Limits...

This weekend, I climbed Mt Hood, Oregon's tallest volcano at 11,245ft. This was my first technical climb without a guiding company. I did it with some friends who had been training together, along with mentorship and training from some of our more experienced friends. The climb is challenging, you gain about 5200ft in under 3mi, passes through sulphur fumaroles as Mt Hood is an active volcano, steep open slopes where a fall may land you near a crevasse or a fumarole, and has a 45-50 degree section which is icy and narrow to climb up with an ice tool (kind of like an axe) and you are on all 4s in terms of points of contact.

Six months ago, when I signed up, I was very nervous and knew this would be totally outside my comfort zone. But I wanted to train for it, and give it a shot. Leading up to, I did a lot of open and steep slopes, training for exposure, starting to trust my gear better, improve my footwork and of course continuing to stay fit. We attempted two weeks ago with our experienced friend, and turned around due to bad weather. And then when it was clear that schedules may not align for our leader to go with us again this season, me and my friends decided found a good weather window and planned the trip this weekend, without our experienced friend. Here's what I learnt, and I can totally apply these not only to mountaineering but life in general.

1. You may think you know your limits, but you may surprise yourself if you work at it. And you don't really grow if you don't take these chances on yourself.
2. Mentorship is important - we had the help and guidance of people who showed us what to train for to be more prepared, and built our confidence.
3. Team work matters and planning is essential - we knew we didn't have our leader, so we planned out our scenarios, and what would make each of us turn back, and how we would handle those situations, and how we would support and encourage each other when the tough mental moments came.
4. Learning is in your control. Lot of stuff is outside your control, but doing your part to prepare yourself, train, learn and equip yourself with skills is within your control.
5. The more you do it, the easier it gets. When things are tough, instead of giving up, do it - you may not be perfect but you'll get better. It's iterative.

#lifelessons #careerlessons #mountaineering

P.S. Some folks asked me what the climb was like. This isn't my video but sums up the route and conditions we had - https://vimeo.com/537127379