“Mountains are both journey and destination. They summon us to climb their slopes, explore their canyons, and attempt their summits. The summit, despite months of preparation and toil, is never guaranteed though tastes of sweet nectar when reached. If my only goal as a teacher and mountaineer is the summit, I risk cruel failure if I do not reach the highest apex. Instead, if I accept the mountain’s invitation to journey and create meaning in each step, success manifests in every moment.”
TA is a celebrated educator, adventurer, nature advocate, author, and professional keynote speaker from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. TA is a professor of Outdoor Education and Recreation in the School of Human Kinetics and Recreation at Memorial University.
In 2022, TA received one of Memorial University’s highest honours, the John Lewis Paton Distinguished University Professorship, recognizing her excellence in teaching, research, and community engagement.
In 2016, TA was named to Canadian Geographic’s Greatest Canadian Modern Women Explorers List and in 2020, TA was selected to their “90 Greatest Canadian Explorers” List.
After climbing Denali, TA set a goal of climbing Mount Everest and the rest of the “Seven Summits,” the highest peaks on each of the seven continents. TA has summited all of them except Mount Everest. TA made her third attempt on Mount Everest during the spring climbing season of 2016 where TA reached 7300 meters. Thus, for now, has completed six and four/fifths of the Seven Summits.
Along with climbing, TA has completed several other expeditions using multiple modes of locomotion including canoe, sea kayak, skis, and by foot. During the summer of 2019, TA completed her sixth paddling expedition in Labrador. This expedition was called the River with Two Names.
For 90 days in 2018, TA paddled 3080 km between Jasper, Alberta and Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories on an expedition entitled Paddling North.
In 2016, TA sea kayaked 200 kilometres along the northern Nunatsiavut Labrador coastline and met her first polar bear on the Paddle 2 Peaks expedition.
TA began a big project of crossing 750 km of the Himalayas in Nepal during the spring of 2014 with an expedition called the Great Big Walk. The project continued in 2019 when TA completed another section of the Great Himalayan Trail in Nepal–an expedition called Pretty Big Walk.
In 2012, TA skied 275 kilometres across Greenland to climb the Arctic’s highest peak, Gunnbjørn Fjeld. In 2015, TA climbed nine volcanoes and El Salvador’s Highest Peak during Volcanopalooza and paddled 210 kilometres from Lake Shipiskan to the sea along the Kanairiktok River in Labrador.
On the final day of 2010, TA completed her project, “Hat Trick of the Americas,” standing atop the highest points of North, Central, and South America by summiting Tajumulco, the highest peak in Guatemala. In September 2013, TA stood at the highest point in North Africa, Jebel Toubkal.
TA’s writing details expedition preparation, training, and the life lessons gained from these ambitious pursuits. TA’s book, More than a Mountain, gives an inside look at climbing Everest. Take advantage of a free download of the first chapter of More Than a Mountain to start reading TA’s riveting book today.
TA loves sharing her experiences with schools and the community in engaging ways during each of these expeditions. TA has aimed to be a “public dreamer” attempting to inspire others to have big dreams and big goals by sharing these adventures online, in schools, in the media, and through keynote speaking. You can also download TA’s One Pager to learn more about having TA come to speak at your event.
“My Everest is not your Everest. Your Everest is not mine. We all have an Everest. Each of us. Sometimes the peak is literally Mount Everest but most times it lies deep within us, figuratively occupying a mountainous inner space. It calls us to rise up, to do what we formerly labelled as impossible, and to be who we deeply and desperately want to be. I know that I have found an Everest when my soul furiously pokes me repeatedly until I listen. Heeding this call to passionate adventure of any sort initiates a journey of intense immense proportion that changes every molecule of my being. “
TA Loeffler's Adventures that Move 