High Adventure

With special guest:

• Mike Allsop
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

Mike Allsop was worried that marriage would spell the end of the adventurous life he had been living. He also had experienced a difficult family upbringing himself. So when he met the love of his life he certainly did not rush into that long walk down the aisle. But these days he has the “full disaster” with his wife Wendy and three beautiful children. And there are lessons to be learned from Mike’s progress that we can all appreciate.

Talking to Mike makes you feel like you were there with him when he reached the summit of Mt Everest with nobody in front of him. We learn about the setbacks when he was getting ready to run 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents starting with his belief that he wasn’t really a marathon runner.

This love of setting and reaching goals started when he was a child and he saw an Air New Zealand jet passing overhead. He had the goal of becoming a pilot and finished up getting his pilot’s licence before he had his motor vehicle licence. By gaining the confidence of some airline pilots he went on to achieve his dream.

But having achieved one goal he started feeling restless. Then he came to realise another challenge awaited him, namely climbing mountains. This led to the highest spot on earth, the summit of Mt Everest. Because of Mike’s passion for adventure we get to ask him some of the eternal questions, why climb mountains? Is there a Yeti? What did you feel when you stood on the top of Everest?

But these adventures are only part of the story. Mike did not have a father for most of his upbringing due to a family dispute. As a result Mike was committed to be there for his own children if he ever had any and is very clear that children spell love as TIME. Now that Mike has three children he insists on spending time with them both together and one on one. And he has some interesting ways to stop children becoming grumpy.

Mike loves family rituals which could be having Sunday lunch together or it could be a rite of passage. In that last category, Mike’s children all have a project to complete when they reach the age of 7. They must accompany Mike for father/child time on a trek to base camp of Mt Everest. When they reach 14 they can choose their own adventure which must take them out of their comfort zone, be safe and do good for the community.

We get to hear their choices as two of Mike’s children have reached the age of 14. Still to come are the youngest child’s choice and the big projects for when they reach 21. Mike’s book is called High Adventure and it combines wonderful stories of family bonding, respect for ancient traditions, knowledge about different cultures and just having fun. And there is plenty of adventure to enjoy vicariously.

Mike Allsop

Airline pilot, Everest mountaineer, adventurer and extreme marathon competitor Mike Allsop is an ordinary family man proving that anybody can accomplish extraordinary things.

Mike Allsop grew up in a single parent home in Auckland. Life wasn’t always easy. But Mike never wavered in his dream of becoming an airline pilot with Air New Zealand. He single-mindedly pursued this goal, breaking it down into smaller parts then focusing on each step in turn.

As well as becoming an Air New Zealand captain, Mike harboured another ambition. One day, he wanted to stand upon the roof of the world and summit Everest. True to form, he broke the goal down and gained the necessary skills and experience by testing himself on difficult and potentially hazardous climbs across 6 different continents. Many were usually only tackled by vastly more experienced climbers. However Mike Allsop is living proof that his philosophy of ‘if you believe you can, you will’.

Mike is also one of a handful of athletes who have ever run the triple 7, 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents. This raised NZ$75,000 for New Zealand charity KidsCan.

Song selection by our guest: Working Class Man by Jimmy Barnes

Listen Now (mp3)