Podcast: Last Interview With Rob Gauntlett

Sierra Trading Post's Adventure Edge Radio just published a podcast with 21-year-old Brits Rob Gauntlett and James Hooper. Rob and James were the magazine's 2008 Adventurers of the Year, an award they earned for skiing, cycling, and sailing some 26,000 miles from geomagnetic pole to geomagnetic pole. The interview was recorded just before the duo left on an ice climbing trip in Chamonix, France. It was on this trip that Rob, along with his good friend James Atkinson, would take a fatal fall on the east face of 13,937-foot Tacul peak in the Mont Blanc range of the Alps.

Listen to the interview >>

Hearing Rob reflect their expeditions—including summiting Everest at just 19 years old—is bittersweet, but his optimism and passion for life remind us to live each day to the fullest. 

Friends and fans have been posting their comments about Rob's tragic death here. You are welcome to share your thoughts in this forum. 

Photo: James Hooper (left) and Rob Gauntlett accepting the Adventurers of the Year award last November at the National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Photograph courtesy of Becky Hale