Why LHO Doesn’t Boast Summit Records and Neither Should You

“There is a minimum standard that should enable a team member to ascend and abort safely. But to turn someone around because it may hurt the summit record runs contrary to what a community based on transformative experiences is all about.”

Today it seems like every other community is trying to one up everyone else and an easy way to do it is to boast about the so-called summit record. Basically, it’s the number of members who have successfully summited a particular expedition. Here are the reasons to beware of the “summit record.”

SCREENING PROCESS
Ever wondered why the top schools always get the top results in standardized tests? It isn’t because they teach their students any better or differently. It’s because they drop the weak students before they reach the test years in order to keep the school average up. Operators on mountains like Kilimanjaro are no different. We’ve heard horror stories like being turned away because of not being able to do a prerequisite number of burpees. There is a minimum standard that should enable a team member to ascend and abort safely. But to turn someone around because it may hurt the summit record runs contrary to what a community based on transformative experiences is all about.

PUTTING THE SUMMIT ABOVE THE EXPERIENCE IS A NON-STARTER
The summit is only the culmination of every experience on the way to the top. Not everyone can and will experience the physical summit but everyone has their own summit.

“A life changing experience does not need to be everyone’s life changing experience for it to be as profound to the individual who seeks it. Setting up the physical “summit” as the goal of the expedition undermines the reason people go to the mountains.”

A life changing experience does not need to be everyone’s life changing experience for it to be as profound to the individual who seeks it. Setting up the physical “summit” as the goal of the expedition undermines the reason people go to the mountains.

IT SETS THE TEAM MEMBERS UP FOR INTERNAL COMPETITION
On the way to Machu Picchu our team came across a guy named Andy who we’d passed several times on the trail over the past couple of days. On the day, his team had left him in their race to reach the next camp because, well, that’s just what they did. Tired, a little nervous and clearly having been alone for some time by this point, he joined us as we slowly made our way to the camp. He kept telling us to go on without him and that he was holding us up. The team’s instant response was that the camp wasn’t going anywhere and dinner wasn’t for a while so we were in no particular rush. You can copy and paste this story across pretty much any trail we’ve ever done.

Life Happens Outdoors is a community that is built firmly on the idea of, well, community. The first can be the last and the last can be the first as we say on Kilimanjaro. So let’s enjoy the hills together because they’re there and leave grandiose titles for Game of Thrones.