Fever Pitch The story blankets the national press, winding up as a two-hour documentary on NBC. GQ and Vanity Fair named Ralston “Man of the Year,” and Miller Lite cast him in its “Man Laws” ad campaign.
Present Day Ralston, now an Aspen-based celebrity mountaineer, climbs or skis 80 days a year, dividing the rest of his time between charity work and the lecture circuit, with clients such as Goldman Sachs and Hewlett-Packard. (Speaking fee: at least $25,000, according to the Nationwide Speakers Bureau.) A movie of his life is in the works. “If I was transported back in time,” Ralston told NEWSWEEK, “I wouldn’t change a thing. I wouldn’t bring a different knife. I wouldn’t bring a jacket. I’d want it to happen exactly as it did.”
