There is a level of adventure that goes beyond thrill-seeking. For Laval St. Germain, it is a mindset—a sophisticated thirst that draws him toward the world's most uncommon and iconic experiences, wherever they might exist.
A celebrated Canadian adventurer and pilot famed for his feats of endurance in challenging environments on every continent, he has been called relentless in his pursuit of the exceptional.
Achieving excellence, he believes, is a journey that transforms you from the inside out, making it impossible to settle for the mundane.
“I don't specifically set my sights on 'firsts,' but perhaps one's imagination is more naturally drawn to firsts because they require the most imagination," says St. Germain.
That drive and imagination have placed him in rarified circles as a member of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and the legendary The Explorer's Club in New York—where members Matthew Henson and Robert Peary once celebrated their North Pole adventure in 1909. St. Germain's achievements include:
• Summiting Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen (2010): St. Germain is the only Canadian to have achieved this feat.
• Completing the Seven Summits: St. Germain climbed the highest mountain peak on seven continents.
• Rowing solo across the North Atlantic Ocean (2016): This grueling journey tested St. Germain's endurance as he navigated one of the world's most treacherous bodies of water alone.
Why one summit isn't enough
For St. Germain, the choice to tackle daunting landscapes requires equal parts boldness and precision—the disciplined exercise of personal power that allows one to approach every challenge with a purposeful and unyielding desire to test the limits. "You have to be bold; you have to move forward; you have to take it all," he says. That boldness is a well-earned confidence born of St. Germain's approach to world-class mountaineering. He combines months of careful planning with elite levels of performance to reach a particular goal, even at the risk of death in the process of perfecting his approach.
For St. Germain, every journey is worth the gambit. He describes the process as “life-giving,” even when the physical exertion and sheer suffering are excruciating in some pursuits. St. Germain believes that endurance is part of an essential baptism into becoming more human, core to our native capacity to evolve. Seeing pain as a step and not a holding pattern, he says, is critical to our ability to embrace life.
“You can't curl up in the corner of your room and feel bad for yourself,” he says, “because [suffering] is a natural part of life.” For St. Germain, that means a willingness to thrust himself into chaotic conditions in pursuit of breaking new ground.
Why climbing Everest was a calculated risk
Mount Everest is the highest peak in the world, standing at 8,848 meters (29,029 feet). Since Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first summited it in 1953, it has become an icon of human endurance and ambition. It's also one of the most dangerous climbs in the world; over 300 people have died attempting to reach its summit.
St. Germain's 2010 ascent without supplemental oxygen was a world-first achievement for a Canadian. For him, climbing Everest was also symbolic, illustrating the difference between courage and risk-taking. “I take very measured and calculated risks even though I know that there are certain objective hazards out there that you can't avoid,” he states. “I knew [summiting Everest without oxygen] was going to be the toughest physiological challenge of my life, but I had incredible confidence.” He says courage is a purpose-driven exercise, entailing moving through risk with clear thinking, not bravado.
St. Germain's approach to implausible challenges, whether climbing Everest or rowing across the North Atlantic, is rooted in decades of experience, meticulous planning, and relentless training. “I looked at the video before I left the camp, and I'm just flabbergasted by how nonchalant I was about what I was going to do.” St. Germain's expertise and commitment to precise execution allowed him to plan as if the impossible was achievable – leaving him more time to focus on performance rather than fear of the unknown.
Finding safety in power and precision
Counterintuitively, St. Germain says speed in the outdoors is sometimes safer than moving at a slower pace. “Speed in the mountains allowed me to nearly sprint across steep slopes threatened by avalanches and icefall, thereby minimizing my exposure.” This kind of agility in the face of challenges requires not only the right gear but also the foresight to react confidently when faced with split-second decisions. “Preparation is a critical component both in my career as an airline pilot and in my life as an adventurer—maybe my level of preparation just lends itself to speed?”
"Living is the judgment of the chances one takes, and that judgment has to rest upon one's outlook on life."
A limitless pursuit of calculated risk
St. Germain's mountaineering journey as a young man began with his ascent of Mount Shasta in the United States. That initial climb tested his physical endurance and mental fortitude but fueled his desire to see how far he could push the limits of his body and his will to meet challenges head-on. Pushing limits is what St. Germain has done for decades, but he doesn't consider himself to be a compulsive risk-taker. Instead, he says, it connects to his definition of a life well-lived. While some criticize adventurers for putting themselves in dangerous situations, St. Germain says they're missing the point. One should live at the zenith of one's courage, regardless of the level of risk it demands, he states. “Why should we look for errors when a brave person dies?” he asks. “Unless we can learn from the experience, there's no need to look for (their) weaknesses.” Laval, who has lost three fingers in his adventures, learns with each journey, but he's never learned, he says, to be satisfied with a single summit.
Confronting mortality with inspiration
In his most recent climb on December 31, 2018, St. Germain summited Mount Vinson in Antarctica, completing his quest to climb the Seven Summits—the highest peaks on each continent. His adventures are not just about the physical act of climbing, he says. His intense focus in the face of uncertainty reveals moments of grace amid rushes of adrenaline and the chaos of uncertain weather. That focus, he says, has allowed him to see past even unimaginable tragedy.
Nearly ten years ago, St. Germain faced a shocking turn of events that transformed how he saw the world. “I am motivated by the brevity of life, and that was brought into tragic focus nearly ten years ago when we lost our oldest son Richard to a canoeing accident in the Northwest Territories in Canada's Arctic,” he says. “I was always haunted by the knowledge that life was fleeting, but this existential crisis brought it into stark relief.”
Despite this grief, he found a way to transform his family's pain into a source of inspiration for others. St. Germain says that avoiding change will not ward off the unpredictability of life, so every moment spent in fear of the unknown is foolish. As a public speaker, St. Germain emphasizes the importance of challenging oneself, being uncomfortable, and pursuing one's own 'firsts' as he speaks to youth groups across Canada. Life is tragically short, and if you're not bold, you'll miss out on the sweetest parts of life, he states.
"There is something I call 'post-traumatic growth,' and it means you have to keep moving on and be bold in all aspects of life."
For St. Germain, the joy of life is movement- a willingness to “step out and shove off” toward the unknowable.
