"There ain’t no mountain high enough" for Kit DesLauriers. The climber and extreme skier chronicles her quest to be the first person to climb and ski down the highest mountain on every continent in her new book, Higher Love, Skiing the Seven Summits (Archer, February 10).

The two-time world free-skiing champion also spends time raising climate change awareness and is a self-proclaimed "planetary park ranger." She lives in Teton Village, Wyoming, with her husband Rob and daughters Tia and Gracie. Sierra sat down with DesLauriers to talk wolves, overcoming fear, and the mountains she calls home.

Sierra: You begin your book by describing the adoption of Alta, your wolf-dog. Why start there?

DesLauriers:  Doing what I do in the mountains requires complete focus and intention. Many of my experiences with Alta, especially training myself to be alpha, required learning to harness that same complete, thorough focus. And that’s carried over for me with climbing and skiing. I have to be aware of the you-fall-you-die consequences that exist, but not to think about them too much. It's similar to working with a wolf—you might get bitten, but you need to be able to look past the difficulty and focus completely on success.

You faced many perils during this odyssey, especially on Everest. What compelled you to keep going?

I had set this goal early on and had a very clear vision. I believed that it was possible. I just saw it; I visualized my end goal. I reserved the right to stop the project if I ever didn't feel totally right, but it just kept feeling right the whole way through. 

What do mountains represent to you?

Freedom to be who I really am. On the mountain there’s no social boundaries, and no conventions. It’s very primal. You’re in nature; you’re a part of it. There's something powerful about being able to navigate through a world that you're not in control of. Mountains are where I gain a lot of clarity on my thoughts and intentions.

What can you tell us about fear and the role it plays in exploring?

One of my favorite quotes is by Pema Chodron, a Buddhist nun. “Usually we think that brave people have no fear. The truth is that they are intimate with fear.” When you’re able to do things that conjure up fear, and when you’re able to move past them, it really does mean that you’ve become intimate with fear because you’ve figured out a way to work with it, or make it work for you. Just enough so that it doesn’t paralyze you.”

Which particular story did you enjoy recounting most in Higher Love?

That’s tough, I really enjoyed the whole process. I love revisiting the wolf chapters; I always cry. Another would be the total spontaneous, hilarious adventure of traveling to the north side of Mt. Elbrus [the highest peak in Europe]. Everything from bouncing along in the back of a Jeep eating fresh-picked strawberries to getting rescued by a bulldozer, to the Pellegrino-quality water bubbling out of the river. The adventure of travelling in Russia and then combining that with the objective of climbing and skiing was just really fun to relive.

What's the take-home message of Higher Love?

I hope Higher Love inspires people to allow themselves to be in touch with what it is they truly want to do, and to go after it.

What's your next quest?

I have many objectives here locally in the Tetons. More focus on climbing and skiing challenges this spring, but here in my backyard instead of internationally. I’ve also recently done a few expeditions to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. I’m really into being an advocate for the Arctic and raising awareness of what an amazing place it is.

Follow Sierra on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube.