About Mike

 

Mike Libecki closes all of his correspondences with the words "Pursue Passion––Why Ration Passion—Dream Big…..and Live Those Dreams—The Time is Now. "This is exactly how he lives his life. Mike was born near the heart of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California where he grew up hunting, fishing, and camping with his family, as well as excelling in speed mathematics from grammar school through high school. His childhood life planted the seed for his obsession with an utterly adventurous lifestyle that has taken him to all of the continents several times.  He is constantly making it very clear that: Death and/or old age is coming.....we must live sweet. After all, it is not only life, but the quality of this life.

Now in his adult life, Mike spends most of his time as a father to his angel-daughter Lilliana, and traveling to the most remote, exotic and untouched locations on the planet to pursue his passion of big wall and alpine first ascents, traverses, and other offbeat adventures, many of them completely alone. Libecki has been on expeditions and established multiple first ascents in such areas as Africa, Baffin Island, Greenland, China, Madagascar, Kyrgysztan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Venezuela, Yemen, and Antarctica. He made the first west-east traverse across the Taklamakan Desert in Western China, also known as the "Sea of Death" by the local people. He's spent months at a time Soloing first ascents in Greenland, Baffin Island, Antarctica, Africa, Papua New Guinea and China. He and a partner spent 8o days completing a major ski and big wall climbing expedition in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. He is currently reconnoitering such virgin lands such as Franz Josef Land, Russia, restricted Africa, Afghanistan and remote islands in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans , some other areas are top secret at the moment due to government regulations.  Again, The Time is Now and Why Ration Passion?

When Mike is not exploring and photographing/filming the ends of the Earth, he is a full time father. You can also find him presenting one of his uniquely entertaining multimedia presentations about his adventures year-round. Mike's favorite part of the gift of ultimate reality called life is being a father.  You will often see many colors on his freshly painted toe and finger nails, he is an expert at playing princesses and dress-ups, attends piano, violin and swimming lessons and is his daughter's soccer coach.  Libecki just won 'Father of the Year Award' from his daughters school.   He keeps his life running full-circle with other passions such as photography, videography, writing, public speaking, product design and testing, and believing in his dreams (not 99%, 100% minimum). Mike lives near the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon in Utah with his daughter, dog, cats, pot-belly pig and rabbits.

Mike has received numerous grants and awards: two time winner of the Shipton-Tilman Grant/Award from W.L.Gore & Associates, a three time winner of the Mug Stumps Award, two time winner of the Lyman Spitzer/American Alpine Club Award, The Polartec Challenge Award, Athlete Ambassador of the Year Award from Clif Bar, The Sharp End Award from The Access Fund, Mountaineering Fellowship Award from The American Alpine Club, The Banff Centre Mountain Grant, The Helly Hansen Mountain Award from The American Alpine Club, two time winner of the Father of the Year Award at his daughters school.