Support Rahim Charania's Everest Dream for Veterans

For those that don’t know me, my name is Rahim Charania and I am lucky enough to be

fulfilling my dream of climbing Mount Everest this coming 2026 season with “Climbing the

Seven Summits” team. I have climbed 4.5 of the seven summits of the world so far on my

journey and I want to share an answer to my most asked question, “Why would you ever risk

your life for a mountain? Are you crazy?” and the short answer is probably a little bit.

None of these climbs were some random adventures I went looking for, but rather the adventure came looking for me. It’s what gave me purpose in my life again. I am a 41-year-old military veteran who was born in Pakistan, grew up in India, and raised all over the United States. My lifewas filled with uncertainty in my adolescence, but the one thing I was sure of was, at the age of 18 I was going to serve my country in the US Military. And I did just that! For eight years with three combat deployments, two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. During my time in service, like many, I had a traumatic brain injury and experienced tremendous stress and trauma. This ultimately resulted in being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and severe depression. Navigating my life post military is difficult to explain at times because there wasn’t a “business as usual” option on my discharge paperwork, so my new normal was a nightmare I never thought I would wake up from. Nothing could have prepared me for life after the military. It was a roller coaster of emotions ranging from emotional numbness to anger management issues, to gaining significant weight and well, you get the picture.

I will not go into details on how I lost all the weight and started to gain mental clarity again, but to sum it up it was; working out, sleep, clean eating, and no smoking/drinking. Shocker, I know! But what now? What was my purpose? How do I keep my thoughts from dragging me back into the abyss?

I slowly discovered it during an accidental trip to Nepal in 2016. The purpose of that trip was to meet my dad who I had not seen or spoken to in 14 years and resulted in me finding my love for

mountaineering. This led to a second trip to Nepal in 2017, but this time I hiked 12 days roundtrip to Everest base camp. I never understood the phrase, “when you know, you know- no doubt, no hesitation, just clarity” until that moment in my life. I later realized it again when meeting my now wife (information submitted by said wife lol) but the moment I set eyes on Mount Everest I just knew I needed to figure out how to get to the top of that mountain. Not just for me, but for all the people I had lost during my time served, for all the lives that were cut short due to mental illness after the military, and for all those who inevitably will be just as lost as I once was. Without this moment from God, I don’t even know if I would be here today.

Since that day I have climbed Europe’s highest mountain, Elbrus. Africa’s tallest, Kilimanjaro,

N. America’s tallest, Denali, South America’s tallest, Aconcagua, Australia’s tallest, Kosciusko.

I have also hiked up 22 of the Colorado 14ers.

The perspective that mountaineering has brought to my life is irreplaceable. What climbing means to me is really a message to every struggling veteran: you are not alone, and there is a way forward. I want to use this expedition to raise awareness and eventually start a program that helps veterans heal through movement, nature, and community, but that journey starts here.