When things come Full Circle

⬆️ You're looking at a group of history makers, aka Full Circle, a climbing troop that recently made it to the peak of Mt. Everest. 

The crew is the first all-Black climbing troop in history to successfully summit the mountain. When their expedition ended last month, the number of Black hikers to ever reach the peak of Everest immediately almost doubled. (That's right... out of 6,000 climbers to previously summit, only ten of them were Black.)

😎 Meet the leader... Full Circle is led by Californian Philip Henderson, who has dedicated his life to the great outdoors. Philip has already led an all-Black climbing team to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, and is a longtime instructor at the National Outdoor Leadership School in Wyoming.

• Most of the other Full Circle members cite Philip as a major inspiration, as he's one of the pioneers of the movement to get the Black community into outdoors sports. (And he's overall just a pretty cool guy. Check out his Instagram here.)

⛰ Preparing for Everest... The team made it to Nepal in January to begin the altitude acclimation process. After months of training and acclimation, the group began the daunting summit along with eight sherpa guides. 

Last month, they made history.

• “I am deeply honored to report that seven members of the Full Circle Everest team reached the summit on May 12,” Philip tweeted after their descent. 
• “While a few members, including myself, did not summit, all members of the climb and Sherpa teams have safely returned to Base Camp where we will celebrate this historic moment!”

Now that is one impressive climb.👏 👏 👏