Explore Alex Harris

Call Website Contact the business

Explore Alex Harris Alex is a leading Mental-Wellness and Resilience expert, Keynote speaker, Human Potential coach, facilitator and Ultra-endurance athlete.

From climbing the world’s highest mountains, to crossing Antarctic and Desert wastelands, to riding mountain bikes. Put on this Earth to shift the way you react the instant you hear the word 'impossible'

Alex is a leading Mental-Wellness and Resilience expert, Keynote speaker, Human Potential coach, facilitator and Ultra-endurance athlete. From climbing the world’s highest mountains, to crossing Antarctic and Desert wastelands, to riding mountain bikes for weeks on end, Alex redefines what is possible and combines a life of extreme adventure experience with a deep insight into human potential and brand building. Graduating top of his class with a degree in Sport Psychology his insight into what makes us tick and what makes us tough, is unparalleled and unique and has impacted thousands of lives over a speaking career spanning 30 years. Alex is an extraordinary adventurer—he’s a world-class explorer whose adventures span some of the most extreme environments on Earth. For almost 40 years, Alex has chased the world’s highest peaks and wildest frontiers, leading more than 60 epic expeditions to the farthest corners of the globe. In 1996, he walked away from a successful sales career to follow an unshakable calling for exploration. Within the year, he was leading his first expedition to the mighty Mount Everest. Since then, he has climbed the Seven Summits—the highest mountains on all seven continents—and led dramatic climbs on both the north and south sides of Everest. In 2008, Alex etched his name in history as the first African to walk unsupported to the South Pole—a gruelling 65-day, 1,200 km journey through the coldest place on Earth. Not one to rest on his laurels, he went on to achieve another world first: the first unsupported crossing of the Arabian Desert’s legendary Empty Quarter. Alex gets fired up when someone tells him something is impossible!

It's day 66 on the North side of Everest. My third expedition. Two attempts, zero summits. The pressure is mounting.We'r...
10/08/2026

It's day 66 on the North side of Everest. My third expedition. Two attempts, zero summits. The pressure is mounting.

We're sitting at Advance Base Camp at 21,000 ft, the same place I met the Lord back in 1996. It's been a gruelling season with terrible weather. Conflicting reports have led to doubt and second-guessing. We watched teams set out in bad weather and pay the ultimate price. We're almost out of time and I'm in the worst shape of my life. Plagued by a crippling cough, I'm on another course of antibiotics.

I'm in a dark place. A tiny crack in my resolve is letting the acceptance of failure sneak in. I want to fail. Because it means an easy way out. Escape from the doubt and a ticket home. It's just not possible, I tell myself. It's not meant to be.

But something keeps me looking up. Staring up at the swirling cloud. The summit is so far away it may as well be on another planet. Then the Lord reminds me. Hey. Who brought you here? Who made this mountain? Who called you to high places? Well, I'm calling you again. This journey doesn't end on the summit. It starts there.

I collapse on my knees in tears, take out my journal and scribble the attached poem.

Four days later, on day 70, the wind finally stops and we climb the last few steps to the top of the world.

Existential questions from my six year old.Sunday was an overcast and cool morning in Dallas. I had just finished my qui...
10/06/2026

Existential questions from my six year old.

Sunday was an overcast and cool morning in Dallas. I had just finished my quiet time and was making my wife a cup of coffee. The house was still fast asleep except my 6 year old boy, who is always up early. He was lying on the couch flipping through his older brother's action picture bible.

Out of nowhere he asks: "Dad. Can you show me the page where God was born?"

Ermm, stumped!

So I nonchalantly walked up to him and said: "No. But I can show you where Jesus was born." and flipped to the pictures in Matthew. For now his curiosity is sated, but for how long.

Good luck to all his teachers! 😅

So good to see the work that Frank Mesina is doing over at New York Life Insurance Company. The Ribbon Cutting ceremony ...
10/01/2026

So good to see the work that Frank Mesina is doing over at New York Life Insurance Company. The Ribbon Cutting ceremony on Tuesday for their Plano office was more than just a showcase of the company, it was also a demonstration of generosity in action. I was blown away by all the non profits that were given space to tell their story. 🙏

Thank you Stefan Boehmer for the invite and all the interesting people you brought my way!

