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Good morning! I'm Dimitris Kokoris.
A Cannibal by profession
and a person who tries to do things that I love in life.
I can recall of certain difficult situations during rock climbing,
finding myself at 100 meters high above the ground,
literally hanging by one arm thinking,
'I’m scared!'
'Can I make it?'
'Have I got what it takes?'
'What if I don’t make it?'
'What if I fall?'
I can bring in mind numerous such moments in my life
when I was thinking the exact same thing!
'I’m scared!'
'What if I don’t make it?'
'What if I fail?'
Those of you who know what I mean by that please, raise your hand!
Thank you!
Well, such moments
I always think of the steady voice of my rope-mate,
'Theodore, I’m on the edge! Safe?'
'Belay on! Belay on!'
'Climbing!'
'I’m locking! Climb on!'
Theodore Papagiannis, a friend and a rope-mate,
is a man who started from Law school
but his adrenaline and adventure rush
has led him to the 5 continents of the planet!
Mountaineering,
paddling down rivers
and crossing seas.
Ever since then,
Theodore Papagiannis has turned his passion into a profession
motivating people to find out
the real power within them.
'I’m locking, Theodore, are you coming?'
'I’m coming! Pay attention!'
'Come on! Don’t let go!'
'Let’s go! Let’s go! Well done!'
'We’ve made it!'
'Yes!'
Good morning!
For a Cannibal to lock you it’s a dangerous thing!
You know what happens in case you fall!
A long time ago I wanted to break away from
what my parents had planned for me.
That wasn’t the easiest thing to do
not even, I want to believe, the easiest thing for them.
But the jump led me to a different world.
And what I am about to tell you today
it’s a small, big story.
It’s a story about the conquering of a mountain
on the other corner of the world
as a symbolism of the attempt
to conquer my own self.
To gain my self-confidence.
'How to build up your confidence though hobbies?'
You will argue,
'How dare you coming to us
right in the middle of such crisis to talk about hobbies!'
'We are falling apart!'
'Do we have to bother about hobbies?'
Carol (Talbot) put it nicely a little earlier;
perhaps now it’s the chance
and maybe the ability to occupy ourselves with something
we love will help us believe in ourselves
and fight against the high mountain out there.
So, here’s the story.
It’s been 12-13 years now that the story begun,
back when we used to carry the backpacks like this and not like this
and a group of young and not so young people
decided to do something which for the Greek standards
was impossible to imagine.
To climb up a mountain, the highest
in the Antarctica.
Does everybody know where the Antarctica is?
On the other corner of the planet!
Neither had we imagined how far it was!
On the map, back in the office,
you just sit and say, you unfold it and say,
'We are here! We’ll go there!'
'Ah! That’s great! What do we need?'
'Draw a pencil line!'
It wasn’t quite that simple
and we’ll talk about that while we’re moving on.
A great number of things were needed
in order to reach that place.
In your hands there is one of them.
Do you know what that is?
The money we needed to get there!
What do we have?
We are not holding a fundraising!
But what is there in your hands?
You have on page, I don’t remember, 9,
there’s a short exercise 96 00:05:02 -> 00:05:06 which asks you to do 2 things.
Is everyone on page 9?
Write down
7 things of which you are proud of,
I repeat, 7,
and 3 things that you are afraid of.
We want you to present us
with the good traits of yourself…
eh… let’s put 2 more
so as to get the whole picture 106 00:05:34--> 00:05:36 so that the sponsors will trust us
and open their wallets up for us!
We did the exact same thing once
so as to persuade all those who weren’t involved
to tell us,‘There is money to give to you!’
So, here is what we would like.
Within the next 3 minutes
write 7 things of which you are proud of.
'I am proud because I am a great cook!'
'I am proud about my well-mannered cat!'
'I am proud of…'
Or what you are afraid of.
'I am afraid of cockroaches!'
'I am afraid of darkness!'
'I am afraid of loneliness!'
3 minutes for you to write them down.
And then I’ll let you know what we are doing next.
Don’t start with the things you are afraid of!
Try to use short words.
Do not copy from one another, please!
One minute.
Are you ready?
Any of you ready?
One more minute so that everybody will be ready.
Those of you who are ready raise your hand.
Come on! Come on!
Here’s what we’ll do.
You will take 2 minutes
so as to stand up with your booklets in hand and your pens, pencils
and you’ll walk around in the room and ask people to sign!
This is how money comes!
I ask people to sign below my beliefs
and some of them will open their wallets up!
So, you will move around in the auditorium,
and you will look for people
with whom you share those things you are proud of
or your fears!
That is, to find common ground at all levels!
