Written by Tim Tickner
I’ve recently returned from my fifth Nepal trip. Ironic, given my normal advice to fellow travellers is “go to different places”, and here I am having just spent 3 weeks trekking and climbing in Nepal – AGAIN! Must be something in the air there that drags me back.
This time as part of a small team of 5 climbers and 2 climbing Sherpas we made a successful attempt to climb Mera Peak, all 6461 meters of it. Sounds rather simple and easy…….it wasn’t! Actually it usually never is, but you tend to forget that when you get excited about planning another trip. It’s only when you hit your first major hill on the 7 day trek to get to the mountain, that you remember how hard it is, how steep it gets, and how altitude plays with your mind and body in ways that you’d prefer it didn’t.
We had an experienced team, three of whom had previously summited Mt. Everest, so I felt I was in good hands, but also somewhat intimidated by all the experienced hands around me. I quickly realised that putting myself into a crowd of better, more experienced climbers could only help me learn, improve skills and become better at the task I was undertaking (bit of a metaphor for life, really).
The team, ably led by Everest summiteer Katie Sarah (google her bio!) followed a meticulously planned week long agenda of acclimatisation before donning our climbing boots and crampons and heading onto the mountain proper. We set 2 camps on the way up and after an afternoon/evening rest at high camp we set out under torch light at 4:30am for our final tilt at reaching the summit.
Blessed with the weather, we also had the mountain to ourselves – not a single person to be seen other than our 7 strong team. After almost 4 hours of slogging up through the snow slopes, roped together for safety, we reached the base of the final summit pyramid. Here we needed to attach our jumar (mechanical ascending device) to a rope the Sherpas put in, and with a massive effort, sucking in as much of the 44% oxygen the atmosphere would grant us at that altitude, scale a near vertical wall to the summit. Success!? Well, not quite……. you see a successful summit is only achieved if you return safely. As much as I felt I had accomplished the ultimate, I still needed help and I was yet to safely return. You see, the wind blew exceptionally strong on the summit, so to stay there we had to assist each other and clip into a safety rope to avoid being blown off. Interesting, perhaps dangerous, but fun just the same.
The descent included abseiling from the summit and then the long trudge across the snow, jumping crevasses, back to the safety of hard ground off the mountain. All in all it was a 12 hour day before we were back to relative safety enjoying a cup of tea and being satisfied that we can now claim to have conquered that very big hill called Mera Peak.
So why tell this story? It struck me that there are many metaphors of our business life tucked away inside an adventure like this. Our business is to train people to go above and beyond, to reach for the top. But even when you think you get there, success is not guaranteed. We all, ALWAYS, need support. We need to rely on others expertise when we don’t have it ourselves. Working as an individual, I would never have reached the summit – success is much easier achieved working as a team, as we did on Mera. So next when you’re thinking about making your way to the top, have a think about my mountain climbing adventure and how achieving summit success parallels your own climb to the top. There might just be some lessons there for us all!
Happy climbing,
Tim
by Future Force
Future Force was the best fit for me, as I wanted to get into the working field straight after finishing high school.
The best thing about it all is that Future Force offer you excellent schooling about Transport and Logistics as well as providing hands on experience.
My trainer Michael has a lot to do with where I am today, his expertise and persistence in his training has been very helpful within my work.
Since graduating in 2013, I have grown so much within the industry. I have been fortunate to trial different departments to find which best suits me.
The perfect entry point into the world of freight and logistics, extremely skilled and motivated team that really CARE about your career and ambitions, even to the point of keeping touch 5+ years after graduation.
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Emir Osmanagic, LCL Product Lead, Australia and New Zealand
When I started my traineeship, I quickly realised that I had a limited understanding of the industry and experience in an office environment. After meeting weekly with my Future Force trainer for the two year period of my traineeship, I was able to learn about the logistics industry efficiently, while maintaining a comfortable pace for me to grasp concepts strongly. Not only have I built skills within my workplace, but also organisational and life skills.
Declan Broderick, Operations all rounder
As a fresh faced teenager in 2003, I was fortunate enough to commence my traineeship under the guidance of the Future Force team. They provided me the necessary tools to be successfully employed at market leading international freight forwarder, along with comprehensive training, knowledge & skills required to succeed in my position as the national leading cargo insurance sales rep today!
Jeremy McNamara, Business Development Executive