Jack Link’s is ‘Raising the Steaks’ in the snack bar category and inspiring others to ‘Raise the Steaks’ in their own lives. We caught up with world-class mountaineer Adrian Ballinger who knows a thing or two—or eight, actually—about Raising The Steaks. The athlete, author, speaker, and business owner has summited Mt. Everest a breathtaking (literally) eight times.
Needless to say, like any Tough Mudder athlete, he’s familiar with setting and achieving goals and pushing past his limits. And failing. And trying again. Exhibit A: His 2016 attempt at summiting Everest without supplemental oxygen. He turned around just a couple hours shy of the summit because, as he says, “I had no energy. I was going to get myself killed up there.” But he came back a year later—stronger and with better nutrition—and managed to withstand a 43-hour summit day that took him to the top of the world.
Ballinger credits a Tough Mudder-esque trifecta of teamwork, luck, and training —including using a tread wall (think indoor climbing wall-meets-treadmill) and a machine that mimics high altitude —to help him get there.
That regimen is also preparing him for his next ‘Raise the Steaks‘ moment: attempting to summit K2, the world’s second-highest peak. “I really need those things that I dream of to get through some of the day to day, “ he says.
So get stoked to scale your own Everest (yeah, we’re talking the 15-foot, on-course colossus), grab a Jack Link’s Steak Bar (made of 100% beef, 8g of protein and more flavor than your taste buds will know what to do with) and check out the video below to get more tips on how Ballinger prepares, physically and mentally, to #RaiseTheSteaks.
Episode 1: Training for Everest