"You want to make changes in your life, but you say you do not have the time, or it's not the right time, and in any event it will not work? Are you someone who always find excuses not to act? Well, this little guide is for you!"

"I have been impressed by the way Ted Fairhurst managed his life . His philosophy of life is in harmony with the messages and techniques that I present in my book. That's why I decided to make him a key figure in my book. Page after page we discover how he managed to live his passions, and to have the life he always wanted. Ted is an example for our youth!"

"Vous voulez apporter des changements dans votre vie, mais vous vous dites que vous n'avez pas le temps, que ce n'est pas le bon moment et que, de toute façon, ça ne pas marchera pas? Êtes-vous de ceux qui se trouvent toujours des excuses pour ne pas passer à l'action? Eh bien, ce petit guide est fait pour vous!"

"Le parcours de Ted Fairhurst m’a beaucoup impressionné, sa philosophie de la vie est en harmonie avec les messages et techniques que je présente dans mon livre. C’est la raison pour laquelle j’ai décidé d’en faire un personnage clé de mon ouvrage, nous découvrons page après page comment il a réussi à vivre de ses passions, et à avoir la vie qu’il a toujours souhaité avoir. Ted est un exemple pour nos jeunes !"

Jean-Pierre Lemaitre

http://jeanpierrelemaitre.com/

 http://www.facebook.com/JeanPierreLemaitre.PageOfficielle

      Watch Video     http://www.vimeo.com/17561421

 Ted Fairhurst, a world renowned adventurer and founder of daretoreach.ca, brought his incredible life story and positive message of determination to the students of St. Monica Elementary School in N.D.G. recently, encouraging students to find the strength to climb their own metaphorical mountains.

Fairhurst, a graduate of the English Montreal School Board’s Elizabeth Ballantyne Elementary School and the former Montreal West High (now Royal West), has taken physical fitness to a new level, highlighted by celebrating his 63rd birthday on Mount Everest. Over the course of one hour, Fairhurst shared with students and staff at St. Monica his trek through life, culminating with a riveting story which led him to the top of the world’s highest mountain, accomplishing a lifelong dream.

Born with a passion for adventure, his latest accomplishment was just yet another in a lifetime of physical feats, which begain in 1969 when he hitchhiked from Scotland to Afghanistan. It was then, while in Kathmandu, where Fairhurst met a New Zealand climber who had just returned from a journey to Everest Base Camp and back.

That climber’s story propelled Fairhurst to cross over high mountain passes and tropical valleys to find his way up and over the Khumbu Mountain Range. Alone, with no mountaineering experience, no tent, only a summer sleeping bag, and only potatoes and rice for sustenance, he managed to climb up the Khumbu Glacier to approximately 19,000 feet to Everest Base Camp, spending 32 days alone in the greatest mountain range on earth, surviving only on his energy and wits. Although he did not get to climb Everest on that trip, he vowed to one day return.

While his adventures have taken him to every corner of the globe, climbing the world’s most daunting mountains, Fairhurst has maintained the ideals that everything humans do is learned and as such, humans decide where they want to go and what they want to become – so with this philosophy, he tells students why not use this immense power and Dare to Reach?

One can see audio and video footage from Fairhust’s climb of Everest at his website: daretoreach.ca.

Teacher/traveller still walks the walk

BY MIKE BOONE, THE GAZETTESEPTEMBER 29, 2010

When he leads west-end students participating in Walk to School Day next week, maybe Ted Fairhurst will slow down to give the kids a break.

Fairhurst is 63 and grew up on Westmore Ave. near Somerled Ave. in Notre Dame de Grace. Twice a day, he walked a kilometre to and from Elizabeth Ballantyne elementary school in Montreal West.

It was the 1950s. Children walked to school in the morning, came home for lunch, walked back to school, and walked home.

I don't have 2010 statistics at hand, but it's a safe bet very few elementary students walk four kilometres a day. And it's a safer bet few sexagenarians have climbed Mount Everest.

Fairhurst reached the top of the world's highest mountain on May 23. It was his birthday, and he celebrated by brandishing a Frisbee on which he had written "Distinct Tibet/ United China."

"I was going to launch the Frisbee off the top of Everest," Fairhurst told me yesterday. "But the video function on my camera didn't work. There was no point doing it just for fun."

A friend of Fairhurst, Steve Aker, knows Mike Cohen, who is in charge of PR for the English Montreal School Board. When Cohen heard about Fairhurst's Everest exploit, he approached him to be honorary chairman of International Walk to School Day.

Next Wednesday morning, Fairhurst will walk with students and parents from Elizabeth Ballantyne, Royal Vale, St. Monica's, Willingdon and Lower Canada College. The event, he says, is "all about what I stand for."

"Get out and be active," he elaborated. "That's seen as a problem these days with kids, and it's scary."

