Stay on Offense Climb Mountains

Attacking Adversity

Bookish Weapon Number 69

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Cameron Hanes runs up mountains to train himself to be the best bowhunter in the world. He likes to hunt far away from the typical hunting grounds in places that are hard to reach unless you’re in his kind of physical shape.

His book “Endure” captures his story which is a great one and one that continues. I was drawn to the title, because I though my word for this year was “endure.” There was one other box with the same name, but Cam’s subtitle included the words “keep hammering” and that spoke to me.

Focus

The thing that stood out for me right away was the intense focus this man has put on one thing, hunting. Maybe two. Hunting and training to hunt.

To some, running 100 mile races might seem over the top, but not for Hanes. He knows they give him the edge he needs to be a successful hunter year after year. It all provides meaning and purpose to his life.

Learn From Cameron

There are lots of excellent lessons in this book like how not to let your critics get to you. How to learn from others and how to “burst through the bonds of low expectations.”

He stresses the importance of believing in yourself and being obsessed with improvement. He thinks that obsession in successful people is not because they think they are great, but because they really think they are not that great at all and need to improve!

Get Used to Being Uncomfortable

This book is about what I have learned to be expansive discipline which is putting yourself in uncomfortable situations. They induce growth. Cam says that “My good friend Misery and I have become real close over the years.

Now remember this not about being yourself up for the sake of beating yourself up. Hanes has a purpose and a mission. Getting used to being uncomfortable helps him hit the mark time and time again.

Greatness

Cameron Hanes believes in you and me. He says, “The good news is I believe each and every one of us is capable of greatness in something. He continues, by saying, “Your bowhunting is out there. I promise. It will open doors for yours well. But be warned: when you become obsessed, it takes over your life. This obsessive approach works for me.”

What’s it going to take. You might have guessed it. Hard work or as Cam says, “…damn hard work.”

Your Body

Frankly I can’t say it better than Cameron Hanes, “Your body gives what you ask of it. Don’t ask much and it won’t give you much. Ask a lot and it will give you a lot. I haven’t found my limit yet, but I am trying.”
This book is very inspirational especially for those who want to strengthen themselves. He talks about putting his body through the wringer. However, he might disagree with me when I say you do need some rest from time to time. Even then your main focus must be to “keep hammering!”

Go Hiking And You Won’t Regret It

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Actually, there was one hike that I regret. Maybe it wasn’t so much the hike itself, but the fall I took.

It was on a hike up to Camp Muir on Rainier.

Camp Muir

If you haven’t done this hike, I do recommend it in spite of my fall. It begins at 5000 ft in the Paradise parking lot. If you arrive early you can get a paring space. For some distance the the trail is a steep cement walkway built for tourists. Then it converts to a combination of manmade trail and natural.

After about two miles you will come to Pebble Creek. Crossing Pebble Creek can be interesting. One year the rocks had a thin coating of ice on them. I watched a couple hikers take the plunge into the creek and I barely made it across myself. After Pebble Creek you will be into the snow even in August most years. Then on to Camp Muir just another two miles away. You will think those two miles are a hundred or at least fifty.

Going Up

After leaving Pebble Creek you climb a steep area of snow. This is where I fell, but more on that later. From there it just goes up. You may run into a crevasse or two on the way up depending on the snow melt, but they are small.

It gets steeper as you climb but there is a trail. Actually, there are several trails made by climbers in the snow. If you go on a clear day it is pretty easy to determine which one to take and you always want to go on a clear day. Once you can see Camp Muir it is still about a half hour away at my pace.

Coming Down

Coming back down the mountain can be fun. If the condition of the snow is right there are long slides you can take. It is called Glissading. Do not do it if the snow has frozen into ice. You will go way too fast. But if conditions are right it is a lot of fun.

Typically I will jog down. Be sure to keep your weight forward and place your heel first into the snow.

The Fall

On that particular hike, I was wearing Yaktracks instead of Microspikes. Don’t do that. When the snow is just ice the Yaktraks just don’t give you enough traction.

