Wharton Journal

Issue date: 4/2/07 Section: News

11.34pm. The snow pebbles sliding gently down the mountain almost sounded like water flowing through a forest brook. For a brief moment I was back on the beach like many other spring breakers, relaxing and listening to the water. Suddenly my peaceful image was broken by the harsh sound of crampons (boots with spikes on the bottom) digging into hard snow; I opened my eyes and forced myself 17,000 feet back to reality.

It was almost midnight. I was standing on a steep, dark white glacier, my ice axe planted in the ground for support. Through shadowy gaps in the thick cumulus clouds below, I stared at the vast plains of Ecuador and farther, the faint lights of a sleeping Quito. On my left, another 2,500 vertical feet above and eerily lit by the light-blue equatorial moon, was the snow-capped summit of Mt. Cotopaxi. The sky was clear tonight and Chris Warner, the legendary mountaineer of Everest and K2 fame who founded EarthTreks and personally led our expedition, announced that the weather was perfect for the climb.

I looked down the icy path that zigzagged up the mountain; a dozen bright spots snaked up slowly like a lost constellation reaching for the dense bed of stars overhead. They were the headlamps of the ten other members of my Wharton Leadership Venture group. A lot had happened over the five days leading to this moment, and I silently thanked my team for making the choices that kept us together. Extreme situations call for a different form of teamwork and dedication; the last few days convinced me that for a team to maximize its success. It's not enough that members can articulate, understand, and fully buy into the team goal; they must subjugate themselves to the team's goal over their own and incorporate the goal in everything they do.

My thoughts wandered to our goal: "100% Summit and Back". Just five days ago the eleven of us met in Quito and decided this would be our objective for the week. It was a self-selected group ripe with marathon runners, triathletes, and experienced mountain climbers (and a few like me, who were new to the very idea of physical exertion and hoped that the weeks of running up the stairs of Franklin Field and the Claridge were worth something). Though the goal was easy to agree on (since everyone's personal goal was to reach the summit), we discussed its validity when Chris pointed out that no Wharton group had ever placed 100% of its members on the summit. Is it reasonable to have a goal which is seemingly unattainable? How will different individuals react to this?

Continued...

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