The pain of finishing a project 6/3/2022 10:50:06 AM

According to a very recent weather forecast the wind velocity will decrease around 22nd or 23rd of May and the summit window is opening. The window – based on today’s knowledge – may be open for a while, maybe as long as 30th of May. Our forecasts that we have gathered from different sources agree on the change of the wind velocity around the peak. Wrong decisions can be costly here, since we will have energy to do just one push to the summit, whether we make it to the top or not. We will of course base our assumptions on the fact that we will make it. This is the moment when we must dare to complete the climbing phase. There may not be a single correct decision, we must adjust with the weather around us. As you know, time slows to a crawl when you wait for something to happen!

A reporter from the National Geographic asked us a question:” What things do mountain climbing and business have in common?”. I said: “In the business world the targets are depicted as the company vision, which is then broken into strategic steps that the company shall take. These steps are then broken into targets and measures that can be achieved. This gives the business its direction as well as all the relevant milestones for its actions. You then track the milestones systematically and see whether you’re headed to the right direction. In mountain climbing – as well as business – the summit cannot be achieved with one step, rather than the target is broken into smaller pieces. We then build our success on top of making all of the smaller steps happen.”

We now feel the tension building up for the next couple of days. If we target to reach the summit on 22nd of May, we will head towards that target on 18th of May. During the ascent we will not be able to update the blog, rather than our Base Camp manager Marshall Thompson will update our progress via a radio link to Ascensio’s Facebook-site. If and when you’re interested to see our progress, do add yourself as a fan of Ascensio. In the picture for today’s blog you can see the South Col (approx 8.000 m; Camp four) and to the left of it is Mt. Everest. The summit is hidden by the clouds. This picture was taken from the summit of Kala Pattar.

All is well.