When I reached the area just above Pebble Creek I was slowly making my way down a steep area when I slipped and slid a hundred yards down into the jagged rocks. I cut my head and legs. Fortunately, an EMT was on his way up the mountain and he bandaged me up and told me to go to a hospital within eight hours. I did.

Go Hiking And Be A Hero On A Mission

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How many of you use a Garmin or a Whoop or a Fitbit or and Oura Ring to track everything? Two out of the three track you steps, all track your sleep, and two your recovery from exercise. Everything! So you can look at the in the morning and get a good idea about how much you can push yourself that day.

Last Sunday morning my “devices” all said I was a mess. Now I could have used that as an excuse to skip the hike altogether or maybe just “stroll” up the mountain. However, if you are depleted and you push yourself the upside is that it can improve fitness.

Hero

Still, what do you do? I decided to take on the challenge and push myself like never before (at least not recently) and I beat my recent records to the top. After all, I was a Hero on a mission. A mission to get to the top of the mountain.

Did I mention how much my legs hurt when I was running the trail? They hurt! But the challenge was exciting and getting to the top of a mountain is meaningful.

No Trekking Poles

I recommend everyone uses trekking poles, especially when they come down a mountain, because it will save your knees long term. In fact my knees were so bad in the past that I could not get down a mountain without them.

However, one of the devices mentioned above does not count your steps correctly when you use trekking poles. So Decided that I would climb up and down without them. The difference in number of steps was 15,000!!. Yeah, kinda nuts.

Do It Again

When I would make a sale in the past one of my favorite sales managers would tell me, “Good job. Now do it again.” It is the same when you climb mountains. You may have done a good job this week, but now it is your responsibility to keep executing.

Did you go hiking last week? Did you beat your personal record to the top? Then do it again!

Bookish Weapon Number Sixty-Seven

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“Hero On A Mission,” is one of the better books I have re-read recently again and it was just published this year. It is a book about purpose and story. Your and my story!

Did you know you were involved in a story? Has your story lost your interest? These are questions the author asks of us and he gives excellent advice.

Our Stories

On a page even before the introduction Miller states, “I don’t think any of us should trust fate to write the story of our lives. Fate is a terrible writer.

We are all in stories and they have characters in them just like all stories. There is the victim, the villain, the hero and the guide. Do you recognize any of these in your life?

Control

In self help books you can read a lot about how you should focus on what you can control and ignore the rest. So how much can you control? Miller makes the argument that “…a human being has a ridiculous amount of personal agency. A person’s reaction to a set of circumstances dramatically affects how their story plays out.”

He goes on and says, “The character who becomes the victim believes they are helpless and acts out of that belief. The character who becomes the hero accepts their agency and rises up against their circumstances.” How does this speak to your life?

Accomplish Something Important

Miller says that what we all need to do is “…throw yourself into a story in which you try to accomplish something important.”

He goes on to say, “If we don’t want something, face our challenges, and try hard things, our life stories don’t work either.” You can just “dream up” a story for yourself and live “like a hero on a mission.” Miller says you have to sit and think about everything you have overcome in your life to realize your strength.

Want Something

The author says we need to want something! He says many have killed their desire and any story needs to be about a character who wants something.

He says, “When you define specific destination for your life, your story will begin to take shape and you’ll become more interested in your own life.” “Discipline is a good bit easier to come by if you have narrative traction in your life.” So he asks, “What is the thing you just have to do?

What If

I loved this little exercise. He says to ask yourself, “What if?” Simple, right? What if I sold everything and moved to Portugal? What if I quit my job? He says “what if” leads to adventure.

He uses what if questions when he writes books and gets stuck, but he says, “Asking What if can drive incredible change in your life and give you a terrific reason to get out of bed in the morning.”

Narrative

Miller says “narrative traction” is “the feeling that our personal story is so interesting we can’t turn away.” You could even join an existing mission!

