The weekend LifeVenture retreat begins on a Friday night, lasting until Saturday evening, and combines Leslie’s excellent LifeSuccess teachings, (http://www.lifesuccessleslie.com) with experiential training and application by Ascent Adventure Consultants’ (http://www.ascentadventure.com) professional team building and training facilitators, to help participants learn and apply the principles being taught. The event will be held at Homewood Suites in Cary NC, where participants will spend the night Friday evening, and  then spend all day Saturday in the program. This is a unique event and the first of it’s kind in the USA. Leslie Flowers is an international motivational and inspirational speaker, teacher and coach and was tapped by former LifeSuccess Consulting President Paul Martinelli as an emerging leader in the personal and leadership development industry. Brandon Hensinger of Ascent Adventure Consultants works with groups of business people and professionals across the country to help them develop their leadership, management, and communication skills through experiential team building and training.

Leslie’s passion and teaching focuses on helping people to understand the human performance gap — why we don’t do what we already know to do — how limiting beliefs stand in the way of our success, and what is required to narrow that gap in short order. Her teaching also focuses on connecting people with their infinite potential and purpose. The principles and practices learned through her teaching sessions will be the focus of the experiential training aspects of the program, conducted by Brandon Hensinger. Brandon’s passion is helping people learn through experience and be empowered to identify their own strengths and weaknesses, leading to better leadership, performance, and overall success in life. Brandon’s activities are conducted based upon the fact that people learn better by doing something that reinforces what they have heard taught.

Leslie Flowers is based in Cary NC and is a dynamic LifeSuccess Coach (www.lifesuccessleslie.com), conducting seminars and speaking across the country, and helping others reach their full potential.

Ascent Adventure Consultants (www.ascentadventure.com) is a professional team building company, as well as a rock climbing guide service headquartered in Apex NC. They conduct trips and programs across the country.

For More Information, contact Brandon Hensinger at bhensinger@ascentadventure.com, or by calling 919-345-1087.

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Join the Access Fund Today:

From the Secretary of the Interior Salazar:

Because the previous Administration failed to follow established administrative procedure before leaving office, its plan to intensify logging in western Oregon — known as the Western Oregon Plan Revisions (WOPR) — is legally indefensible and must be withdrawn, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said today.Moreover, Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks Thomas Strickland said that the federal government will ask the District Court to vacate the Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2008 revision of the critical habitat for the spotted owl, on which the WOPR was in part based, because Interior’s Inspector General determined that the decisionmaking process for the owl’s recovery plan was potentially jeopardized by improper political influence.

Great job Obama administration. We are excited to have these forests to enjoy for years to come! You can read more about this at the Care2Action site.

The video helps us to see the impact that global warming is having on this mountain and how it directly presents a danger to the people that depend on the springs and glacial runoff from this mountain to survive.

VIEW THE VIDEO ON HULU.COM: Mount Kilimanjaro Earth Day Report
If you want to see these glaciers before they dissapear forever, come with us next February on the Mount Kilimanjaro Expedition!

The things I noticed were:

1. Climbers never deliberately threw trash on the ground. However, a practice I saw often was stuffing wrappers from food into the top of a pack, and not zipping the pack and when it tipped over, the trash came out, never to be picked up. Same thing with people stuffing wrappers in their pockets. The trash fell out while climbing.
2. In the parking lot at the end of the day, while packing up cars and re-sorting gear, trash was often left behind.

These are the 2 thing I noticed most often. Just some helpful ways to pay close attention to our practices when we are out climbing in North Carolina (or anywhere else!).

On a side note, there’s a great article I read this morning called “Is ‘Smart’ the New ‘Green’?”. Check it out.

This article and the formulas will help any outdoor enthusiast to improve their Leave No Trace (LNT) practices.

Check out the article in full: Sustainability and Leave No Trace

Apex, NC USA May 1, 2009 — Ascent Adventure Consultants is about impacting people’s lives and setting them out on the journey and adventure of a lifetime: when people experience climbing a cliff face, they are instantly aware of the existence of a whole new world; when people engage their fellow teammates or employees in a team building activity, they realize the greater degree of unity and success their team could be experiencing.

