Legendary Leo Lebon, hailed as the grandfather of adventure travel. Leo shares his incredible journey from humble beginnings in Belgium to co-founding the ground-breaking California-based company, MT Sobek, which helped launch the adventure travel industry.
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Show Notes
Colonel James Roberts, Mountain Travel Nepal
What Happened:
Picture this: You’re young, your life’s in flux, and your mom casually suggests, “Why don’t you go visit my cousin in New York?”—a cousin you didn’t even know existed. That’s exactly how Leo Le Bon’s adventure began.
Fast forward a few months, and he’s driving a stranger’s car across America just to get his $50 deposit back. (Gas was 25 cents a gallon back then—can you imagine?)
One thing led to another. A chance meeting. A hiking trip. A casual chat with a fellow climber who just happened to have connections in Nepal. And before he knew it, Leo wasn’t just exploring—he was pioneering an entire industry.
There were no guidebooks. No established trails. No GPS. Just a wild dream and a whole lot of figuring-it-out-as-you-go.
And that’s how adventure travel as we know it was born.
Principle:
The biggest adventures don’t start with a perfect plan—they start with a yes.
Leo didn’t wait until he had everything figured out.
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