Mountaineering, authenticity and a story of Karma.

The latest episode in our Resilience Unravelled series has now been released, Resilience Unravelled – Mountaineering, authenticity and a story of Karma.

In this episode, Dr. Russell Thackeray talks to Michael Schauch a mountaineer, entrepreneur and storyteller. Michael and his partner, Chantal live in Squamish near Vancouver but spend several months a year in Nepal where they are heavily involved with mentorship, fundraising, and educational projects.

Mike started mountaineering when he was 17. He feels the attraction of mountaineering is the connection with the natural world that allows him to plug back into what he feels it is to be human. The interaction with nature in its rawest sense pushes him out of his comfort zone by heightening sensitivities and takes him into a new world with a freedom of view where he is a small aspect of the whole picture.

Mike has climbed in many different countries at many levels. Some mountains can be really high but not difficult in a technical way whilst some of the mountains close to where he lives in Canada are not particularly high but are technically challenging. Things do go wrong sometimes which is why it’s essential to know the landscape and to know yourself. The ability to tap in to your higher sensitivities, your intuition is essential.  Sometimes it feels as if the modern world is creating barriers to the natural sensations between nature and ourselves. Mike feels we ignore this at our own peril. In the mountains, Mike found that sometimes things just didn’t feel right. If we don't practice our senses, we are losing part of our fundamental warning system. Technology and social media bring many good things but sometimes it can distract us so we are we not paying attention and we become disconnected from the real world of nature.

In 2012 Mike and Chantal went to Nepal. It was somewhere he had always wanted to go but he really wanted to have an authentic experience. In 2011, he met someone who had just returned from trekking through the Himalayas and he told Mike about The Lost Valley of Nar Phu. The valley had been closed off for generations but had recently been opened up but the modern world hadn’t yet reached it. Mike and Chantal decided that this was where they wanted to go. They put together a team consisting of a photographer, a musician and a painter so they could learn and observe the people before it changed too much.

Mike also wanted to climb an unknown mountain he had seen in a photograph. He describes it as the white pyramid mountain and after 2 days of reconnaissance with two Sherpa guides they found the mountain. As they started heading towards it things started to go wrong. They were caught in a snowstorm at 17,000 feet and then the mule that was carrying the kit ran off and was two days behind them. As things started to fall apart, Mike was forced to stop in the most remote outpost village in the valley

Mike was starting to suffer a real identity crisis. He was where he had always wanted to be but things had gone really wrong.  He started questioning why and what he was doing but then really started connecting with the local people. One man had just come back to the village after 7 years away having left when he was 14 to get an education. They took walks together and he explained to Mike the village ways and culture and the plight of the area. Children started working in the fields when they were 6 or 7 and girls were married at 15 or 16.  As he learned more about the village Mike stopped stressing about the mountain - it became less important when he compared it to the rapid changes happening in the village.

In another village in the valley Mike and Chantal discovered a small school where a 7-year-old girl was teaching her class. The little girl was Karma and Michaels book, A Story of Karma recounts this journey, and the years that have followed as Karma, Michael and Chantal ‘s lives have grown together in the Himalayas, Kathmandu; and Vancouver.

You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information about Mike here. Our previous podcast episodes and upcoming guest list are also available.

The full blog archive is also available.

You can get in touch with Mike through his website: www.MichaelSchauch.com or buy his book at Amazon, The Story of Karma. Finding love and truth in the lost valley of the Himalayas