Rock Bottom to Everest

Climbing Out of the Darkness, One Step At a Time

JULIE McKELVEY never looked like someone destined to climb the Seven Summits. She wasn’t born an athlete, wasn’t raised in the mountains, and carried scars no summit could hide. 

Years of addiction, shame, and despair once threatened to take everything. At rock bottom, Julie finally did what she had resisted her entire life. She surrendered.

In rehab, Julie learned what surrender truly meant—how to stay when it hurt, how to face fear without running, how to take the next right step when the path ahead was unclear. Those same lessons became the foundation not only for her recovery, but for an improbable journey to the highest peak on every continent. 

Through violent storms, emergency evacuations, broken bones, business crises, motherhood, and the gut-wrenching moment her fifteen-year-old son entered treatment, Julie discovered a truth few summits can teach: Mountains don’t make us strong. They reveal the strength we’ve already built. 

This is not a story about a woman who climbed the Seven Summits. It is the story of a woman who refused to stop climbing—in life, in business, in recovery, and in the wildest places on Earth. 

For anyone starting over. For anyone carrying a weight they don’t believe they can bear. For anyone who believes their dream is out of reach: Rock Bottom to Everest is your invitation to return to the mountain, and to discover what’s possible when you refuse to give up and take the next step anyway.

Add to cart to preorder your copy today!
$29.99
ISBN: 979-8-89138-817-8
Imprint: Amplify Publishing
SKU: 18-1482-01
Categories:Amplify Publishing, Memoirs and Biographies

“Some books are about conquering mountains. This book is about finding power in yourself—and learning how to trust it . . . Julie doesn’t write about climbing as conquest. She writes about it as communion: with herself, with her family, with the wild forces of the mountain and the quiet forces of faith. She reminds us that summits don’t change us. But the decision to keep going, to take the next step when everything hurts—that does.”

—STEVE HOUSE, award-winning author, mountain guide, and founder of Uphill Athlete

“Julie didn’t climb the Seven Summits to prove she was strong. She climbed them to discover who she could become. This book isn’t about summits—it’s about choosing discomfort, showing up when quitting would be easier, and building a life you’re proud of. Julie lives that message.”

—JESSE ITZLER, entrepreneur, best selling author, endurance athlete, and part owner of the Atlanta Hawks

“Julie tells the truth about what transformation really looks like—fear, setback, surrender, and the decision to keep moving anyway. It isn’t sugarcoated or glorified. While climbing the tallest peaks on Earth, she shares the added challenges of motherhood, running a business, and maintaining sobriety with honesty and vulnerability.”

—MIKE HAMILL, professional mountain guide, author, photographer, and owner and founder of Climbing the Seven Summits

Julie McKelvey

Entrepreneur and Seven Summits Mountaineer

JULIE McKELVEY is an entrepreneur, mountaineer, and author whose life reflects the power of surrender, resilience, and the courage to keep moving forward.

She is one of fewer than seventy women worldwide to complete the Seven Summits—the highest peak on each continent—and among an elite group of approximately twenty-five women to have climbed both recognized versions. Long before standing on the world’s highest mountains, however, Julie faced a far steeper climb.

After years of addiction and the unraveling that followed, Julie entered recovery and is now more than thirty years sober. The habits she built there—consistency, humility, and forward motion—became the foundation for rebuilding her life, her family, and her future.

Alongside her climbs, Julie built and led successful organizations for decades, translating the principles of recovery into leadership and service. She has raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars through her Summit for Sound initiative to provide hearing care for families in need.

A Pennsylvania native, Julie lives with her husband and two sons. When she isn’t climbing, writing, or chasing live music, she can often be found pursuing the next challenge that scares her just enough to say yes.

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