This past weekend I spoke at an Inner Circle conference with Dianna Kokoszka in Vancouver, Canada. A small group of busi...
09/30/2026

This past weekend I spoke at an Inner Circle conference with Dianna Kokoszka in Vancouver, Canada. A small group of business owners that are excited about taking their lives and businesses to the next level. I pulled one lesson from each of my expedition keynotes (Everest, South Pole and Arabian Desert) and wrapped them into one session. How to break down impossible goals and finish strong. The challenge is always to say enough when the temptation is to say more.

The workshop part was just one day, but boy did Dianna and her team deliver on exceptional experiences for the group. From Sea Planes to Whale Watching to surprise tickets to a King and Country concert.

I was last here thirty years ago, climbing peaks with a close friend. He has since immigrated to Vancouver so it was a treat to reconnect with him and share stories. Funny how we always go back to shared experiences.

Know anyone you haven't seen for ages that you need to reconnect with?

Last week I sat down with Ryan Michler on the Order of Man podcast. I thought we were going to spend most of the time ta...
09/29/2026

Last week I sat down with Ryan Michler on the Order of Man podcast.

I thought we were going to spend most of the time talking about extreme moments on Everest and the South Pole, and other crazy adventures. But we spent the bulk of our time talking about the difficulties of immigration, trust and making those tough decisions as a father when things are unclear. A road all of us men travel.

Full episode linked in the comments 👇

Cory Huddleston

Our Munga Grit Traverse City race wrapped up a week ago in Michigan. 170 miles with a small field and it's the 4th year ...
09/22/2026

Our Munga Grit Traverse City race wrapped up a week ago in Michigan. 170 miles with a small field and it's the 4th year in. It's really easy to label this as a failure and point to why we aren't growing. But one constant comment is how amazing our water-points are.

They're not just aid stations, they're oases in the middle of a desert of loneliness. That's the thing about ultra races. They're lonely. Just you, your thoughts, and the darkness. And the blinking light of your GPS unit telling you how far you still have to go. While it's easier to throw up a tent and leave some trays of bananas out, we do things the hard way and try and find small businesses, homes, centres that will showcase some of the unique hospitality and culture of the area. It's hard work to figure out that puzzle, of just the right amount of love.

WP2 is at the Copemish Kitchen and Coffee in the tiny town of Copemish in remote Michigan. It's a family owned business and the girls run the place all day long and into the night. No ask is too big and no hour too late. And, here is the kicker. They simply will not give me a bill. They do it because for them it's a blessing to be a blessing. WP3 is at the Karlin Inn, another forgotten town out in the woods. Laurie is ex military who now runs the Inn and presents delectables to those who might just venture beyond the outskirts of the city. WP3 stays open till midnight, sometimes 3 in the morning. No questions asked. If there is a rider still out in the field, she will wait.

And so, I keep coming back. Building relationship. Sowing and trusting. It's in moments like these I find the real American. And it's inspiring.

This is one of my favourite shots of Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain.I've been there twenty times over the years,...
09/21/2026

This is one of my favourite shots of Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain.

I've been there twenty times over the years, and every time this view asks the same questions. Are you worthy? Have you done enough? Who do you really trust with the things that matter? Are you still dreaming?

Sometimes it's real easy to answer those questions. Sometimes, it's just damn hard. What's become so clear though over the years, is that we have to have these mountains in our lives to ask the questions. Next year William Bourne and I are taking a group up the mountain with a focus on the spiritual journey of faith. The really tough questions.

How high will you go? Not just on the mountain, but in life. If you're interested in joining, reach out.

09/15/2026

I recently spoke to the Watchmen and their sons, who are all part of the Covenant Christian Academy of Colleyville's football team. That same night they lost.

