About three weeks ago, I announced (with tremendous fan fare and a rousing opening second only to Beijing’s Open Ceremonies) that I was starting my own business.  So, my dear and trusted readers are probably wondering, how are things going?

Well, so far so good, but some days I wake up and wonder if I would have been better off staying in Tibet as a yak herder.  Getting out of the gate is truly difficult: the work that you put in is all expense, with very little tangible results (everything is on paper) and half the wild ideas that I’ve come up with end up going in, not the recycling bin, but the trash.  Some of my original ideas were so bad, they were put on a train in contamination barrels headed for the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository in Nevada.

Sarcasm aside, when I stand back and look back over the last month and look at the process that has gotten me to where I am right now, I’m rather amazed at it all.  Somehow, a little flicker of an idea sparked in my head, and through a rigourous process of throwing everything I could against a wall to see what stuck, has now turned a strategic and tactical plan that, if all goes well, is ready to be implemented and, barring any funding hiccups, should be live by the time we all sit down to eat Turkey.

Did you see that slight of hand?  I gave you a nice gloss over in my perfect plan above.  Funding!  While I’ve spent almost all of my professional career in Finance, asking people for moola hasn’t been the easiest experience.  On the fun scale it is somewhere between having your face duct taped to Michael Moore’s thigh on a 98-degree day in the middle of the jungle and being kicked in head by a Clydesdale.  Getting funded has almost nothing to do with Finance and everything to do selling yourself–just as much as your idea, if not more so–to people who are smarter and more experienced that you (that’s why they have money) and think you might be able to make them rich.

My description above is apt, but I’ve now embraced a core piece of my personality: I really do need to embrace my inner masochist.  Last year, when I was freezing in a tent at 19,000 feet ?  It sucked and I might have lost half my brain cells, but I loved it and would do it again and again.  As much as I whine about the funding process, and as much as it hurts starting from absolute zero, there is something really enlightening and actually <gulp> enjoyable about it.  It is amazing waking up in the morning with your unrestrained creative process as your best friend and, not being able to rely on anyone else, you have to figure out a way to take all of these ideas on paper and give them life.  In the Corporate world, my creative process has often gotten me into trouble, but here it is really the only asset I have.

This endeavor has also greatly challenged my views on optimism.  There are so many factors flying in your face every day that tell you that this is the most highly improbable thing you could be doing for yourself.  Much of my life, I’ve internally programmed my conscience to warn me of danger and to look for signs of safety.  Now, I am dangling myself out on a limb with my whole net worth, which isn’t exactly Gettyian, on the line with failure a strong possibility.  If I used the oh so illustrative and relevent Homeland Security Threat Level Metrics to measure the early stages of my constitution under likelihood of upcoming danger as Severe, High, Elevated, Guarded and Low, I’d be somewhere around F–ked.

Initially, the bumps in the road set me to panic as I had somehow convinced myself that mistakes along the way were going to be costly to my meager sums and that my margin of error was way too small.  Now, I realize that a day without a setback is a day where I am probably not pushing myself hard enough.  It is difficult, day after day, deliberately throwing oneself into the fire without support, but after you do it a few times, it becomes kind of cool.  Not to say that I dance through this mine field as Fred Astair either, but somehow, my brain is starting to look beyond the clutter into the potential future.  Being wound up so tightly, it took a few blows to force me to loosen my grip and understand that I can actually stear a lot better when I’m laid back in the seat, with a cold, um, Pespi in my hand (I would never condone drinking and driving under any circumstances) and Panama cranking on the radio.

Who knows how this will all turn out, but so far, the most important thing I’ve learned is I’ve found where I belong.

Heart warmning, isn’t it?

Just like Jerry’s kids, I’m just buttering you up to take your wallet.  So, if you want to give me some MONEY, you know where to find me.

If not, enjoy the free Doritos, which I’ve grown addicted to in the last month.

Regardless of your proclivities towards the Bible, in other words whether you read it as myth or literal, it is safe to say that from a philosophical point of view, a truism is conveyed in the story of when Eve ate from the tree of knowledge, namely that mankind kind of screwed itself.  Enlightenment does bring us certain benefits, no doubt about it, but knowledge isn’t always a pure and unvarnished good, even when the information is cloaked in the best of intentions.

