Jim Davidson

Jim Davidson is a resilience expert, an expedition leader, and a New York Times best-selling author. From his 39 years of adventure and survival, Jim distills compelling stories and uplifting lessons about how to overcome change, challenge, and uncertainty through resilience. Davidson shares motivating keynotes and workshops on personal resilience, resilient teamwork, and resilient leadership. Jim has scaled high peaks from Argentina to Nepal, from Bolivia to Tibet. The US National Park Service has commended Jim twice for volunteering for successful high-altitude rescues in Colorado and Alaska.

While first attempting to ascend Mt. Everest in 2015, Jim and his partners survived massive earthquakes and avalanches. He shared his incredible experiences and insights with CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, Smithsonian Channel, PBS, and more. Jim told his story of surviving the earthquake in the National Geographic TV Show “Witness to Disaster”. In 2017, Jim returned to Mount Everest and summited successfully. His most recent book, The Next Everest: Surviving the Mountain’s Deadliest Day and Finding the Resilience to Climb Again, recounts the harrowing tale of his first experience with Everest, the two years he spent mentally rebuilding, and the triumph of finally reaching his goal. The Next Everest is being published in six international editions.

For 20 years. Jim worked as a hydrogeologist (B.S. & M.S. degrees) and ran his own environmental consulting firm. Earlier he worked as an industrial painter on high-voltage electrical towers carrying 230,000 volts.

Jim Davidson co-authored the New York Times best-selling survival memoir, The Ledge: An Inspirational Story of Friendship and Survival. That book won the National Outdoor Book Award for Outdoor Literature and was picked as one of the Best Books of the Year by Amazon. His epic survival story was featured in an international TV episode of "I Shouldn't Be Alive" on the Discovery Channel.

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