October 21, 2025

Does Reaching The Summit Really Matter More Than Anything? With Sam Sidiqi, The Founder of Afghan Peaks & First Afghan to Summit Both Everest and Denali

45 minutes

Have you ever considered how satisfying it would be to climb one, two, or even seven of the tallest peaks on Earth? Sam Sidiqi has, and he has the distinction of being the very first Afghan in the world to summit both Mount Everest and Mount Denali. On today's podcast, we're talking about what it is that drives somebody to put themselves through pre-acclimatization, oxygen deprivation, months of training and up to two months away from their family to cross that item off their bucket list.

Sam was born in Afghanistan, raised in Pennsylvania, went to MIT and Wharton and ran companies around the world before coming back to settle in Pennsylvania where he has spent the last couple of years, summitting very high peaks, launching his nonprofit called Afghan Peaks and helping his daughter Jasmine to understand why daddy feels this deep need for adventure. This week we're talking about how you translate that need to yourself, to your family, and to your daughter.

For more on Sam & Afghan Peaks: https://afghanpeaks.org/BASC/index.html @afghanpeaks

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