Dean Cardinale is an avid mountain climber, outdoors enthusiast, and adventure lover. Founder of World Wide Trekking and President and Founder of Human Outreach Project, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, he has climbed and led expeditions to North America, Central America, Africa, Europe, South America, and the Himalayas, including summiting Mt. Everest in 2005. Dean is the former president of Wasatch Backcountry Rescue and U.S. representative to the International Commission of Alpine Rescue, where he served for over a decade. He is an avalanche instructor with the American Avalanche Association, a professional ski patrolmen and avalanche forecaster for Snowbird Ski Resort, and a level-III certified U.S. Sailing Captain. Dean has recently made a self-supported ski traverse of the Greenland Icecap and authored the book, Inspired – Lessons Learned from a Life of Adventure. Dean has taught and guided people of all ages and professions and is well known for his professional ethics and conduct evident in all of his pursuits. He has a longstanding record of leadership, program development, and community service.
Dean began World Wide Trekking in order to share his passion and enthusiasm with his guests. He has a deep and abiding love for discovery and exploration, and has made that his life’s work, along with a continued commitment to giving back to the areas that he visits.
As the events chair for the local chapter of the Young Entrepreneur Organization, I recently scheduled a presentation by Dean Cardinale for our group. Not only did Dean captivate our audience, he shared practices that could be translated into our businesses and personal lives. Dean’s presentation helped us realize that life is a journey, and must be tackled with a plan, patience, and perseverance. I would highly recommend Dean for any occasion.
Jason Fry, CEO Zotes Products, LLC
The group you spoke with work on difficult global health issues around the world. As such, they resonated with your description of both the beauty of the trek through Nepal to base camp and the embracement and cultural prayers offered to you by the local people. We both laughed and cried with you as you took us through the ups and downs of each day with such sincerity and humor, and the humility with which you described your efforts to stay focused and positive. We deeply appreciated your emphasis of the importance of an individual’s strength of mind, tenacity and perseverance, while placing equal attention to the necessity for collective strength, loyalty and selflessness as a team – it was clear that both needed to be there to accomplish this goal. The character you demonstrate illustrate those very attributes we try to nurture in our students, many of whom were in the audience and who were motivated and inspired by your talk.
Sue J. Goldie, MD, MPH, PhD
Global Health Initiative, Harvard University
Your personal story had a major impact on our group. Mt. Everest is a magnificent backdrop and serves as a great analogy for so many of life’s challenges. Like any company, we face numerous obstacles and our success depends upon how we perform as a team. Your journey to the top of Everest put a face to those challenges and connected with everyone on a personal level.
Dale Gehring, Director
ESCO Corp.
Dean captured the group as he brought to life the human experience of what climbers go through as they endure the extremes of Everest. For those focused on basic science and physiology, the description, through his gripping personal words and pictures, provided an angle on the biological consequences of high altitude not captured quite so vividly by science alone. For those focused on research and clinical medicine, the experience through Dean’s eyes and words, motivated new thoughts about creative approaches to pulmonary care at high-altitude. For the many of us who, in addition to being pulmonary/critical care physicians, also share a passion for the mountains, the chance to feel the joy and pain of the trials, failures and final success of the Everest summit, through Dean’s story, was unparalleled.
Aaron B. Waxman, MD, PhD
Harvard Medical School
Several times a week employees that attended your program make reference to situations from your climb. Not often do we find ourselves in a situation that by dropping a glove we could lose a hand to frostbite. Your inspirational presentation helped us put into perspective how many of our day-to-day problems are so minor. It was remarkable to learn how much teamwork goes into the climb and trust you have to build in order to reach your goals.
Dan Devenport, President
Mountainland Design
Thank you for sharing your story about climbing Mt. Everest. Your presentation illustrated the trials and tribulations you experienced as you pushed towards the summit and reminded us of the process one must go through in order to achieve the ultimate goal. The meticulous calculations you managed on a daily basis, the patience you endured based on uncontrollable elements, and the unbreakable trust you and your teammates shared were lifetime lessons embraced by the audience. Thank you!
