Unbound, by Steph Jagger

Genre: Memoir | Themes: Adventure, Skiing, World Records, Travel

Why do we have to wait for life to break us before we reinvent ourselves? What if we’re the ones holding the hammer, and all we have to do is take a swing?
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These are the questions that Steph Jagger asked herself when she set out to accomplish something extraordinary—something absurd. Steph was doing quite well at the time: she had a loving family, a successful career, and an apartment that she’d purchased with her own money. She wasn’t going through a terrible break-up, or grieving for a lost loved one, or trying to pick up the pieces of her life. Life had not forced change on her; nevertheless, she wanted a change. She wanted more. She wanted gusto.

That’s when Steph, without exactly knowing it, set out to beat a world record. Her goal: to ski 4 million vertical feet in ten months, and travel the world while doing it.

Steph knew her goal was absurd, and that’s exactly what attracted her to it. What she desired was a shake-up of her comfortable life, and the challenge would end up breaking her in all the ways she didn’t know she needed.
In a narrative that is sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes insightful, and always hilarious, Steph takes us through her journey to 4 million feet, a journey that—unbeknownst to her—would transform her in ways she never could have imagined.

Favorite quotes:

“…the real reason for the journey—well, we have to wait for things to crack and cleave off before that is revealed.”

“…the Universe doesn’t care if you’re not interested in change.”

“We’ll do this together. You and me and those books."

“…the shaping and whittling one has to do to reveal an identity.”

“Where does your heart go when home is no longer an option?”

“The only commitment the mountains can make is that if you go to them, they’ll tell you who you are.”
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“…our courage is not found in the words I finished, but in the words I started.”