Just what am I getting at here?  Well, a few months ago I spilled my smart ass, enlightened beans when I wrote the following post about Freedom:

Before I could do what I set out to do, I’ve had to begin the process of reestablishing the foundations which will eventually allow me to do what I set out to do. My initial thoughts were that this site would go silent until these things were in place, but, I’ve learned something indirectly from my good friend Ian Wood, that the process of reestablishing and regaining your foothold IS the interesting story. Fulfillment is all good and wonderful, but how one gets there is what people relate to versus the eventual results of the story. Accomplishments don’t happen without going through a lot of shit along the way.

So, where am I right now? Here is what I wrote in my journal at the Rombuk Monastery after fending off some gastro-intestinal issues, one year ago today…

…I think that this vulnerability is required to gain a way of living that I consciously choose, apart from mindless routine designed to construct certainty and the illusion of safety. This is what Bruce Lee meant when he said, “When one is not expressing himself, he is not free. Thus he begins to struggle and the struggle breeds methodical routine. Soon, he is doing his methodical routine as a response rather than responding to what is.”

I also made the infinitely foolish mistake of opening my mind to this drivel, when I quoted a passage I wrote at the Rombuk Monestary:

…It still leaves me with an extremely uncomfortable uncertainty around what lies ahead. I keep relying on the trust that I’ve placed in my preparations, plan and, most importantly, my team. We’ve done an excellent job in staying strong and healthy to this point, our acclimatization plan is excellent and we have a great Sherpa with some very solid experience here.

This is the crux for me. Full, 100%, pure commitment. Putting one foot in front of the other, not looking back and, as our Sherpa says, “bhurti, bhurti” or “slowly, slowly” doing what we set out to do…

A few months ago I was blindsided by a major life event.  At almost exactly 5:30 on a Wednesday afternoon, every metaphorical rope I had tied into for career and personal safety was maliciously cut when my then boss informed me that my services were no longer needed.  The financial and career safety I had built for the past 8 years shattered in a split, “sorry, this isn’t your fault, but we have to go in another direction,” and I was left holding a pink slip and an incredibly uncertain future.

The problem for me was just beginning.  Without the knowledge of everything I wrote above, I could have easily gotten back on the bandwagon with a job that provided a great living.  Unfortunately, I cannot escape the knowledge I’ve gained in the past and I didn’t feel settled with that option.  I’ve had this creepy business idea in my head for a while and instead of normally providing my thoughts a mild irritation during low activity periods (which, in my brain, is pretty frequent), it became a screaming banshee alerting each part of my body that if I want to live the life I say I’m determined to live, I have NO CHOICE, but to risk everything and build this silly business.

Dammit.  You have no idea how much this frees me, but at the same time, pisses me off to no end!  Just what do I think I’m doing?  Right now, I don’t have the money to do this, nor the resources to pull it off, nor the focus to hone my business plan versus blogging about nothing.

Actually, I now have a business plan, naturally of which I can’t divulge the full details, but it will be a business intelligence/web 2.0 solution for the adventure travel community.  I have a major problem with it, too: it is REALLY good.  I wish it was crap enough to scare me back into the corporate world, but instead it is actually compelling me to move forward.  So, right now I’m just a kid with a dream, but that’s it.  I hope to share with you here my process for moving forward and, somehow, getting this business built.

I’m haunted–HAUNTED–by this statement that I wrote a year ago:

This is the crux for me. Full, 100%, pure commitment. Putting one foot in front of the other, not looking back and, as our Sherpa says, “bhurti, bhurti” or “slowly, slowly” doing what we set out to do…

Acting on this firmly held belief, this week I liquidated all my “holdings” for cash, so that I can live modestly and do what it takes to get this business funded to hire or partner with people that can get this technology developed and launched.  If this doesn’t work, I am literally worth nothing; placed on the same economic plain as an entry-level McDonald’s employee (unless they have a piggy bank with some spare change in it, then they’ll have a leg up on me).  I’m headed off to Brazil in September to meet people within my industry to figure out how to break into the market.

Why am I so pissed off about this?  Why?  Because, I am honestly doing exactly what I’ve always wanted to do.  This is beyond my dream–this is who I am…and it is scaring he bejesus out of me.

…

Let me set the stage: a cargo ship called the “Cougar Ace,” which was loaded with 4,000 Mazdas from Japan, has a major system failure at sea when the water tanks they use for ballast only fill up on the port side of the ship. Before the crew is aware of what happened, they unintentionally test Newton’s Third Law where “every action has an equal an opposite reaction”–the ship tips over and “rests,” listing at 60-degrees in the cold Alaskan waters.  Remarkably, the US Coast Guard manages to rescue the entire crew.

