Badger Creek Überblick Day 1 Part 2

Thursday 22nd
After lunch we went upstairs in the "L.C." and we went over more things about what to expect with this retreat. We learned that there was going to be an activity then a discussion about what we learned and how it might relate to business. (by the way, we were supposed to have read Good To Great Chapter 1-3 by the time we got there. We didn't even mention it once. Alright, we did once but it was in reference to an activity, we didn't have a quiz or anything at all. The only thing I can think of that we needed from it was the "Level 5 Leaders" thing and not even that.)
Before we could get going on our activities, we had to build sleds which would be used for activities and for carrying our gear up a long hill. This is the making process and then a picture of a finished product. These were 5 years old and had been made and then taken down each year. Only for the winter, so it's not that bad. But you could almost tell which screw hole came from what year. A tip on how to accomplish this task is to have your team pick a diagram reader. Identify each piece and have two people working on each side and one working on the middle pieces. It will run smooth. Make sure each person knows their job. (this would have been easier if you had a cordless mini drill... I'm just saying)

12:30 p.m. 1st and 2nd Team rotations and processing
Our first stop on our wilderness survival camp out was with Brother Wescott. He showed us these nifty things. The device is used by groups of people on avalanche areas. If one person goes missing, the rest turn their devices to search and they should be able to find other transmitting device. There are some problems. The device transmits in a butterfly pattern and not in a radius. So you can easily be thrown off course. The trick is to follow the numbers and not really the arrows. Here's a picture of Jonathan Sarlo and Rachel Huey searching for the hidden transmitter. Also in our time here, we played with a rope trick. Nope, I'm not telling you how to do it, but I will tell you this... You don't need to contort yourselves.
Next section was another duo set of games lead by Brother Clark.
Prison Wall:
You have to get everyone up and over this wall. We tried a few times. One of these pictures is of Jonathan trying to jump up as the last person and failing. We couldn't speak while the game was going on, but we could when not and revise our plans. We finally figured out a great strategy that got us everyone in a record time. Now I don't mind the time thing, but we started a trend in our company that I didn't like much. We rushed into things too quickly. I understand that if you fail fail fast and learn from it. But as an entrepreneur, I learned that we don't take risk, we manage it. It's not my style to "Ready, shoot, aim!" We did this with almost every activity.
Life Raft:
Here we were to swing on a rope over a little bit of ground "freezing river" and land on the raft. All 17 of us were to fit on the wooden area "raft" to survive. "No child left behind" So we tried again and again and failed. I came up with a plan that failed even worse (getting on shoulders does not help... it hurts). I think one thing that did help is that we started to get hot and some of us started to shed layers. 15 people on that thing in full winter garb was tough, 17 with a little less worked barely. Here's a picture from inside the group and one from Brother Clark's POV. No Electronics my patootie!

3:00 p.m. 3rd and 4th Team rotations and processing
John Colter's Run:
I only have one picture of this. The other got warped by tilting the camera too quick, but Here we heard a quaint story of running that hardly had anything to do with what needed to be done. Then the race began. This section will be completely blank as to details because it is best left a secret. I'll tell you this in warning, "running, fire, listen to directions carefully". Plus a shout out goes to Gabby for... well she knows! Hey if I told you, that would be cheating.

Power Pole:
Are you scared of heights? Do you hate falling? Then this is for you. Oh wait. NOT for you. Actually I take it back. This might help you get over it. Here we got strapped up and climbed a tall pole and jumped off trying to hit a tennis ball about 5 feet in front of us. Not all of us did it. I did it, but I couldn't say it was a stretch for me. I'd been cliff jumping and other things to realize, the gear is good and I'm not afraid. But I was afraid. I found a new fear. A fear that grips me in my daily life. The fear that it will end too soon. I climbed up the pole, much like the pictures of Stephen here. I got to the top and turned around and at that point I found myself scared. Not of falling, but falling too soon. What if I fall and I don't get to jump? What if I lose my footing and end it now? I hated the thoughts. I did get up there and stood tall and yelled, "Oh Captain, my Captain!" To me it was a moving moment, but many younger than me would not get the reference. I was touched by the movie "Dead Poet's Society" to live life. Here's the ending sequence of the movie. Rent it!
6:00 p.m. Dinner
After running in the John Colter's Run and jumping off a tall pole we were not ready to experience our trip to the top. We got our gear from the cars and ventured up the hill. It was dark and the path unlit. It was tough to pushing a sled up a hill for an unknown amount of time. There could be some real nice symbolism, but I'll let you draw that. We finally made it up to the camping area. There were a couple of regular tents, one huge tent and a yert. Did he say "yert" I believe I did. I'll show you later the picture. We had dinner, talked for a bit, but everyone seemed to be too tired to really do anything else. I went to bed, but had a tough time getting to sleep. My body was tired, but mind full awake. Plus it didn't help that a couple of guys were talking about farts for most of the night.
And that's where I'll leave you... till morning!