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Fox News correspondent plants network’s flag at the summit of Mount Everest

June 2, 2025 | | Print Article

Longtime war correspondent Mike Tobin hoisted a Fox News flag at the peak of Mount Everest as he completed the climb to raise awareness for veteran and first responder suicide.

The Fox News senior correspondent shared video and images from the arduous endeavor and spoke with network hosts about the experience of climbing the mountain in the Himalayas with a team.

“On Tuesday, May 27 approximately 6:30 am, along with my Alpenglow climbing team and Pasang ‘Piso’ Sherpa, I reached the summit of Mount Everest,” he posted. “Just got down, starting the trip home.”

“On the summit of Mount Everest, Tuesday, May 27, I did 22 pushups in recognition of Veteran/First responder suicide. To troubled warfighters and public servants: I hope it shows someone gives a damn,” he added in another post showing him in the 22 Pushup Challenge while in the “death zone,” the area above 26,247 ft. on the mountain.

“The only way you survive the death zone is to get in and out of there as fast as you can before the sand runs out of your hourglass or before the oxygen runs out of your bottle,” he explained on “America’s Newsroom” last week from China.

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“Some people say weather-wise, it was one of the best summit windows they’ve seen in like 20 years,” Tobin told Fox News anchors Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer. “And you compare that to the other people who climbed Everest this season — most of them got beat up on the summit.”

He spoke of the safety concerns for the trip back down the mountain as well.

“I’m very well aware that 90% of the accidents happen on the way down and so you’re tired, you’re a little hypoxic, and it was a moment of concentration for me,” he said. “I wanted to make sure that I didn’t let up because we still had a long way to get down to advanced base camp.”

“I was just trying to think, ‘Keep your head about yourself. Don’t make any mistakes, don’t turn what’s otherwise going to be a celebration into a tragedy.'”

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The Fox News reporter expressed that he “certainly was spooked at different times on the climb,” especially on the second step which is on the northeast ridge of Mount Everest.

On the push-up challenge he undertook at the peak, Tobin said it was “kind of an add-on to the climb.”

“You’ve seen some of the different events that people have done as far as the 22 push-ups in recognition of veteran suicide,” he said. “I hope that a troubled guy out there somewhere who was looking at suicide as a reasonable response to his troubles will realize that someone took the time to do that in a perilous situation and reconsider before he hurts himself.”

The accolades poured in on social media.

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Frieda Powers
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