With the crew safe and sound, end of story, right? The Coast Guard has done their work and this 56,000 ton empty ship should limp along until it eventually takes in enough water to sink, thus providing the lucky inhabitants at the bottom of the sea with 4,000 brand new cars, which I’m sure they’ll immediately pimp out to their own specifications.

Unfortunately, for the crustaceans at the bottom of the sea, the insurance companies who cover such accidents are not quite as willing to throw up their hands and watch $300 million dollars sink to the bottom of the ocean. Kind of like the A-Team “if no one else can help–and you can find them, maybe you should hire” Titan Salvage. Titan Salvage is small group of some of the toughest, ballsiest, brilliant and enterprising people this side of the 21st Century. They are hired to come in and rescue these ships, literally putting their necks on the line betting the whole time that not only will they refuse to to go down with a sinking ship, they’ll save as much of it as they possibly can.  In the Wired story that I link to, you’ll see how Director Richard Habib and a handful of other men risk their lives to save the Cougar Ace, in hopes of gaining a payout at the end that ranges anywhere from 10-20% of the value of the ship and its cargo.

This is just a mind-blowing story. These innovative and gutsy men use everything from exotic, state-of-the art computer modeling on the fly, massive hydraulic pumps, and even their own fingers to plug leaks in order to bring the ship back upright. Just like the post Cold War Army, the ship salvage industry had come to rely too much on sophisticated equipment and machinery. Titan Salvage on the other hand, provides a glimpse into the new Army, where they based their strategy on “the idea that ships could be saved by human ingenuity, not horsepower…the company’s unconventional approach worked.” If these men fail at their task, they not only do not get paid, they also risk killing themselves. Failure is not an option.

Read the whole thing and check the video:

See, I’m no liar!  A post!

Here is a great resource for those of you who are into doing some broadly defined “adventure.”  Outside Magazine’s Adventure Finder.

It is a step-by-step process that asks you various questions about what generally want to do and where you generally want to go and then it searches and generates results for various packaged adventures taylored to your answers.

For example, let’s see how is works for me:

Step 1: Who’s Going? Me: “Singles”

Step 2: What do you want to do–activity type? Me: “Hiking/Walk/Climb” –> then “Hiking/Trekking”

Step 3: Where do you want to go? Me: “Asia” –> then “All Asia”

Results:

Price	Trip Name	Tour Operator
$1499 14 days	Borneo Revealed Hiking/Trekking, in Malaysia Borneo is a nature lover‘s delight with an abundance of exotic flora and fauna. We climb majestic Mt…	Adventure Center
$2800 12 days	Tibet Trekking Adveture Hiking/Trekking, Cultural Immersion in Tibet Tibet is an enigma to most Westerners. While it sounds exotic to some, it is intimidating to others. We hear…	Zephyr Adventures
$3298 12 days	Bhutan “Shangri La” Multi-Sport Hiking/Trekking, in Bhutan Bhutan, nestled in the heart of the great Himalaya, has for centuries remained aloof from the rest of the world….	The World Outdoors
$870 15 days	Everest Base Camp Hiking/Trekking, Cultural Immersion in Nepal An unforgettable expedition into the most mountainous corner of the world, the Nepalese Himalayas. Everest has…	Intrepid Travel Inc.
$2060 10 days	Mongolia Gobi Family Adventure Hiking/Trekking, in Mongolia One of the most remote countries and last frontiers on earth, Mongolia is a land of dramatic contrasts from…	Adventure Center
$3799 12 days	Central Tibet Multisport Expedition Hiking/Trekking, in Tibet Paddle hike and bike across the high Tibetan plateau, experiencing Tibet as few tourists ever will. After…	Adventure Trippin
$3500 16 days	Women’s Adventures - Trekking In Bhutan Hiking/Trekking, Cultural Immersion in Bhutan Bhutan, a Himalayan country situated between India and Tibet, is one of the most isolated nations in the world….	Adventures in Good Company
$2798 13 days	India Himalayan Hiker Hiking/Trekking, Cultural Immersion in India The Markha Valley Trek is one of the most varied and beautiful treks in the world, venturing high into the…	The World Outdoors
$1400 19 days	Borneo Unearthed Hiking/Trekking, Cultural Immersion in Malaysia, Malaysia Sultry, spiritual and seductive, Sabah and Sarawak are the embodiment of a tropical paradise. We combine the…	Intrepid Travel Inc.
$1620 12 days	Across the Roof of the World Hiking/Trekking, Cultural Immersion in Nepal, Tibet The incredible scenery of Mt Everest and rich religious history of the region make this trip a true adventure….	GAP Adventures
$1540 10 days	China - Walk The Great Wall Hiking/Trekking, in China Stretching from the Yellow Sea westwards to the edge of the Gobi Desert, some 2700 miles, the magnificent…	Adventure Center
$3898 11 days	China Multi-sport Hiking/Trekking, in China More than just an exotic travel destination, China is a phenomenon. Home to one of the world’s longest…	The World Outdoors
$1325 9 - 14 days	Vietnam Hiking Adventure Hiking/Trekking in Vietnam Enjoy a hiking adventure in Vietnam - from quiet mountain villages to the hustle and bustle of heaving…	Global Adventure Guide
$3298 15 days	Thailand Multisport Canoeing, in Thailand Welcome to Thailand, “the land of a thousand smiles”. This is a country with a rich cultural heritage and…	The World Outdoors
$2375 11 days	Jordan Explorer Hiking/Trekking, Cultural Immersion in Jordan This comprehensive tour of one of the Middle East’s most hospitable and exotic countries offers a full range of…	Wildland Adventures
$3850 21 days	Hidden Valleys of Ladakh Hiking/Trekking, Cultural Immersion in India Led by Garry Weare this is an outstanding trek and an ideal introduction to the visually stunning and culturally…	World Expeditions
$4050 22 days	Sikkim Bhutan Trek Hiking/Trekking, Cultural Immersion in Bhutan, India This is an exhilarating itinerary combining a spectacular trek in Sikkim with a short trek in the Buddhist…	World Expeditions
$2890 25 days	Everest Circuit Hiking/Trekking, Cultural Immersion in Nepal An unsurpassed three week trek that takes in all the highlights of our ‘Gokyo Lakes’ trek and our ‘Everest Base…	World Expeditions
$2590 20 days	Everest Base Camp Hiking/Trekking, Cultural Immersion in Nepal This trek is designed to fulfill the dream of many trekkers to experience the historic route to the base of the…	World Expeditions
$2350 15 days	Sherpa Everest Hiking/Trekking, Cultural Immersion in Nepal This is our most popular introduction to trekking in the Everest region. A trek that leads through the famous…	World Expeditions
$2150 14 days	Annapurna Machapuchare Hiking/Trekking, Cultural Immersion in Nepal This trek offers the opportunity to escape Nepal’s tourist trails, to venture into the deep forests and roam the…	World Expeditions
$3450 16 days	Kingdom of Mustang Hiking/Trekking, Cultural Immersion in Nepal The Kingdom of Mustang preserves some of the last vestiges of traditional Tibetan Buddhist culture. Situated on…	World Expeditions
$4590 18 days	Bhutan High Trails Hiking/Trekking, Cultural Immersion in Bhutan A superb trek into the heartland of Bhutan timed when rhododendrons are in full bloom. We follow forest trails -…	World Expeditions
$3790 15 days	Backroads of Japan Hiking/Trekking, Cultural Immersion in Japan This is World Expeditions’ most popular trip in Japan. We ascend mountain trails and take valley hikes to get a…	World Expeditions
$1650 10 days	Jordan Explorer Hiking/Trekking, Cultural Immersion in Jordan For such a compact country, Jordan has an overwhelming array of historical sites and geographical features ripe…	World Expeditions

Now you give it a try!

Tonight I’m heading back up to the mountains to ski into the middle of nowhere with a large pack on my back.  The trip will involve approximitely 18 hours of driving, 2 red bulls, 4 Van Halen albums, 48 hours of exhausting ski touring and climbing, 7 GU packs, one long trailless and manzanilla-choked canyon, a beautiful snow-laden couloir and a 14,000′+ summit.  Early season conditions will surely be challenging, and some serious suffering is on the agenda.  Why do I drive such long distances only to hurt?  Maybe it is best said by the bumper sticker I once saw — “My Best Vacation is Your Worst Nightmare”.  Another perspective is seen here, in an article I wrote for Couloir Magazine a few years ago.

Enjoy the suffering!

I’m heading to Tucson today to visit Mom and Dad for Christmas with my girlfriend for a Meet the Parents holiday.  After several days of eating, drinking and being lazy, I’m going to the mountains one way or another.  I’ve been trying to find a guide to lead some multi-pitch up around Mount Lemmon, however it is looking like that is going to be tough since, after all it is Christmas, so all the guides I’ve talked to are unavailable.

If I can’t get someone to lead multi-pitch, I think I am going to hit up a hike/climb of Mount Wrightston (9,456 feet) south of the city.  There has been a bit of an early winter there, so I’m bringing crampons and an ice ax in case it gets a little icy at the top. 