For each point in common you’ll sign
and will be getting a signature.
The aim now is to find out who, a man or a woman,
will have collected the greatest number of signatures in 1.5 minutes.
I’ll let you know about the prize you will be getting later;
wouldn’t want to scare you right now!
Are you ready?
Has everyone written something?
A lot of things that you are proud of?
Time starts now, 1.5 minutes.
Stand up, not only with the person sitting next to you,
and start asking people to sign for you.
Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go! Stand up!
Change positions…
If anyone is afraid that someone might take his car keys,
he can give them to me!
We only accept keys of expensive cars!
Let’s go!
Not to take some Zastava!
Yes, yes… wherever there are points in common or similar ones.
Similar fears…
(The girls must be at the back.)
(You can go to the girls back there, if you want, and they will give you.)
Move on fast! Time is running out!
Let’s go! Let’s go!
Those of you who may be shy
won’t get the prize that is there for you.
Of course, you may not want it!
Let’s go!
45 seconds!
Here up in front, ladies, gentlemen,
it’s also interesting!
And those of you in front go at the back!
20 seconds!
10…
9…
8…
7…
6…
5…
4…
3…
2…
1…
time’s up!
Time’s up!
Time’s up! Time’s up!
And you don’t even know what the prize will be!
Time’s up!
Sit down, sit down if you please
to have a look at the signatures.
There wasn’t enough time for me to show everybody…
Sit down, sit down there at the back as well…
Now, you have to be honest, all right?
Don’t present me with different numbers!
I would like those with
2 signatures on your page to raise your hands.
Yes, as a total, as a total…
2 signatures.
All right!
How many of you have 3 signatures?
For the full list, likes and dislikes…
for all 7 points.
Yes, per like.
For all of them. All of them, all right?
I assume some people have signed somewhere
under one of your statements.
How many of you have 5 signatures?
It feels as if I’m trying to sell whole lambs here!
Yes!
7?
I would really like to know
how you have managed to get 7 signatures in 1.5 minutes!
7, let me see your hands, 7!
9 signatures?
You’ve got to be kidding!
Is your hand still raised by force of habit?
Or is it true, 9 signatures?
Please stand up!
Give her a big hand! Stand up! Stand up!
9 signatures, 9 signatures in 1.5 minutes!
It took 4.5 years for us to make it!
My dear, your prize is
a year round subscription with the Climbing Club of Helioupolis
and guaranteed torture in things
that you haven’t even imagined exist!
I would like you to give me your name later…
You want… Ah! You’ve got 11!
I’m sorry!
Is there anyone with more than 9?
Everybody wants to be tortured, don’t you?
Well, there’s room for all of you in the Climbing Club!
We are torture specialists!
You know, going out there in public
and exposing yourself like that
is not a simple thing to do.
As regards to finding promoters so as to go to the mountain,
you need to present them with something.
Just some aim means nothing to them.
They can see and understand about the aim.
It’s a challenging one.
What they are looking for is:
Have you got what it takes?
Or will I waste it, the money that is.
What you have to prove here is that you have got something.
And let’s see what we had got…
The adventure…
The adventure started from the office
and was completed 4 years later.
When I talk about adventure
what does this bring you in mind?
Effort, preparation…
danger…
unknown…
Joy?
Never experienced that one!
Risk, danger,
blood, slaughter, jungles…
could be…could be.
Satisfaction…
enthusiasm…
I’ll make use of a term often used in my field:
that adventure is a condition of the brain.
Adventure is something during which
you don’t know what will happen.
And, for better or worse,
in everybody’s mind levels of adventure are distinct.
Adventure is subjective.
Things that make me feel scared
won’t scare anyone else.
Things that make me feel worried
maybe someone else experiences them by 10 times more.
Adventure is here.
Hobbies are an adventure.
Someone perhaps will ask,
'Does embroidery counts for as much as climbing?'
Ask me to do some needlework, and you’ll find out!
Adventure is everywhere.
What I’ll do and how it will develop
lies in here.
'Can I do it?'
'Have I got what it takes?'
'Is there any possibility that I’ll fail?'
'Am I capable of doing anything?'
Don’t you let anyone though,
tell you that what you are about to do
is not an adventure.
'What’s the big deal?'
'Embroidery!'
I doubt if everyone can come up
with such fine results one can get!
Yes, embroidery!
Yes, whatever!
We are used to calling ‘hobby’
only the extreme or outdoor activities
that we’ll be watching today.
But actually,
'hobby' is whatever helps us feel free.
Will it be painting,
will it be eating gourmet dishes…
this is hobby, too, for crying out loud!
