Ershler, Susan

PERSONAL:

Married Phil Ershler. Education: Washington State University, B.A.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Kirkland, WA. Office—Ershler International, 10536 N.E. 58th St., Kirkland, WA 98033. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Worked in sales for companies that included Qwest-US West, United Technologies, FedEx-Kinko's, General Dynamics, and GTE-Verizon.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Received eleven President's Club sales awards.

WRITINGS:

(With husband, Phil Ershler, and Robin Simons) Together on Top of the World: The Remarkable Story of the First Couple to Climb the Fabled Seven Summits: A Saga of Love and Courage (memoir), Warner Books (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Susan Ershler had a successful career in sales, holding executive-level positions in a number of Fortune 500 companies, but her life took a very different turn after she met mountaineer Phil Ershler, who later became her husband.

Susan was in her thirties when she began to climb, and for a year she trained by climbing the thirty-five stories of her office building during her lunch hour, with a forty-pound pack on her back. She went on to conquer the business world and seven summits, and, like her husband, whose battle with Crohn's disease and cancer has not deterred him from enjoying the sport he loves, she has become a motivational speaker. Phil and Susan Ershler were the first married couple to accomplish the feat, and they subsequently wrote Together on Top of the World: The Remarkable Story of the First Couple to Climb the Fabled Seven Summits: A Saga of Love and Courage. The book features dual narrations, each printed in its own typeface. They write of Phil's illnesses and his increasing openness in discussing them with Susan and their families. They also document their climbs—Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa in 1991, Mount Elbrus in Russia in 1993, Mount McKinley in North America in 1995, Aconcagua in South America in 1996, Mount Vinson in Antarctica in 1998, Mount Kosciuszko in Australia in 1999, and Mount Everest in Asia in 2002.

The Ershlers write about their relationship, and of the trials they have faced both on and off mountain slopes. Phil learned to better communicate and share his feelings about his physical limitations. "Susan learns that communication on mountaintops isn't always what it seems," wrote Sherry Grindeland in a Seattle Times Online review. "They don't summit Everest on their first attempt, and she blurts out her feelings of failure. Phil takes her comments, meant for herself, personally. For weeks they tiptoe around this miscommunication." The Ershlers did learn to communicate, however, and went on to achieve additional climbing goals.

Susan was interviewed for a number of television programs, including by Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America and by CNN's Fredrica Whitfield. She and Phil were also featured in many newspaper and magazine articles. During the ten years they were climbing, she also rose on the corporate ladder until she made the decision to become a full-time motivational speaker, for which she is able to draw on her business and personal successes.

Booklist reviewer David Pitt wrote that the memoir "is a story of overcoming great odds."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Ershler, Susan, Phil Ershler, and Robin Simons, Together on Top of the World: The Remarkable Story of the First Couple to Climb the Fabled Seven Summits: A Saga of Love and Courage, Warner Books (New York, NY), 2007.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 15, 2007, David Pitt, review of Together on Top of the World, p. 16.

ONLINE

EverestNews.com,http://www.everestnews.com/ (February 15, 2007), "Seven Summits Veterans Phil and Susan Ershler to Columbia Center," "Susan Ershler's Q&A with Questions from the Readers of EverestNews.com.

Everest Speakers Bureau Web site,http://www.everestspeakersbureau.com/ (December 20, 2007), profile.

Seattle Times Online,http://www.seattletimes.nwsource.com/ (December 20, 2007), Sherry Grindeland, review of Together on Top of the World.

Susan Ershler Home Page,http://www.susanershler.com (December 20, 2007).