Out of a desire to increase their ability to do that very thing, Ascent Adventure Consultants has re-branded the company, and has launched a new website, aimed at communicating their core message: “Bringing Adventure to Life.” Their new identity communicates that they are not simply a climbing guiding company or team building facilitation company, but rather they are a company that helps people escape from the normal routine of life and experience something new and invigorating, and accomplish something that previously may have seemed out of reach. They do this through their  climbing trips and team building programs.

“Our new image will increase our ability to guide individuals on climbing trips and help business succeed through team building, which brings us great joy,” expresses Brandon Hensinger, owner of Ascent Adventure Consultants. “We look forward to seeing how our re-branding helps us impact our community through our courses in an even greater way, and to seeing how we can increase our ability to introduce people to a whole other world that exists.”

To support the re-branding of the company, Ascent Adventure Consultants has many climbing events coming up this summer and fall, along with new classes and new trips being launched. Make sure to visit their new North Carolina rock climbing and team building website at www.ascentadventure.com.

Ascent Adventure Consultants is a professional rock climbing guiding and team building facilitation company headquartered in Apex NC. They guide trips and facilitate training courses throughout NC, the USA, and the world.

For more information, please contact Brandon Hensinger, owner of Ascent Adventure Consultants of Apex NC, at bhensinger@ascentadventure.com, or 877-254-4617. More information can be learned about Ascent Adventure Consultants by visiting their website at http://www.ascentadventure.com.

1. Keep my own coffee mug in the car. That way when I stop at Starbucks to get coffee, they can use my mug, and not use their paper cups.

2. Use Google Maps on my cell phone. Almost every cell phone has the ability to either download a Google Maps app or connect to Google Maps. Use your phone to get Google Maps directions to your destination rather that printing out all the directions and maps. It saves a ton of paper!

3. Bring an empty reusable water bottle to the airport. You can’t bring water through security, but you can bring an empty bottle! That way when you get into the terminal, you can fill your bottle up at the water fountain and save having to buy and use a plastic bottle of water at one of the airport stores!

Nothing fancy about it, but every little bit counts!

Happy Adventuring!

Brandon Hensinger

Ascent Adventure Consultants- Bringing Adventure to Life

BUT NOW THE GOOD NEWS….

Barack Obama, along with promoting an excellent energy plan, and making the oil companies use their windfall profits to help consumers, is also planning on increasing appropriations for public land….and therefore will most likely help to give access to many, many areas.

Their administration needs our support to get this done. Please visit Outdoor Alliance and choose to Take Action, and send letters (via the website) to Barack Obama, to help open up access to these public lands.

Along with a better energy management and energy use system, the funds that are going to be provided to these land managers will help conservation of our natural resources, including “roadless areas” that will be protected. This country is taking a turn in the right direction!

Thank you and Happy Climbing

Brandon Hensinger

Ascent Adventure Consultants- Sustainable Rock Climbing in North Carolina

A few months ago, I read an article about the state of North Carolina allowing mining and development that will greatly impact the state’s streams and wetlands. Many people and organizations protested, but to no avail. It looks like the permits will be granted. Read the info here.

Then, like a breath of fresh air, this morning I read an article on USA Today that was very encouraging. In West Virginia, the EPA has decided to hault all mountaintop coal mining permits so that they can evaluate the projects’ impact on streams and wetlands! They even denied permits that the Army Corps of Engineers was requested to fill streambeds and wetlands with mining waste!

It is great news to see that the wilderness and resources that we love are finally being protected by the government rather than being destroyed. West Virginia is one of the Eastern United States’ best resources for outdoor adventure and wilderness experiences, and it would be sad to see the mountain tops blasted and the streams filled with waste. I think that with the government becoming “greener”, and with the push of eco tourism in the travel industry, we will see our natural resources, and our outdoor adventure opportunities protected and increased over the next several years.

Anyone who is reading this blog should consider becoming part of an organization that lobbies and promotes sustainability and green-living. One of my favorite all around resources is WeCanSolveIt.org. Check it out.