It's so interesting that our tendency is to frame everything on outcomes. I did a motivational session. They lost. It couldn't have been very motivational. Binary. But its never that simple is it? Here's what the coach told me after: "It was a tough one. Lost, but many teachable moments, so a growth opportunity."

The coach gets what 'excellence' is all about. That its not a quick fix solution, but rather a long road. And this 'path of excellence' is baked into the team process. So the boys know they are going to win, but they also know they are going to lose. The coach has already followed up with mapping out some time to discuss how to engage this generation.

That's really the measure of wether a talk lands. And Im excited to see where this goes.

Thank you William Bourne for entrusting me with them! 💥

Years ago I built a leadership program called 3 Peaks. 3 modules that were mapped onto three of the Seven Summits. Kilim...
09/09/2026

Years ago I built a leadership program called 3 Peaks. 3 modules that were mapped onto three of the Seven Summits. Kilimanjaro for Passion, Carstensz Pyramid for Perseverance, and Everest for Purpose.

The original program was nine hours over a day and a half walking leaders through each module, with a short hike thrown in. After running it enough times, I noticed something that wasn't baked into the program itself, but may just have been the most important learning. Passion, Perseverance and Purpose dont move in a straight line. They're a cicle.

Here's how this plays out. we invest time into something we are passionate about. As we get better, we do it more, and this naturally pulls us into things that are harder, that ask more of us. That's persevering, whether we chose it or not. Eventually that road gets genuinely tough. Tough enough that we forget what got us there in the first place. We have to dig deep to keep moving with no guarantee its working.

And its this exact struggle, not the passion, not the perseverance alone, that produces something real; purpose. A sense of what all of this was for and who it might help beyond just us. Then the strangest thing happens, that purpose doesn't just retire us, it send us back to the beginning, our passions, but deeper than before, and the circle starts over.

I call it the Circle of Effect. I didn't design it into the 3 Peaks Program on purpose. I noticed it was already there, running underneath everything I had already built. Because its been running underneath my own life, the whole time too.

Where are you in the circle right now? still chasing the Passion? Deep in the grind of Perseverance, or just starting to see what it was actually for?

09/03/2026

I've been redoing my speaker showreel, which meant trawling the internet for old footage of myself. That's how I found a 48-minute documentary about the 2010 Freedom Challenge — a race I'd completely forgotten was even filmed.

About 30 minutes in, I started getting irritated. Not a single clip of me. Then it dawned on me: I'd started the race a day or two before the racing bunch, the group the film crew traditionally follows because that's where the real racing happens. I was a dark horse. Nobody expected me to contend, so nobody filmed me.

Right at the very end, one clip. About 30 seconds. Me, crossing the finish line. My wife there, and our daughter Leia, one year old, having no idea what any of it meant. And to be honest, I had no idea just how powerful that moment would be. It would shift the course of our lives forever.

I won that race. My first Freedom Challenge title of four. That win is what led me to race the Tour Divide in America three times, which is what made me fall in love with this country, and it was both the Tour Divide and Freedom Challenge which eventually led to founding the Munga back home.

Business has been slow lately, genuinely a hard season with much going on and plenty of sowing, waiting and trusting God. Finding that 30-second clip, completely by accident, felt like a gift from the Lord, exactly when I needed it.

But the real gift wasn't the nostalgia. It was the realization that hit me watching it: maybe this move to America was never really about me. Maybe it was about giving my daughter, who had no say in any of it as a one-year-old at a finish line, a life and a path I couldn't have mapped out for her back then.

Two weeks ago, she walked in the Western and English fashion show at the DFW World Trade Center. She's a model now. Sixteen years after that clip, in the country that race quietly pointed us toward before either of us knew it.

I don't have a clean lesson to wrap this one up with. Some moments only make sense a decade and a half later, watching an old video of your daughter as a baby, in a life she hadn't been given yet.

"Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." - Proverbs 19:21

*Thank you Andrew King for the video!

Address

Dallas, TX

Telephone

+12147628848

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Explore Alex Harris posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Explore Alex Harris:

Shortcuts

Share

Category