Mount Rainier Ascent Teaches Us About Success and Failure
Sunrise on The Glacier
The view from 13,000 feet. I reflect on Success and Failure within my story of climbing Mount Rainier more than 30 years ago.
Last week, I attended a small dinner and discussion group for men organized by a friend. The topic of the discussion was Success and Failure, and how we perceive and encounter them. Every business owner experiences lots of these, as it is part of the business journey. Surprisingly, “20.8% of private sector businesses in the U.S. fail within the first year. After five years, 48.4% have faltered. After 10 years, 65.1% of businesses have failed.” (Lending Tree)
Back to the dinner. During the conversation, the group dove into the broader perspective (the U.S. and the world) and our individual experiences. This allowed me to reflect on how Success and Failure have shaped my life and contributed to who I am today. I realized that these two extremes are not mutually exclusive but interconnected aspects of the human experience. In many ways, one cannot truly comprehend Success without experiencing Failure, as they go hand in hand to give the other meaning.
Climbing the lower 48’s highest ascent
This brings me to my Mount Rainer climb in 1991. My friend invited me to join him one week, and the next, we were off to climb the Lower 48’s highest ascent by “prominence”. In retrospect, that was a stupid and dangerous plan, considering I didn’t really train - I had been to a two-day snow safety school, and my friend was training to be a wilderness rescuer. Typically, this is not something one decides to do spontaneously and attempt a week later, but we were young. And so we did.
We studied the weather (an August night, clear skies, full moon), inventoried our mountain safety gear, gathered food and camping supplies, and decided we had what we needed to make the climb. In 24 hours, we drove from Olympia, WA to the trailhead, hiked twelve miles to Camp Sherman, slept for a few hours, ascended, and arrived 700 feet from the top at 7:00 AM, where the non-occupied Sherman Route met the busier Muir Route.
At this point, I was near enough to the peak and decided that I had "climbed" Mt. Rainier. I didn't feel the need to join the lines of other climbers, especially after our peaceful all-night full moon climb on our own. Instead, I chose to sit in the snow high above The Cascade Mountains and witness the breathtaking sunrise. I had succeeded! However, now we had to descend from the mountain.
It turns out that the ascent of a large mountain is the safest part, and it’s the descent that can be the most dangerous. When the sun's first warmth in August hits the mountain at 13,000 feet, the snow immediately begins to soften, melt starts flowing, and climbers begin to sweat in all the snow gear. Our pleasant and peaceful moment of sunrise and successful climb bliss suddenly turned to “we have to get the F*** off this mountain!”.
We did what any mountaineer would do - we sat on our butts and started glissading (i.e. sledding quickly on our snow gear) down the mountain. However, the problem was that the glacier on Mount Rainier was melting and becoming a slushy, watery mess of ice. The bright sun made it difficult to see the crevasses, so we had to stop, stand up, and carefully plod our way down. During this time, we found ourselves scrambling up solid rocks covered in small pebbles while wearing crampons (spiky metal boot gear), deep crevasses below us, and no ropes connecting us together. Crampons don't grip well on solid rock, and the pebbles made it more slippery, so for every two steps we took upward, we slipped one step back toward the crevasses. "Keep moving forward!" It was a matter of survival. I remember looking down into a deep crevasse just five feet away from me and thinking, "There's no way I'm going down there, or I'm done for."
Fortunately, we navigated out of this mess, around all the hazards and collapsed snow bridges, gathered our gear from our campsite at 7,000 feet, and hiked the 12 miles back to our car from Camp Sherman. By the time we arrived at ground zero, my legs were jello, and I could barely walk. It took me about a week to recover.
My friend Joshua on the edge of Mt. Rainier’s glacier in 1991.
Life is full of small and large successes and failures
When reflecting on the concepts of Success and Failure, this particular story came to mind because while I had succeeded in climbing Mt. Rainier, I had utterly failed to prepare for the journey. I was not physically fit and would have been ill-equipped to rescue my friend in the event of a crevasse fall, especially considering that we didn't have cell phones or tracking gear at the time; we almost both got lost into a deep well because we had not planned for what happens when a mountain begins to melt. Despite these challenges, I ascended and descended one of the highest mountains and am here to share my tale. Fortunately, while I experienced small failures along the way, none were catastrophic (loss of life).
All successes have points of Failure within them. What matters the most is what you do at those points and beyond. When your business encounters rough patches, known as "The Dip" [as described in the book "The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)" by Seth Godin], it is crucial to adjust and iterate to avoid catastrophic Failure (such as bankruptcy). Even if your business eventually closes down after supporting you for a while, it is important to honor the successes you experienced along the way. Launching a business is challenging, and simply reaching that point, delighting customers, and selling products is a Success. Whether you grow into a large company that gets acquired or remain a small, durable business, you have achieved Success.
Some tools and ideas to help you weather the storm
Cash Flow Forecast Worksheet - Google Sheets
Every business should look forward (forecast) with their money like this to understand where they may hit some financial bumps. This is presented as a month-to-month and can also be turned into a week-to-week configuration for a more micro view. View-only. Message me for a copy. Adapted from a cash flow forecasting sheet from the excellent Hirshberg Entrepreneurial Institute.
Easy Daily Task Tracking - Digital Task Whiteboard
This is a simple daily task list I made in Canva to help me stay on top of the things I need to accomplish in work and in personal life. Keep it open on its own desktop and your day/week is always in view.
The Game of Business - Custom ChatGPT
I designed this chatbot to guide business owners and entrepreneurs through insights and strategies related to finances, sales, marketing, operations, e-commerce, websites, and hiring. Subscription to ChatGPT Plus required.