Fairhurst has been actively getting out and about all his life. As a guide at Expo 67, he met tourists from all over, which piqued his interest in seeing more of the world.

"I probably had the travel bug already," Fairhurst said, "but that gave it to me in a big way."

In the summer of 1969, Fairhurst drove an old beater out to Banff and worked there for the summer before moving on to Vancouver, where he planned to sign on as a seaman for a trip to Asia. He couldn't do so without union papers, so Fairhurst hitchhiked back east to Halifax and caught a cheap flight to Scotland.

"I was hitching around England and met an American guy with a Volkswagen camper," Fairhurst recalled. "He said, 'I'm going to Afghanistan. Want to come?' So off we went.

"A Canadian kid who had never travelled in his life not only crossed Europe but also Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan, back when it was peaceful and you could go there."

His journey continued into Pakistan, India and Nepal. With "zero experience camping or mountaineering," Fairhurst spent 32 days hiking to the Mount Everest base camp. He had no tent, slept in a summer-weight sleeping bag and lived on rice.

Through the 1970s, Fairhurst worked as an artist, specializing in abstract acrylics on canvas. He spent a lot of time in Europe, where he bought and ran a tour bus.

While his CV may conjure up visions of a pony-tailed eternal hippie, Fairhurst is a button-down businessman who has been buying, renovating and selling Montreal buildings since the early 1980s.

"You could call me a developer," he said, "but that's a bit grandiose for what I do."

As an entrepreneur, Fairhurst is able to carve out time for his mountaineering projects. Everest was the fourth of seven peaks he plans to scale.

Fairhurst has been a serious climber since 1999. At an age when his contemporaries were playing golf, he was scaling peaks in the Andes and has been mountaineering ever since, with breaks to have old skiing injuries repaired in both knees.

Fairhurst, who has weighed an unvarying 130 pounds for as long as he can remember, is also a serious mountain biker. He trains with a group of 20-and 30-somethings.

"They sometimes call me Pops," Fairhurst said, "but I can do all the things they can do. And they respect me for it."

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© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6

ELIZABETH BALLANTYNE GRAD WHO CLIMBED EVEREST TO BE HONOURARY CHAIR OF INTERNATIONAL WALK TO SCHOOL DAY

MONTREAL,  SEPTEMBER 13, 2010—  When Ted Fairhurst attended Elizabeth Ballantyne Elementary School in Montreal West 56 years ago, he walked to school several times a day. Many years later he has taken physical fitness to a new level, having recently climbed Mount Everest and celebrating his 63^rd birthday there, he describes this as one of the most memorable experiences of his life.

Mr. Fairhurst is indeed seen as a role model to youngsters and wishes to encourage them to pursue healthy and physically active lifestyles. With this in mind he has accepted the honourary chairmanship of the English Montreal School Board’s (EMSB) participation in Walk to School Day on Wednesday, October, 6, 2010. It will begin at 7:30 a.m., with one walk starting from N.D.G. Park, at the corner of Marcil and Cote St. Antoine, and another beginning at 8:30 a.m. from Confederation Park at the corner of Kensington and Fielding. “We can accomplish extraordinary things if we have a passion for life. There is no limit to what we are able to achieve” Mr. Fairhurst stated, when asked what message he would like to give to our students about staying motivated and pursuing their dreams.

“Just go for it!”  he adds.

Participants in the International Walk to School Day are the students and parents from the EMSB’s Elizabeth Ballantyne, Royal Vale, St. Monica, Willingdon and a private school, Lower Canada College. Students who participate will walk to school with their parents or be dropped off at one of the designated starting points.

Both the N.D.G YMCA and Montreal Police Station 11 have joined the event as community partners. The police are especially important as they plan and supervise the walking routes by car..They plan the walking route prior to the event and supervise by car on the day of the event. The walking routes planned by the Police Department are both safe and direct, and create more public awareness of the walking corridors. The principals, physical education teachers, and parent volunteers are on hand to supervise both in the parks and throughout the walk.

Mr. Fairhurst is an artist by profession. From drawing on toilet paper at four years old, to getting up at 4 am to go duck hunting when he was 12, Mr. Fairhurst had to squeeze in every moment he could to pursue his passions. At 20, after getting a taste of the world working at Expo ‘67 in Montreal, he was ready to get out there and go explore the globe himself.

Hitchhiking all the way from Scotland to Afghanistan in 1969, he then travelled by bus to India and Nepal. In Kathmandu he met a New Zealand climber who had just returned from trekking about 300 miles to Everest Base Camp and back. His story, within seconds, shot so much adrenaline into Mr. Fairhurst’s bloodstream, he knew he had to go and try to do it too.

