Later in 1981, he was the leader of the first Canadian mountaineering expedition to Western China, which made a lightweight ascent of 24,757 foot Mount Muztagata - the highest peak in the world to have been ascended and descended entirely on skis.

More recently, John fulfilled a lifelong dream by organizing and leading Canada's first successful expedition to reach the top of the world - the 29,035 foot summit of Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain. The climb was televised live throughout Canada and on ABC Nightline in the United States.

An educator by training, John established One Step Beyond WorldWide in 1984, and he has since delivered more than 1,750 keynote presentations and seminars to total audiences of over 750,000 people in 44 countries around the world. His mission is to encourage people to push beyond their self-imposed limitations, to be more personally accountable for their own actions, and to embrace effective teamwork by valuing the contribution of others.

John is the founder of the Banff Mountain Film Festival, a world-renowned annual event in the Canadian Rockies which OUTSIDE magazine calls "North America’s premiere showcase of adventure documentaries." Amatt has also been called "The World’s Best Adventure Speaker" by International Celebrity Management of Australia.

John’s best-selling book, One Step Beyond: Rediscovering the Adventure Attitude, articulates his belief that humankind must apply the spirit of adventure to the challenges of daily life, if we are to cope with rapid change and convert it to our own advantage. In his latest book, Straight to the Top and Beyond, he uses the metaphor of adventure to develop a nine step approach for scaling the heights in today’s unpredictable and rapidly-changing global business environments.