A Chance Encounter with a Seven Summit Climber

Manoj Vora (Left) and me

I happened to meet Dr. Manoj Vora at a ceremony in New Jersey, who recently completed his spiritual quest to climb the seven summits across seven continents. He started his journey by climbing Mt Kilimanjaro at the the age of 43 and completed the  Seven Summits journey with climbing Mt. Everest in 2013 at the age of 53.

Meeting Dr. Vora was a unique and uplifting experience in many ways. He came across as an ordinary person – average build,  regular (medical) profession and family, and living in a small upstate NY town. At first sight, he does not strike you as someone who has been to Mt Everest (aka Top of the World) and back, particularly because of his lifestyle in a normal community setting. He was very approachable to talk about his quest and was inspiring to say the least,  putting the summits as a distinct possibility without being superhuman. To his claim, he is the first Gujarati and Jain Indian-American to climb all the seven summits.

Besides being a medical Doctor, Dr. Vora is also a motivational speaker, motivating younger generations to dream big, and spreading the message of peace, coexistence and vegetarianism. To the mountaineer in me, a journey as tall as climbing Mt Everest is within reach for anyone with the right inspiration and focus.

More information about Dr. Vora’s journey:

https://www.facebook….

http://blog.syracuse….

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