One rung at a time

By Peter Bradley -- Logistics Management, 11/1/1999

Expeditions that set out to climb Mount Everest begin planning the logistics of the operation three or more years in advance. That's three years in advance to deliver one or two climbers--a few more in the most ideal circumstances--to the world's highest summit within a narrow window of a few days.

Logistics managers understand how difficult it can be to meet a customer's tight delivery window even in the most ideal conditions. But most of those challenges pale in complexity to arranging for many people and several tons of equipment to reach Everest base camp on schedule. The climbers face enormous difficulties and dangers during their weeks on the mountain. Their courage and fortitude inspire enormous respect from those of us back at sea level--as well as wonder at what many consider their lunacy.

It's the awe we all hold for extraordinary accomplishment, I suspect, that led the Council of Logistics Management to invite Canadian climber Jamie Clarke to speak during its annual conference last month in Toronto. Clarke proved to be an entertaining and often humorous speaker as he described his several expeditions to Everest. I found one image in his talk particularly compelling:

In order to ascend Everest from its south side, climbers must repeatedly cross an area called the Khumbu ice field as they prepare camps higher on the mountain and become acclimated to the thin air at high altitude. The ice field is an enormous glacier composed of ice blocks the size of houses and office buildings. It is also split by deep and deadly crevasses. The climbers cross the crevasses on aluminum ladders, lashed together by ropes and laid across the gaps. In mountaineering boots and crampons, the climber moves from one rung to the next across each crevasse. He has to watch his step, quite literally, concentrating on placing each foot on the next rung, all the while ignoring the gaping hole below. But each successful step, Clarke reminded the audience, is linked to the thousands that came before and is a step closer to the goal.

Clarke declared that one of the essential characteristics of climbers on a major mountaineering expedition is the ability to "focus, focus, focus." Focus not just on the next rung, with life in the balance, but on each of the thousands of tasks that lead up to the day when a team attempts the summit. Then, if the weather and Chomolungma, the spirit of Everest in Sherpa lore, are with the team, a fortunate few may stand at the top of the world.

"Focus." That's not a bad reminder for logistics managers or anyone who finds it hard to concentrate on one thing when a hundred things demand attention. I'm going to have a sign made up and hang it in my office. It summarizes well, I think, the way to approach each day. It will read: "One rung at a time."