152: Andrew Alexander King/I Know Who I Am

Andrew Alexander King, Mexico, March 2021. Photo: Tozer

I’m used to chatting guests with massive goals or awe-inspiring achievements under their belts. Think of Ross Edgeley’s Great British Swim, or Christina Koch’s record-breaking spaceflight.

And this week’s guest Andrew Alexander King is right up there. Andrew is a surfer, climber and mountaineer who is at the beginning of an audacious attempt to become the first African-American to climb the seven highest mountains and volcanoes on each continent. 14 peaks in all, each with their own dangers and unique challenges.

Andrew and friend. Photo: Tozer

As a life goal, it is frighteningly ambitious. And that’s before you factor in his Between Worlds Project, through which he hopes to subvert the “lottery ticket of birth” that currently sets your cultural path, and dictates who gets to see these environments as viable playgrounds; a subject that is currently the subject of much transatlantic discussion and controversy.

Photo: Tozer

Like I said, it is ambitious stuff, and about as far-removed from the “because it’s there’ orthodoxy that has shaped the narrative of exploration for the past two hundred years as it is possible to get. Andrew’s infectious personality and compelling backstory only add to the intrigue.

Naturally, I was keen to speak to him for the show, and find out more about his quixotic quest, so in March 2021 we caught up over Zoom to discuss the whole thing. It’s a good one this. Listen to the episode below: