Spiritual Lessons from one of the Worlds Greatest Mountain Climber "We cannot lower the mountain - We can only elevate ourselves" - Todd Skinner

With the return of Christ getting closer I believe that spiritual battles are being magnified because Satan knows his time is short. I thought I would share some lessons I learned from the Worlds Greatest Mountain Climber. My mother gave me a DVD a couple months ago about a mountain climber from Wyoming named Todd Skinner.

Todd was considered by many to be the worlds greatest free style mountain climber. Meaning he did not use rope ladders to climb the mountain, only a rope to catch him if he fell.

“If we use rope-ladders to get to a summit, we climb the ladders, but not the mountain itself."


He accomplished more than 300 first ascents in 26 countries around the world and established new climbs at the highest level of difficulty. When he was 16 years old he was told about an impossible mountain to climb called, Trango Tower in the Himalayans. It was then that he decided that he would only climb mountains that would help him to be able to climb Trango Tower.

This is Trango Tower in the Himalayans in Pakistan. It is 20,500 feet above sea level. .


He had this to say about dreams of doing the impossible.

”Whenever you can, you should base your goals on dreams, because the feel of a goal tied to a dream is entirely different from a goal without a dream–you are pulled instead of pushed. A dream is a motivational force that makes your destination worth going to.. “

4 Things about Todd that helped him to even consider trying to climb Trango Tower.
1. He was patient. He was involved in a number of free style speed climbs in Europe and the US and he usually was in the back of the pack.

Colossians 1 :11-12
being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully
giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

2. He was fearless. Or better stated he loved mountain climbing so much that it made him fearless.

1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
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3. Problems in the climb, storms, stress, etc made him stronger to be able to climb harder and harder mountains.

James 1:2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

4. It never entered his mind that a mountain was impossible to climb. The spiritual lesson I thought of from this is nothing is impossible with God.

Luke 1:37
For nothing is impossible with God."

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The longest sheer cliff mountain climb before Todd attempted Trango Towers was 9 straight days.

On day 37 it took Todd and his 4 man crew 9 days just to climb 10 feet up this mountain.

On day 46, one of the team members brought bad news, that at about 20,300 feet the mountain appeared to have un-climbable rock. Meaning there were no cracks in the rocks to put their hands and feet into. They were very discouraged an almost thought about quitting.


On day 47, a Himalayan ice, snow, lightning storm broke out with 70 mile an hour winds. They strapped their tents down on the side of the mountain and stayed there until the storm ended on day 56. While up on the side of the mountain the base camp told them that all the other climbers in the area, climbing other Himalayan mountains, were killed by this storm. 13 in all. It was after this storm that they decided they would get to the top no matter what.

Day 56 the sun came out and melted the ice and snow. Prior to that, the ice made it impossible to climb up or down the mountain.

Note. The dead zone is anything above 18,000 feet. So no cuts heal after this point because of lack of oxygen

On day 59, the climber Bobby Model got to one of the highest points and half his finger was torn off. They super glued it back on. Bobby could not see any way to get up any higher, but thought he would give it one last try. With no safety gear weighing him down, he leaped out and jumped(blind faith), and was able to find a rock to hold onto. The others made it to where he was. On day 60 they all made it to the top of Trango Tower