Questions to ask yourself once you start to build your life plan include: “What will you build? What story will you join? What could your life look like one year, five years, and ten years from now?

So that’s the first half of the book. The second half is how to set up a plan for your life. Get the book and read it! There is so much more to learn!

Go Hiking And Have An Undefeated Mind

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Could it be true? If you do nothing else but climb a mountain every week, will you have an undefeated mind? Of course not, but the title sounds pretty good. However, I do believe it improves your inner game.

How does it do that? As I have said before, it is not easy to go climb a mountain in bad weather or when your knees, or back or hips hurt. When you’re old!

First Hike Of The Year

Which brings me to my first point. Yesterday was the first hike of the “season” and year for me. So I have been languishing in the gym on hiking days for five months. Of course I am trying to strengthen all the muscles I use for hiking during that time. I think it works a little.

Working a little is just not enough to compensate for the grueling ordeal that is the first hike of the the season. The tendons in the back of my knees hurt. Yes, my quads hurt. I have a planters wart on the bottom of my foot and that hurts. Have neuropathy and that hurts. Did I mention it was cold with snow and ice?

Mountain As Obstacle

Getting up to the top and down the mountain the first time in months is a challenge. The mountain is an obstacle, but “OMMS.” OMMS? Yes, “obstacles make me stronger.” That is the mantra you need to ingrain in your brain over and over again.

In fact getting out into the 34 degree weather at the trailhead, knowing that to gets colder as you climb is also an obstacle. A mental obstacle, but an obstacle nevertheless.

Adventure Happens

I dropped one of my Microspikes. It was two hours before sunrise so a little on the dark side. Even with my dim headlamp I couldn’t find it. I climbed back down the mountain. Still no micro spike. Then someone coming up the trail behind me found it. Adventure!

That meant I could continue on up the mountain, but it slowed me down a lot. No record time yesterday. But losing one of my micro spikes has made me stronger. How so? I decided to super glue the broken pack strap so it doesn’t happen again.

Cramps

When I spend 4-5 hours on a mountain I need salt pills to keep me from getting cramps. Yesterday, I forgot the salt pills. So guess what? I got cramps coming down. Cramps were an obstacle to a good hiking experience. And of course obstacles make me stronger.

How did I insure that would be the case? When I returned I immediately ordered some more salt pills and put them on my pre- hiking check list. You do have a check list don’t you?

Wrapping It up

The conclusion is that because obstacles like mountains, lost Microspikes and cramps make me stronger mentally, then climbing mountains certainly contributes to my inner game.

The photograph on this page is one I took yesterday morning. I hope it inspires you to Go Hiking!

Go Hiking! You Are Stronger Than You Think

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A friend introduced me to hiking. She and her boyfriend took me up a mountain called Mt Dickerman. I was somewhere in my late forties I think. Remember not thinking I could get up the mountain. I was pretty heavy back then.

However, with determination and grit I made it to the top and ever since have been hitting those mountains every week seven months of the year.

Body vs Mind

The fact is you are stronger than you think. Your body will tell you that you are done, but the fact is you have twenty times more left in you. Your body is just confused and you have to let your mind control it.

Navy Seals will tel you the is one of the things they learned in BUDs. You can always do far more than you think you can.

Sitting On The Couch

I have people tell me that they climbed such and such a mountain and when I asked them when they say back when they were in their 20s. Now they sit on the couch and talk about what they used to do.

If you are in your 60s or 70s get out into the mountains at least twice a month. You can start with an easy hike and work your way up. Sitting on the couch just doesn’t cut it. You are stronger than you think.

Make the Decision

If you are heavier than you want to be and your medical numbers are not what they should be then get yourself out on the trail. It is the best exercise you will ever get. However, the number one thing that will get you there is making a decision.

Once you make the decision you cut off the couch and all it represents. You become s hiker! Maybe you will become a mountaineer or a trail runner. But the is the future. For now jut make that first decision and get off the couch!