Within days he was crossing over high mountain passes and finding his way up and over the Khumbu Range. With no mountaineering experience, alone and only a summer sleeping bag, he somehow managed to climb up the Khumbu Glacier to approximately 19,000 feet to Everest Base Camp.“I spent 32 days alone in the greatest mountain range on earth surviving only on my energy and wits,” he says.

In the 80’s, Mr. Fairhurst plunged into creating his own business of real estate. With not much money, but plenty of will power, he built a company mostly on faith and determination alone. He learned the values of self-motivation and creative thinking.

In November 2002, he ventured to Bolivia to attempt to climb  the 19,974 foot (6,088 metre) Huayna Potosi. His first attempt was cut short by a need for urgent medical attention in La Paz for a tooth abscess. Ten days later his second attempt at the summit was halted by heavy snow and avalanches. Although Mr. Fairhurst may not have reached those summits, his passion for mountaineering increased even more.

About a year later, he decided to join an international team to climb Cho Oyu in Tibet, an 8,000 metre  mountain. They arrived at the mountain a week later and began their long acclimatization process. Leaving high camp (25,000 feet) at 11:30 p.m. and climbing all night up steep rock and icy terrain, the group reached the summit of Cho Oyu (8,201 metres) at 6 a.m. on October 5, 2008. “Hard training, determination, believing in yourself, and daring was the simple key to our success” says Mr. Fairhurst.

Mr. Fairhurst hopes to complete the seven summits, the highest on every continent, within a year. Already having climbed the four most difficult out of the seven, Mr. Fairhurst is in arm’s reach of his goal.

For more about his journeys go to   www.DareToReach.ca.

http://www.cjad.com/Shows/DanLaxer.aspx

CJAD NEWSTALK RADIO/ LAXER LIVE

OCTOBER 6, 2010

 ADVENTURER CAPTIVATES ST. MONICA STUDENTS

 MONTREAL, NOVEMBER 29, 2010 – Ted Fairhurst, a world renowned adventurer and founder of www.daretoreach.ca,  brought his incredible life story and positive message of determination to the students of St. Monica Elementary School in N.D.G.  recently, encouraging students to find the strength to climb their own metaphorical mountains.

 Fairhurst, a graduate of the English Montreal School Board’s Elizabeth Ballantyne Elementary School and the former Montreal West High (now Royal West),  has taken physical fitness to a new level, highlighted by celebrating his 63^rd birthday on Mount Everest. Over the course of one hour, Fairhurst shared with students and staff at St. Monica his trek through life, culminating with a riveting story which led him to the top of the world’s highest mountain, accomplishing a lifelong dream.

 Born with a passion for adventure, his latest accomplishment was just yet another in a lifetime of physical feats, which begain in 1969 when he hitchhiked from Scotland to Afghanistan. It was then, while in Kathmandu, where Fairhurst met a New Zealand climber who had just returned from a journey to Everest Base Camp and back.

 That climber’s story propelled Fairhurst to cross over high mountain passes and tropical valleys to find his way up and over the Khumbu Mountain Range. Alone, with no mountaineering experience, no tent, only a summer sleeping bag, and only potatoes and rice for sustenance, he managed to climb up the Khumbu Glacier to approximately 19,000 feet to Everest Base Camp, spending 32 days alone in the greatest mountain range on earth, surviving only on his energy and wits. Although he did not get to climb Everest on that trip, he vowed to one day return.

 While his adventures have taken him to every corner of the globe, climbing the world’s most daunting mountains, Fairhurst has maintained the ideals that everything humans do is learned and as such, humans decide where they want to go and what they want to become – so with this philosophy, he tells students why not use this immense power and Dare to Reach?

 A complete video of Fairhurst’s talk at St. Monica can be found at:  http://www.vimeo.com/17561421

 One can see audio and video footage from Fairhust’s climb of Everest at his website: www.daretoreach.ca.

English Montreal School Board

WALK TO SCHOOL

Hundreds of students from six elementary schools (Royal Vale, Willingdon and St. Monica in N.D.G,; Elizabeth Ballantyne in Montreal West; St. John Bosco in Ville Émard; and Edward Murphy in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve) skipped the car ride on October 6 to join their peers from around the world and take part in International Walk to School Day.

Along with their parents and staff, the students in the West End were accompanied throughout their walk by Ted Fairhurst, who served as an honourary chairman of the annual event organized by the English Montreal School Board. In addition to being an Elizabeth Ballantyne alumnus, Mr. Fairhurst has taken physical fitness to a new level as he recently celebrated his 63rd birthday on top of Mount Everest.

“This is a wonderful event,” said Mr. Fairhurst. “It‟s so important for kids to get out there and walk. This is the time in their lives where they make their bodies what they will be in the future. I used to walk to school four times a day. It‟s vital for good health and a good mind.” For more details click here.