Alex Staniforth

Alex Staniforth is a record-breaking ultra-endurance athlete, adventurer, keynote speaker and author. His own record includes the 2017 fastest completion of all 100 UK county tops by bike, foot and kayak in 72 days, and the June 2025 first and fastest self-powered run-and-cycle between all 446 mountains of England and Wales in 45 days. His debut book Icefall, published in March 2016, is an account of his two Everest attempts.

He is the founder of Mind Over Mountains, the registered mental health charity (1190883) that restores mental health through walking, coaching and community in wild places. On this episode of The BEYOND Podcast he speaks with host and producer Aleksandra King about the discipline built from surviving Everest's two deadliest years: commitment, quitting well, the inner voice, and comparing yourself to who you used to be.

On this episode of The BEYOND Podcast, Alex Staniforth sets out the argument in full: Alex Staniforth survived the two biggest disasters in Everest history as a teenager and never summited, and what the episode argues is the discipline that survival built: find a way or find an excuse, compare yourself to where you used to be rather than to other people, trust the inner voice that says something feels wrong, and let adversity make you prove people wrong. The named concepts the conversation walks through, in his own words on the recording: CH-01 (0; CH-07 (0; CH-05 (0; CH-06 (0.

The Alex Staniforth podcast appearance on The BEYOND Podcast carries the conversation in full. Read the episode synopsis on BEYONDai, and find every episode on the The BEYOND Podcast page.