Ep. 1090: Mimi Zieman - Tap Dancing on Everest
Adventure Sports Podcast
Curt Linville
4.6 • 579 Ratings
🗓️ 16 July 2025
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Everest expedition: Mimi Zieman as the only female medic on the 1988 east face climb – from New York City girl to high-altitude adventurer, overcoming challenges, following gut instincts, conquering self-doubt, and finding meaning through adventure.
In this episode of the Adventure Sports Podcast, Mimi Zieman shares her incredible journey as the only female medic on an expedition to the East Face of Everest in 1988. She discusses her unlikely path from a New York City girl to an expeditioner, the challenges she faced, and the personal growth that came from her experiences. Mimi emphasizes the importance of following one's gut instincts, overcoming self-doubt, and the value of adventure in finding meaning in life. Her memoir, 'Tap Dancing on Everest,' captures the essence of her journey and the lessons learned along the way.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Adventure on Everest
05:44 Tap Dancing: A Unique Perspective
07:13 The Challenges of the East Face
09:47 Becoming the Medic: An Unlikely Role
12:36 Facing Trauma and Self-Doubt
15:36 Growth Through Adventure
18:29 Lessons from the Medical Field
20:24 The Motivation Behind the Book
22:39 Connecting with Gut Instincts
26:32 Navigating Life's Pivots
27:23 The Role of Intuition
28:32 Finding Meaning in Life
30:39 Commitment and Perseverance
32:37 Facing Fear in Extreme Situations
33:59 Embracing New Adventures
36:02 The Power of Storytelling
37:50 Overcoming Self-Doubt
38:35 Taking the Leap
41:46 The Journey of Writing
44:02 The Importance of Experience
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | It would be a long time before I'd understand everything we'd been through on that glacier, |
| 0:05.0 | that I'd experience the greatest emptiness and the greatest strength there. |
| 0:09.7 | Now I realize that living and loving, while knowing all could be lost, |
| 0:14.8 | is the essence of the greatest aliveness. |
| 0:18.3 | Episode 190, Emmy Zeeman, tap dancing on Everest. |
| 0:29.1 | Hi, friends. |
| 0:30.3 | Thank you for joining the Adventure Sports podcast. |
| 0:33.0 | So the year was 1988, and the location was the east face of Everest, and it had only been |
| 0:40.7 | climbed once before. |
| 0:43.6 | And our guest today is here to regale us with all the wonderful stories about what it was |
| 0:49.1 | like to attempt that face. |
| 0:52.0 | Mimi Zeman is here, and she has written a book called Tap Dancing on Everest. Now we |
| 0:57.9 | have to set it up a little bit. She was the only female on the expedition and she was brought on as |
| 1:05.7 | the medical person though she was still in medical school and it was the I, it was an attempt of the East Face that is just something that people |
| 1:14.1 | don't do from the Tibet side instead of from the Nepal side. |
| 1:18.3 | And so, anyway, this is going to be a lot of fun. |
| 1:21.2 | Mimi, welcome to the program. |
| 1:23.1 | Thanks so much, Kurt. |
| 1:24.3 | I'm really excited to be here with you. |
| 1:27.1 | Yeah, so you're in Atlanta right now, |
| 1:29.8 | but you just mentioned that you're headed to Colorado on a book tour, and then we found out we have |
| 1:35.8 | more in common. Yeah. So where are you going on your book tour? Well, I'm going to Aspen and |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Curt Linville, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Curt Linville and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.