I cannot say enough positive things about AAE Speakers Bureau. They were prompt in their responses, and were incredibly helpful with all of my questions and concerns. Their role in the planning process allowed for a smooth and successful event. It truly felt like they were invested in the event and wanted the best outcome for our organization. He also achieved the first successful American ski descent of Mount Everest with Kit DesLauriers and Rob DesLauriers in October 2006. Chin joined the Altitude Everest Expedition as a climber and expedition photographer in an attempt to retrace George Mallory and Sandy Irvine’s fateful last journey up the North Face of Everest in May 2007. As far as they were concerned, I was a homeless person,” says Chin. “And they had just spent their life savings putting me through school—private boarding school, private liberal arts college. They were mortified. That added a lot of extra pressure and doubt.” And the best souvenir I’ve brought home is a photo that I took of friends skiing near the top of Everest. This was a shot that I don’t think anyone had ever snapped before and it represents the intersection of my life as a documentarian and also a climber. It’s a reminder of a very special expedition moment and one that I couldn’t have set up.

In August 2003, we recruited Kami Sherpa and Lakpa Sherpa to join us and our friend Eric Henderson to manage base camp. We were the only team on Everest. Borrowing the strategy of Jean Troillet and Erhard Loretan, who had scale the north face alpine style in 1986, Stephen and I intended to hyperacclimate to 23,000 feet, and then go for it in the small window between the monsoon and post-monsoon seasons, when the face would be caked with snow and the jet stream winds would be manageable. A recent “find” is a restaurant called The Old House in Kathmandu. It serves Asian fusion cuisine, and it has a nice ambience and a very cool bar. I also recently discovered The Savoy in London – I usually stay in Soho, but the views of the Thames made my Covid quarantine very manageable.

Along the way, Chin shares behind-the-scenes details about how he captured such astounding images in impossible conditions, and tells the stories of the legendary adventurers and remarkable athletes he has photographed, including Alex Honnold, the star of his Academy Award–winning documentary film Free Solo; ski mountaineer Kit DesLauriers; snowboarder Travis Rice; and mountaineers Conrad Anker and Yvon Chouinard. Chin is 49 years old born on October 12, 1973, in Mankato, Minnesota, in the United States. Who Is Jimmy Chin One of Chin’s earliest influences was The Hobbit. “I loved the idea of being brave,” he says. “Going on these wild adventures, and doing things you never though were imaginable. It was pretty romantic, but I aspired to these things.” In fact, when I left college and moved into my car and started climbing full time, you know, they were extremely distraught. My mom would say, 'The Chinese language is 5,000 years old, and we don't even have a word for what you do.'"

The couple's latest cliffhanger, "The Rescue," is about a global effort to save a Thai boys soccer team trapped for 18 days in a flooded cave, led by a rag-tag team of amateur cave-divers. "They're like electricians and an IT consultant, they're volunteers," said Chin. "They jump into these dark, muddy caves, they've really put their lives on the line to do the right thing. They were all there with the common humanity of wanting to save these kids." Jimmy Chin, with correspondent Lilia Luciano.You know, probably … but not significantly. There’s certainly one more layer to the decisions I make, but I attribute some of that to age as well. When my daughter hit 3.5 years old, it really shifted significantly for me in that I just want to hang out with her and my son all the time. Like, really, really all the time. I’m like, she’s so killer, this is so fun. How do you define your job? I was brought up in an immigrant family. That means you worked hard. If you’re going to bother doing something, you needed to do it really well. It was all about excellence. There weren’t any excuses. I grew up swimming competitively, studying, competing in martial arts, and playing violin.

I was told you had to sweep the front door of the Shaolin temple for years before the masters would even look at you,” says Chin. “You had to prove yourself.”The film received the US Audience Documentary Award at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. Moreover, he produced and directed the feature-length documentary Free Solo with his wife. The film won the People’s Choice Award: Documentaries at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, the 2018 BAFTA Award for Best Documentary, and the 2018 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. In addition, he also released the 2021 documentary, The Rescue, which chronicles the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue. Jimmy Chin Net Worth I grew up as far away from the adventure world as you can get,” says Chin, 44. “I didn’t grow up climbing and skiing in Estes Park. I grew up reading.” Along the way, I found a second family in the adventurers who seek out the world’s wildest places and devote their lives to accomplishing what others have never dared. The members of this tribe became my most cherished friends, partners, and mentors. I’ve been astonished, again and again, at what these individuals are capable of doing with vision and clarity of purpose, from Kit DesLauriers skiing from the summit of Everest to Alex Honnold free soloing El Capitan and beyond. During the Communist Revolution, Jimmy Chin’s parents escaped mainland China and fled to Taiwan. Eventually, they immigrated to the flatlands of Mankato, Minnesota, where they built a life working as librarians. It was an unlikely setting to raise a world-class mountaineer. This coffee-table-size 2021 book holds an amazing collection of stomach-lurching photos with minimal text that identifies the climbers and the elements they faced. Chin, a photographer for National Geographic, was the filmmaker for the 2018 documentary “Free Solo” which won the 2019 Oscar for best documentary film.

Along the way, Chin shares behind-the-scenes details about how he captured suchastoundingimages in impossible conditions, and tells the stories ofthe legendary adventurers and remarkable athletes he has photographed, including Alex Honnold, the star of his Academy Award–winning documentary film Free Solo;ski mountaineer Kit DesLauriers; snowboarder Travis Rice; and mountaineers Conrad Anker and Yvon Chouinard.

Loved this; Jimmy Chin’s photography is incredible. I’m a photographer myself, and his mastery of the craft while hanging on mountains, often in freezing weather blows me away. He gives the most incredible glimpses into experiences of mountaineering and climbing that it’s nearly impossible to imagine if you’re not a climber, not to mention breathtaking views of places few of us will ever see. AAE Speakers Bureau is a full-service speaker booking agency, meaning we can completely manage the speaker’s or celebrity’s engagement with your organization from the time of booking your speaker through the event’s completion. We provide all of the services you need to host Jimmy Chin or any other speaker of your choice, including offer negotiation, contractual assistance, accounting and billing, and event speaker travel and logistics services. When you book a speaker with us, we manage the process of hosting a speaker for you as an extension of your team. Our goal is to give our clients peace of mind and a best-in-class service experience when booking a speaker with us. That’s never been an easy one. I often say I’m a photographer and director. I never say “professional athlete.” I was never that comfortable with that idea. What’s the balance for you with climbing and skiing?