Sarah West, Director
Office of New Ventures Westminster College
You are a real crowd pleaser! I’m writing to tell you how much our group enjoyed your presentation and slide show on your Mt. Everest expedition. It was the perfect ending to a day of medicine and skiing! We were mesmerized with your stories and anecdotes! My group’s engagement was obvious from the large number of questions they asked at the end. We can’t thank you enough for sharing your awesome story with us.
Joyce Fried, Co-Director
Office of Continuing Medical Education
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
As a scoutmaster, basketball coach, and a business owner with over 100 employees, I constantly search for ethical speakers who demonstrate successful leadership qualities. One person who meets these requirements is Dean Cardinale. It is inspirational for audiences to hear how Dean has mastered the challenges of ski safety, mountaineering and avalanche rescue. His monumental successes in spite of adversity translate to our own daily challenges, failures and successes. Whether discussing the challenges of supervising snow safety at Snowbird Ski Resort, or describing the step by step effort to climb Mt. Everest or the foot by foot search for avalanche victims, Dean’s enthusiastic presentations describe the focus and incremental steps necessary to achieve success in all endeavors.
A listener learns how Dean has searched unsuccessfully for days for avalanche victims but persevered to ultimately achieve success in the face of tragedy by bringing answers and closure to grief stricken families. He transports you to Mt. Everest where goals are achieved in a few agonizing steps or in the rebuilding of a camp that’s been swept away by an avalanche. His storytelling abilities captivate audiences with his inspiration, expertise, and passion. He allows the listener to experience the freezing temperatures, intensity, and effort that the average person will never witness. At the conclusion of his presentation, listeners will conclude that Dean’s methods and values are useful in our everyday lives as we strive to achieve our own goals, guide our families and manage our businesses.
Steve Mason, P.E., President
Cardinal Engineering.
Listening to the tales and enjoying the stunning photos of Dean’s expeditions to Everest and other Himalayan peaks is captivating. He takes audience members as close as many will ever get to those lofty heights. A deep passion for what he does is evident as he discusses, among other things, avalanche awareness and safety, creating and maintaining a safe winter sports environment for the guests of Snowbird and other resorts, the challenges and rewards of high altitude mountaineering, and the experiences and adventures of he and his friend, Midas – the avalanche dog.
Tommy Blair
Session Coordinator
Sigma Chi Fraternity – Horizons Program
When there is an avalanche or backcountry accident, we look to Dean first to find out what happened and what is being done in the search efforts. When we did a weeklong series during Backcountry Awareness Week, Dean was our featured expert and offered daily safety tips. His professionalism and knowledge is top notch. It is rare to find someone with the enthusiasm and knowledge that actually practices what they teach.
Jodi Saeland, Meteorologist
KSTU FOX 13 Television
Your presentation was perfect: it was professional, well-illustrated, interesting and informative. You played to a tough room of professionals and you impressed them. It’s obvious that you spent considerable time beforehand determining our interests and background and adjusting your presentation to the audience. I was equally impressed by your willingness, and ability, to answer questions, which in this case were rather detailed. The presentation received major “buzz” at the conference and made a large contribution to the success of our event.
James C. Ha, Host
2005 Animal Behavior Society Annual Meeting
DEAN’S PROJECTS:
Wasatch Backcountry Rescue: A 501c3 non profit organization that conducts mountain rescue and recovery services for the local county sheriffs departments. Dean served as president of WBR for more than a decade.
www.WasatchBackcountryRescue.org
Human Outreach Project: HOP is a 501c3 non profit that gives back to the world wide destinations we visit on World Wide Trekking guided adventures.
Snowbird Avalanche Rescue Training Center: The Avalanche Rescue Training Center is funded through Wasatch Backcountry Rescue and educates patrons on snow safety and avalanche rescue.
Snowbird Avalanche Rescue Training Center
LINKS
CBS
Surviving an Avalanche: Rescue Team Shows How it’s Done
The Weather Channel
Jim Cantore Learns Wilderness Survival
CNN 3 Part Series: Avalanche Safety with Dean
Pt. 1: Ski Patrol
Pt. 3: Technology Aids in Avalanche
KRCL
Articles about Dean
