May 10, 1996 is the date of the most historic tragedy in Mount Everest history. Eight climbers died. Lou Kasischke was there. He lived that story. The climbing events and the forces of nature were at the extreme, especially when things went wrong. The drama near the summit was high. But the crux of the story has much in common with everyday life. This was Lou’s struggle with himself 400 feet from the summit, when he faced a tough decision and conflicting internal voices about what to do. The story is an example of how and where to go for the guidance and strength needed in such moments. Lou tells the story about what happened and what went wrong. But Lou’s personal story is more than about being there. It’s also about his long aftermath journey to understand his experience, to find meaning in it, and to find guidance from it for his future goals and challenges. The story is both sad and triumphant.

Lou Kasischke has lived his entire life in Michigan, but his enduring love of the mountains and alpine endurance sports have taken him to many remote parts of the world, on all seven continents.
Lou's education includes a Bachelor of Arts degree in business and a Juris doctor degree in law from Michigan State University. Risk management was the major focus of his business degree from MSU. Already as a student, Lou was fascinated by risk, risk evaluation, and the concepts of taking and managing risk. For a career centered in finance analysis and law, he also became a certified public accountant and earned an advanced Master of Laws degree.
Lou's work career experiences were multi-dimensional. In law, this included 35 years with Dykema Gossett, a national law firm, as a specialist in corporate and tax law and in representing venture capital businesses. He authored a leading book on corporate law and was selected by his colleagues for all editions of The Best Lawyers in America, which represents about one percent of the nation's lawyers.
In business, Lou was a chief executive officer and a director and advisor to several major corporations on business and legal matters. His professional career, especially as a lawyer and a venture capital advisor, often focused on taking high-stakes business risks, managing risk, and making decisions with far-reaching consequences. This part of Lou's life made his several decades as a serious mountain climber a natural extension. And it also explains his perspective and the important purpose that led him to closely examine, analyze, and explain what went wrong on Everest and his experience of being there, based on the facts that matter and not on the sensational and irrelevant.
Lou is retired from law and business and lives with his wife, Sandy, on the northern shore of Lake Michigan. He remains active with alpine sports and other endurance challenges in the great outdoors.