Looking for adventure? Give this guy a call

At first glance, Jeff Blumenfeld doesn't look like a guy who's going to get you to the top of Everest, or the bottom of the ocean, or across Antarctica, or looking for Amelia Earhart's DNA in robber crabs in a remote Pacific island.

He's 50-ish and slightly graying (but distinguished). He runs a public-relations firm in Connecticut and talks on the phone a lot.

But do not be dissuaded by appearances. The fact is, few men in history are more responsible for successfully getting people to more high, hard, dangerous, uninviting, out-of-the-way places — and back again — than Blumenfeld.

For the past 35 years, he has made it his life's work to broker deals between would-be adventurers and corporations that have the sponsorship money to make their dreams — and/or nightmares — come true.

Remember when blind climber Erik Weihenmayer summited Mount Everest? Remember when Will Steger drove a dogsled team all the way to the North Pole? Remember when Mike Haugen climbed the high point in each of the 50 states (including Utah's Kings Peak) in a total of 45 days, 19 hours and two minutes?

Well, even if you don't remember, they all had one thing in common: Jeff Blumenfeld.

Each one was sponsored in varying degrees by companies Blumenfeld had helped hook them up with.

They couldn't have left home without them, or him.

Over the years, so many people have approached Blumenfeld with so many schemes and dreams that he decided to write about them in a book he's titled "You Want to Go Where?" The subtitle reads, "How to Get Someone to Pay for the Trip of Your Dreams."

The book was released nationally last week, and Blumenfeld, a regular visitor to Utah for the Outdoor Retailer shows at the Salt Palace, wasted no time spreading the word.

He figured lots of people here in Utah might find the book not only inspiring, but also useful.

"Utah is crawling with people who love the outdoors, crave adventure, and want to go places and do things," he said from his cell phone while traveling to Grand Central Station to visit a client. "This book could help."

In addition to telling his own stories in his new book, Blumenfeld offers numerous helpful hints about how to get your own expedition off the ground.

"Don't just say you want to go to St. Bart's and lie on the beach," he advised. "Say you want to go there to save the turtles — and you might get sponsorship."