Top image: Me at age 10 wearing thick glasses to read.

Bottom image: My family in Hong Kong: Eddi, Mark, Mom, Dad, and me.

 

At age 16 with my first guide dog, Wizard.

 

My father and me hiking together on the Inca Trail. (MARK WEIHENMAYER)

 

Me, my father, and my brothers, Eddi and Mark, eating spaghetti on the edge of the Boltera Glaeier in Pakistan. (ANWAR)

 

Yali tribesmen transport me to the village because “panthers hunt at night.” (MARK WEIHENMAYER)

 

Searching for a hold. (JAMIE BLOOMQUTST)

 

Using the tension of the rope and my ski poles to guide me on McKinley. (JAMIE BLOOMQUIST)

 

Sam, Jeff, and me in an igloo at 17,200 feet on McKinley. (JAMIE BLOOMQUIST)

 

Summit of Mount McKinley: Jeff, me, and Sam. (JAMIE BLOOMQUIST)

 

Ellie and Seigo, in El Capitan’s Meadows. (KIM JOHNSON)

 

Hans traces the route to El Capitan’s summit for me. (JONATHAN CHESTER)

 

Me leading the second to last pitch on El Capitan. (JONATHAN CHESTER)

 

Me with Kilimanjaro in the background. (ELLIE WEIHENMAYER)

 

Ellie and me exchanging wedding vows on the Shira Plateau at 13,000 feet on Mount Kilimanjaro. (DANIEL FUNDI)

 

With Baltazar on the true summit of Kilimanjaro. (JOANNA STORM)

 

Penitentes on Aconcagua, just below base camp. (KEVIN CHERILLA)

 

On the summit of Aconcagua. (CHRIS MORRIS)

 

On one of the final pitches up Polar Circus—the 3,000-foot vertical ice wall in Alberta, Canada. (MIKE GIBBS)

 

Emma, me, and Ellie hiking near the summit of Chief Mountain, Colorado. (BILL D’AMICO)

 

On the knife edge en route to the Hillary Step, Everest. (DIDRICK JOHNCK, CORBIS/SYGMA)

 

Crossing a crevasse in the Khumbu Icefall, Everest. (DIDRICK JOHNCK, CORBIS/SYGMA)