Mountaineer • Expedition Leader • Founder • Speaker
“I believe most people are capable of far more than they think.”
James McManus is an Irish high-altitude mountaineer, expedition leader, entrepreneur and keynote speaker, and the founder of Earth’s Edge, Ireland’s most trusted expedition company.
For more than 20 years, he has guided expeditions around the world, helping thousands of people achieve ambitious goals in some of the world’s most challenging mountain environments.
James has climbed and led expeditions across South America, Asia, Africa and Europe, including multiple expeditions above 8,000 metres without supplementary oxygen.
In May 2026, he became the first Irish person to summit Lhotse (8,516m), the world’s fourth-highest mountain, without supplementary oxygen.
He is now preparing to attempt Everest in 2027, where he hopes to become the first Irish person to reach the summit without supplementary oxygen.
James founded Earth’s Edge in 2007. The company was named Ireland’s Outstanding Small Business at the SFA Awards in 2015 and achieved the highest B Corp score in Ireland in 2025.
In 2023, James founded B Lab Ireland, the nonprofit organisation supporting the growth of the B Corp movement in Ireland, and served as its director until 2025.
As a keynote speaker, James shares practical lessons on purpose, preparation, resilience and sustainable performance.
He holds a BSc in Sport Science and combines his expedition experience with evidence-based thinking about the psychology and physiology of performance.
Finding My Mountains
Finding My MountainsGrowing up in Tipperary, the sports everyone cared about were hurling, soccer and rugby. I wasn’t particularly good at any of them. I was usually one of the last picked.
My mum introduced me to the outdoors when I was young, and that’s where I found my passion. It led me first to kayaking and later to mountaineering. For the first time, I had found something I genuinely loved and something I was naturally good at.
It taught me something that has stayed with me ever since. We can be too quick to decide what we’re good at, or what we’re capable of, before we’ve found the thing that really brings out the best in us.
That passion eventually became my career. I started working as a kayak instructor at 16, went on to guide around the world and founded Earth’s Edge in 2007.
I’ve been incredibly fortunate to build my life around the outdoors ever since.
What Experience Has Taught Me
The mountains have taught me a lot, but many of the most important lessons have come when things haven’t gone to plan.
In 2020, Earth’s Edge faced the biggest challenge in its history. International travel came to a standstill and our turnover fell by more than 93% over the following two years. At the same time, years of overuse had left me with severe knee pain, and I genuinely worried that I might lose the mountains from my life.
I needed something positive to work towards, so I set myself the goal of completing the Wicklow Round, approximately 120 kilometres across Wicklow’s highest mountains.
For 13 months, I worked towards it. I stopped running completely for three months, rebuilt my strength and gradually increased my training. Having that goal gave me direction during one of the most difficult periods of my life and helped me show up better for my family, my staff and myself.
It reinforced something I still believe today.
Purpose isn’t something you find when life gets hard. It’s something you build beforehand, so it’s there when you need it.
The years since have taught me just as much about preparation.
My journey towards climbing Everest without supplementary oxygen hasn’t been a straight line. In 2022, cumulative fatigue forced me to turn around on Everest. In 2023, terrible weather ended my attempt on Dhaulagiri. In 2024, a respiratory infection forced me to turn around on Lhotse.
Then came Makalu in 2025. I reached 8,324 metres without supplementary oxygen, setting a new Irish altitude record, before turning back around 160 metres below the summit. That setback was a huge turning point because I couldn’t put it down to illness, weather or circumstances outside my control.
My preparation had been good. It just wasn’t good enough for what I was trying to achieve.
Performance isn’t about giving everything you’ve got. It’s about understanding what the goal demands and preparing to meet that standard.
So I went back to work. A year later, I returned to the Himalayas and became the first Irish person to summit Lhotse without supplementary oxygen.
I’m incredibly proud of that summit, but many of the lessons that made it possible came from the mountains I didn’t summit. I’ve learned to reflect honestly, control what I can and accept what I can’t.
Helping People Discover What They’re Capable Of
The most rewarding part of my work has never been standing on summits. It’s watching what happens when other people commit themselves to something difficult.
I’ve watched thousands of people work towards challenges that genuinely mattered to them. For one person that might mean completing their first hike. For someone else it could mean standing on a 7,000-metre peak after years of preparation.
The mountain is different for everyone.
That’s what we’ve tried to build at Earth’s Edge. The summit matters, but so do the preparation, confidence, friendships and personal growth that come from pursuing it.
It’s also why I speak to organisations.
The mountains provide the stories, but the lessons are about purpose, disciplined preparation, consistency, learning from setbacks and performing under pressure.
Through keynotes, workshops and longer-term programmes, I help leaders and teams apply those lessons to their own ambitious goals.
Whether I’m guiding someone on a mountain or speaking to a room full of people, the most rewarding part is seeing what happens when someone commits to a meaningful goal and does the work required to achieve it.
What’s Next?
Right now, I’m preparing to attempt Everest without supplementary oxygen in spring 2027. It’s a goal I’ve been working towards for years, through successful expeditions, failed attempts and everything I’ve learned along the way.
But Everest isn’t a finish line. I believe having something meaningful to strive for gives direction to everyday life. The challenge itself will change, but I’ll always have something that requires me to learn and grow.
Follow my journey to Everest on Instagram
Work With James
Whether you’re preparing for your first expedition or looking for your next major mountain challenge, explore expeditions with Earth’s Edge.
Enquire about bringing James to your organisation for a keynote or explore the Live From Everest programme.
James is available for interviews, podcasts, expert commentary on major adventure and mountain-related news stories, and selected partnerships relating to Everest, high-altitude mountaineering, preparation, resilience, sustainable performance and responsible travel. Get in touch.