Either way, there will be some great outdoors goodness to be had!  I will keep you posted!

Here is a very interesting article in the Outdoors section of the SF Chronicle from Tom Stienstra who, in light of the family that got lost in a white-out looking for a Christmas tree, took off with a buddy in Yosemite to demonstrate what to do if you get stranded during the winter in the harsh mountain environment.  

Skydiving has always been at, or near the top, of extreme adventure sports. In 1797, when Andre-Jacques Garnerin jumped out of a hot air balloon with a parachute, adventure seekers from all over the world have sought ways the feel the invigoration of “flying,” even though all it is, is a controlled crash to earth.

The sport must of hit a wall for some folks who didn’t think that merely strapping some canvass to one’s back was hard core enough. In 1998, Jari Kuosma and Robert Pecnik found a unique and intricate design (the person who originally attempted this feat with a similar design died) called a “wingsuit,” and jumped off a 3,000 cliff. They learned from this experience that, although you couldn’t technically fly, the rate of descent dropped from 120 mph to 35 mph. It was a daring and successful attempt, which officially raised the bar on one of the world’s most dangerous sports. Exhibit A:

The wingsuit has officially elevated skydiving and BASE jumping into the stratosphere, but, if you thought buzzing mountain ridges with a thin layer of synthetic material between your arms and legs would be enough to keep adrenaline junkies happy for a while, you’d have to think again. Review the above clip again: the problem for some people is that, after the aforementioned thrill-ride through the mountains, at the end you have to pull out a parachute to land. Although your rate of vertical descent decreases from 120 mph to 35 mph with the wingsuit, your horizontal speed is 75 - 80 mph. Without the parachute, you’d hit the ground so hard that the the last thought going through your head would be your helmet.

Enter Jeb Corliss.

Jeb is trying to be the first human being to jump out of a plane with a winged suit and land, on the earth, without the aid of a parachute. There are others who are attempting this feat as well, but NOT ONE has been as articulate or even close to being as cool as Jeb Corliss. The NY Times recently did a video story on him where, without hesitation, or so much as a stutter in his voice, he explains exactly why he is attempting to do this insane stunt (since the the NY Times is still in the stone age of the Interwebs, I can’t embed it here, so click the link to see the whole video):

People ask me, ‘What’s the point? Why would you do something like that?’ You know, to be honest with you, for me, the wingsuit landing is something people have never done before. And it’s hard, in this day and age, to do something that has never been done before. This will be the first time, that a human being, has reached terminal velocity, and landed–on their face–at over a hundred and ten miles-an-hour, and gotten back up and did it again. That’s a very special thing and, as far as I’m concerned, this is something people have wanted to do since the time of Icarus.

Count me in as one that will be avidly rooting for Jeb to, “reach terminal velocity and land–on his face–at over a hundred and ten miles-an-hour, and get back up to do it again.”

UPDATE: Comments closed to do flood of SPAM.

Growing up, I had a grounded, yet simple church experience, free from flare. We went to Sunday services where I’d take off to Sunday School to color pictures of baby Jesuses (usually blue) and listen to lessons about how to treat others how I’d want to be treated; the monthly church dinner or, weather permitting, an outdoor picnic that always ended up with some kid getting pounded for grievances no greater than smelling like pee (you know, to demonstrate of what we learned in Sunday School). There was also the annual Christmas Pageant where I’d barrow the old man’s cane from across the street and play a rough-around-the-edges shepherd who took no crap from his sheep, let alone a Pharisee. However, there was one year where they decided to emasculate the boys by making all the five year-olds, regardless of sex, dress as angels. I assure you, it was the only time in my life when there was a halo hovering over my head.

(more…)

Originally posted at Ten Fingers 6 Strings. Slightly edits made.

——-

I sat in the peaceful garden of the Yak and Yeti Hotel, which was one of a handful of oases in an otherwise and utterly chaotic, Kathmandu. I had a good-tired going on; a tiredness that normally comes from a full day of progress, adventure, activity or hard work resulting in something resembling accomplishment. However, in this case, all I had done was show up on time to the airport, hand over my passport, pass through security without being molested, get on the plane when they announced “Now boarding: rows 35-50,” sit in my assigned seat, turn my electronics on-and-off (when appropriate) and repeat these steps for the next two connections in Hong Kong and Bangkok. Although the very nature of this exercise is routine and monotonous, it was, nonetheless, one step in the telos, which was getting up and down from Mount Everest - Advanced Base Camp.

(more…)