This website illuminates my life and adventures. My longing for freedom has led me to over 2600 of the world’s 3978 provinces, to every country on earth and to the summit of the highest peak on each continent (thank heaven for good weather!). In my travels, I learned to respect the intelligence and ingenuity of people of all races and callings both past and present. Come see the world as I see it: as a peaceful place, full of nature and beauty. With the right spirit and intent, we can make our world a virtual Garden of Eden.
DISTINCTIONS: BBC 2017 Travel Pioneer • Journal Articles • Explorer’s Club Flag Expeditions
World Parks Project • Walk Across South America • Jeff Shea Travel Map
Azerbaijan, Samux Prov, House Wall
Turkey, Kars Prov, Landscape
Slovenia, Store Prov, Scrap Metal
The coldest place I've ever been was on top of Mount Vinson in the sun. There was a breeze. On the way up 'the hill', one crampon became loose. I realized then that there must be climbing deaths attributable to a simple thing like a crampon coming loose. Do you know what it is like to be on a slope in snow and ice with a shoe with no crampon? Fortunately, my climbing partners helped me to get it on again. We went on to the summit. This completed my goal to climb the highest mountain on each continent. 
N Ireland, Fermanagh Prov, Country Home
Slovenia, Kranjska Gora Prov, Rock Spires
Mursi Woman, 2014
Ethiopia, Oromiya Province
The scarification on her body is achieved by cutting the skin and putting ash in the wound.
Tibet, Everest Summit, Lhakpa Gelu, Cornice Taken At 8830m, 1995 -
Lhakpa Gelu reached the summit first. I took this photograph of his second ascent of Mount Everest and his first ascent from Tibet. I was standing at about 28950 feet. We all used oxygen that day. But my oxygen bag was often blocked with ice! If you look closely in the lower left quarter quadrant of the photograph, you can see the old summit pole. Because the jet stream drops down on the summit, the cornice rolls over, over time. Once you reach the summit plateau from Tibet, it is a gentle walk to the top of the world. Nevertheless, you cannot let your guard down. Two days after I reached the summit, a climber lost his balance here, slid backwards and upside down and caught his hand on a rock just before plummeting 10,000 feet down the North Face.
St. Kitts, Bobby Daley, 2000 - While circling the beautiful island of St. Kitts in the Caribbean, we met an old Rastafarian. I wrote, "Continuing on to the north, we attempted to get close to the mountain on a track. There we met Bobby Daley, a chattery old Rasta with white and blonde dreadlocks. The was one of the most amiable people I ever met. We shook hands, and I felt his warmth. He didn't want me to take a photo, because he said he couldn't see it. But I said he could see it in my video, so I shot a digital video."
N Ireland, Ards Prov, Fishing Boat