the continent.

In Cold Hard Truth, Len Forkas takes us on his journey to the bottom of the world to climb the unforgiving 16,050-foot mountain. Those who have accomplished this goal comprise an elite group, numbering only about 1,200 since the first expedition in 1966—far fewer than the more famous Mount Everest.

Part travelogue, part adventure, Cold Hard Truth teaches us the valuable life lessons one can only learn when facing the forbidding elements of a faraway land. Momentary lapses of focus create life-threatening results. The unpredictability of nature plays its hand. Best-laid plans are disrupted, and confidence is shaken by circumstance.

And throughout the journey, we are reminded that we sometimes have to go far away from what we value to truly understand what we have.

“Len Forkas takes us up one of the world’s most inhospitable mountains, and from the extraordinary experience we appreciate how his lessons from surmounting the extreme should inform our own routines.” — Michael Useem, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, and author of The Edge: How 10 CEOs Learned to Lead

Despite the tick-tock race to summit Mount Vinson, Len takes time to remember the children from Hopecam—the nonprofit he founded. These are kids battling cancer in their homes, hospitals, and treatment centers. In honoring them, Len links his passion for adventure with a bedrock philosophy of doing well by others. And he reminds us that what these kids are going through is more arduous than even climbing one of the seven highest peaks of the world. Your purchase of this book supports Hopecam in its mission and is greatly appreciated.

For more info on Hopecam, go to Hopecam.org.

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