Steve House, as you all know, is one of the great living alpinists of our time. Reinhold Messner once dubbed him the best high-altitude climber in the world today. Following in the tradition of Buhl, Messner and Twight, House took single-push alpinism to a new extremes with such notable ascents as the Central Pillar of the Rupal Face (4,100 meters; M5 X, 5.9, WI4) on Nanga Parbat (8,126 meters), which he climbed with Vince Anderson in 2005, and the first ascent of K7 West in 2007 with Marko Prezelj  and Vince Anderson.

But the direction of his career took a drastic turn in 2010, when he took a fall on Mount Temple in the Candian Rockies. He broke ribs and his lung collapsed. After coming that close to Death, staring it right in the face for hours while he awaited a helicopter rescue, House began to consider his place in the climbing world. Would those cutting-edge ascents provide him lasting fulfillment, or were there even greater truths in this world worth pursuing?

“I had nearly died on a ledge on the north face of Mount Temple after a 80-foot fall,” House wrote. “For two hours I had waited for the helicopter that eventually saved my life, I felt my lung collapsing, felt my breath shortening. Thoughts raced through my head. At home I pondered the fact that I had not been wishing I had done more climbing, but rather I was repentant that I had not done more for my tribe.”

For years, House pushed himself to physical and mental extremes with a necessarily self-absorbed approach that the hardest alpine faces in the world truly demand.  But after his near-death experience on Mount Temple, House has actively distanced himself from the egocentrism of cutting-edge alpinism, pushing himself to find more altruistic ways to give back to the community through education and mentorship. (Speaking of the so-called “mentorship gap” …)

First, his new tome Training for the New Alpinism, co-authored by Scott Johnson, is one of the most comprehensive and sophisticated instruction manuals ever written for whipping your ass into an indestructible mountain-stomping machine, while simultaneously cultivating your mind into a righteous state of understanding and oneness with life and death. I highly recommend picking up a copy of this gorgeous (500-page!) book, no matter what your climbing preferences may be as there is tons of great information simply for getting fit, which will benefit any climber.

But one of the most interesting, and coolest, outgrowths of House’s desire to give back to climbers is his creation of Alpine Mentors, an organization with the goal of hand-selecting groups of inspired young climbers and grooming them over a period of two years (2 years!) to become better alpinists and better people.

Alpine Mentors is designed to operate on a two-year cycle where mentors help the group organize trips that advance their climbing skills with an eye towards being able to complete technical routes in the high mountains. The program has included support and mentorship by other experienced badass climbers including: Ines Papert, David Goettler, Steve Swenson, Rob Owens, and Raphael Slawinski.

“Ultimately, Alpine Mentors is meant to become an open framework,” explains House, “one that can change with the people who come to fill it with energy, inspiration, and action. Alpine Mentors is a way for mentors to interact with younger, not-as experienced, climbers. Those of us who dedicated our lives to climbing mountains learned much. This is where we can share that knowledge.”

If you’re a young climber with aspirations to climb in the greater ranges of the world, or you know someone who is, Alpine Mentors is currently calling for applications for the next group of climbers to fill the regional Pacific-Northwest chapter. This is a local, two-year program for climbers in this region. It will begin this fall. And best of all, it’s free! Applications are due July 1. This is a great opportunity, so get after it!