Well…at Ascent Adventure Consultants over the past few weeks we have experienced a HUGE setback, in that our website went down. But now thanks to our designers, The Infantree (www.theinfantree.com), we are back in full swing. As I was sitting here this morning thinking about what to write to alert everyone that the site is back, I was thinking how climbing has prepared me to handle situations like this.

Climbing has taught me:

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One of the things that we heard over and over again on Kilimanjaro was the porters and guides saying “Pole Pole” (pronounced pole-ay pole-ay). The translation is “GO SLOWLY.” Not only was this applicable on the mountain, but in the rest of the Tanzanians lives. Read More…

I have been spending time thinking lately about the importance of rest; rest from physical training for climbing, and rest from the hectic pace of life. By doing some research, and through personal experience, I’ve learned that the body does not get stronger, or build endurance during exercise. It is during rest and sleep after exercise that the body goes into “super-recovery” mode and begins to build muscle and build endurance, both aerobic and anaerobic.

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As the next installment in my ongoing series focusing on “The Climbing Experience Applied to All of Life”, I wanted to take some time to write about how climbing can actually help you learn how to be a good planner and organizer in all of life. I could probably write pages and pages about this, but I wanted to share 3 key points that I believe translate well into personal life and business life.

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This weekend I was climbing at Cathedral Ledge in New Hampshire, on a route called Recombeast (5.9+). The crux of the route is on pitch 3, where you have to make a traverse onto a flake, with nowhere to put your feet except for smearing on the rock. This day, the area for my feet was wet! So it made it quite a challenging task. It took me a while to make the proper moves, but ultimately what got me through it was by standing still and remembering past experiences I had.

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As I reflected more today on the article I read this morning on News and Observer (If There’s a Mountain Climb It), I began thinking about how climbing helped me to start my business. (Granted, my business revolves around climbing….which definitely helps!)

I wanted to share, over the next few days, what some of the lessons I learned from climbing are.

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One of my biggest goals is to help people see how rock climbing not only is a fun activity, but that it also applies to all areas of life. You can imagine how delighted I was this morning to wake up and see this article on NewsObserver.com, the website of Raleigh NC’s leading newspaper:

If There’s a Mountain, Climb It

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A few weeks ago, while guiding a trip at Table Rock NC, one of the ladies mentioned how she kept having to tell herself “Trust Your Feet!”, and that is what got her to continue to move forward. After the climb, she mentioned how that thought and concept really could have a good life lesson to it! I gave it some thought and wanted to share with you all some thoughts on how this climbing concept and experience translates into all of life.

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When talking with people who have never rock climbed, often their response to me when I tell them what I do is “Wow! Well, I know I could never do that!”, or something similar. I always encourage them by telling them that it is possible for them to do it, and that the whole reason Ascent exists is to help people see the amazing things that they can accomplish.

When people do then decide to give climbing a try, they are always overwhelmed with excitement when they get to the top of their first climb. The feeling of accomplishing something that had previously seemed out of reach or unattainable is unmatched by anything they had experienced before.

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The rock climbing, mountaineering, and outdoor adventure experience has so many applications to real life. It is my joy to be able to help individuals see this through our climbing courses, and through the team building and leadership development programs that I conduct. There is nothing more satisfying when I can almost instantaneously see someone’s life change for the good as a result of something they have experienced through climbing and/or team building.

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