Tag Archives: ice climbing

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You Lose What You Don’t Use

Every year I look forward to ice climbing in February. Every year I remember how much fun I had climbing frozen waterfalls in Munising and the camaraderie of my ice climbing buddies. I also remember how easy ice climbing came to me my first year.

Ice climbing in the upper peninsula of Michigan

Image by Freddy Bahena

Yet when I get back on the ice, the first day or two is horrendous. My ice climbing technique has digressed to a mess and I struggle to reach the top of a fun, yet easy climb called Dryer Hose. I wonder what happened. I question whether or not I had actually climbed well in prior years.

Then on day three or four, something magical happens. I begin to climb like I remembered. The skills I had honed over the years come back like they had never left.

But what happened? Why did I climb poorly the first day or two?  Read more...

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Use Your Weakness

A lot of research has been done in the science of strengths and weaknesses. Most research tells us that we need to stay in our strength zones.

And I’m a strong believer that we see the greatest results when we apply our strengths to what we’re doing.

However, I’ve come to believe that we’re doing a disservice when we dismiss our weaknesses.

Use your weakness to improve

Why Strengths Are Great

Our strengths are the areas in our lives that we rock at. These are things like being a visionary, including others in what you do, or in a desire to achieve goals.

By focusing on these strengths, we’re able to play to our natural talents. We’re able to do what we were created for.

We also feel great when we are working in our strengths.

These feelings make us want to focus on our strengths all the time. But this is a mistake.  Read more...

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5 Leadership Lessons Learned From Ice Climbing

The last 4 years have seen me attempting to conquer a major fear of mine: Heights… Yeah, the man who has jumped out of a plane at 10,000 feet and climbs frozen waterfalls is petrified by heights.

That’s one of the reasons for my many crazy adventures. Especially ice climbing along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

leadership lessons learned from ice climbing

Through these climbs, I’ve seen many leadership principles carried out. And I want to share them with you today.

Leadership Lessons From Ice Climbing

1. Offer encouragement: Four years ago, I was a newbie to the ice climbing world. All I’d ever seen were pictures and videos of other ice climbers.

While it looked awe-inspiring, it also looked dangerous and scary. Especially for someone scared of heights.

This year, we had 5 new climbers on our trip and I was reminded of this.  Read more...

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The Day I Almost Died

Or maybe I didn’t almost die. Maybe I just came close to death in my mind. To me, that’s close enough.

So, what happened to make me come so close to death? What could have made me think that my life was going to end?

I thought I had met Death

Image by JD Hancock

This near death experience happened while I was ice climbing in Munising.

The day started out like any other ice climbing trip I’d ever been on. We arrived at the frozen waterfall. John, our ice climbing guide, setup the climbing routes. And we began to climb.

Then someone saw a perfect place to explore. There was beautiful ice and a way up behind the frozen waterfall.

My near death experience

Only this quick way up wasn’t so quick for me. Instead, it became a trial of fear and dread and the feeling of death crept upon me.  Read more...

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Leaders Need To Get On Belay

One of the coolest experiences I’ve had was a recent ice climbing excursion to the upper peninsula of Michigan. The time was spent with a great group of guys all looking for adventure and finding it in the great outdoors. Not only that, it also taught me a valuable leadership lesson.

Image by Laurel Fan

Image by Laurel Fan

A term often used in climbing, whether it be rock climbing or ice climbing, is belay. For those of you who don’t know what belaying is, belaying refers to a series of techniques climbers use to exert friction on a climbing rope so their climbing partner will not fall far. The climber on belay does this by applying friction through the use of a belay clip and keeping the rope taut.  Read more...