If you know how to choose the food you eat
and the reasons why you eat it
or what you drink…
I cannot do that…
that counts for something!
Whatever that is
that helps you bring your real self out is a hobby.
It’s something that makes you follow a path,
trail,
of conquering self-confidence.
But let me have the narrator tell us
a few things about the adventure and I’ll be back.
The narrator is a little late!
(Some volume please)
(So that we can listen!)
(Is it possible to play it again?)
This is the demon of technology, no more printing…
While trying to make it work,
the adventure in our case was a very unique case.
The Antarctica is the most inaccessible part on the planet.
To be exact,
it is a Moon situated at the south part of the Earth.
Wanting to climb up the highest mountain of the Antarctica
was beyond any challenge in Greek reality.
The way to go there is difficult.
You either board an icebreaker which takes 6 months to get there,
if it gets there,
or you board a plane, if you can find it,
because no pilot takes the risk
to fly down to South Pole and,
other than that the…
Ah! Finally it’s working!
No Greek explorer or mountaineer
has ever reached the highest summit of the Antarctica.
The 5th largest in size continent of the Earth.
Antarctica. 5.5 million square miles of solid ice.
Antarctica. Temperatures reach -80° degrees C.
Antarctica. Uninhabited and inhospitable to all forms of life.
Antarctica. Aiming at the highest summit
Vinson Massif- 5,140 meters.
Antarctica. 1st Greek mountain climbing expedition.
The problem…
I don’t know if you are familiar with heights,
there is a zone at 6000 meters which is called ‘death zone’.
If you go over this zone really fast
you can suffer from high altitude pulmonary edema
and high altitude cerebral edema
an then your friends will have to carry you back down!
Airplanes, for example,
compress the cabin so as to fly up there.
Or else you can’t do it.
At the South Pole the mountain target,
Vinson Massif,
is 5130 meters high
but its geographical position in the south
where oxygen layer is thinner compared to the rest of the globe,
feels as climbing a 6000 meters high mountain.
Not to mention the cold!
As mountain climbers
we were used to cold since there was some experience,
not among each and every one as we’ll see,
but we were used to it.
We were the same as at that joke
in which a climber dies,
goes to Heaven
and St. Peter shows him around.
The climber, that innocent man…
So, he tells him,
'Well, this is Heaven, green and cool!'
'St. Peter' the man asks,
'Is there any place warmer than that?'
He then asks, 'Why is that, my child?'
'40 years spent on the mountains,
I am frozen stiff!' the climber replies.
Then he says,'What can I tell you my child.
The only place there is is Hell where it’s warmer.'
So, Devil takes him to show him around.
'Here are the tar urns, here is that…'
'No, I don’t like it. It’s not that warm!'
Finally, they come across an oven.
'Well, this is the hottest place there is here in Hell!'
The climber gets inside,
moves deeper inside and stays there.
Devil tells him, 'Come on! I have to go! I’m busy!'
'You can go now, leave me here and come pick me up later.'
Devil leaves, indeed,
but he remembers about him in a week, he has forgotten all about him.
'I’ve left the climber in the oven!'
So, he goes there, opens the door
and a voice is then heard saying,
'Close the door!'
In our case cold was terrible!
Nobody had ever realized
how low the temperature could drop in Antarctica.
-80° C is a great number to look at
but it’s terrible to sense!
Suitable gear was needed so that the operation could come true.
Clothing that could bare,
we call them isotherm clothing,
-20°C, -30°C
that is boots, clothes, gloves, cups
which if someone puts them on at 0°C
he would feel like boiling,
so as to protect ourselves.
How to carry our gear...
For such an expedition which
would last about 40 days
we had to carry 1.5 tons of equipment.
Divided by 6 that we would totally be,
you can do the math!
All that stuff had to leave from Greece,
be carried to Antarctica
and reach up to the mountain’s foot.
An enormous mission on its very own.
And the last issue:
who would be the ones
to make that tremendous, amazing operation happen?
At that point there was a significant difficulty.
Some were old and experienced mountaineers.
Some others, like me so many years ago,
new climbers but experienced enough.
The choice was made the same way you just did here.
Who can come up
in front and talk about the things he wants?
By naming them.
Following this concept, more or less,
the entire procedure could work
and it went through several tests on several mountains, of course,
so as to form this team.
But, does this ring a bell?
How easy is it to believe in you?
'Do I fall short?'
'Could it be that it is inaccessible?'
'Could it be that it is too high?'
'Can I climb it up?'
'How will I climb it up?'
'I cannot even realize what is going on around me!'
Maybe…
'Have I got what it takes?'
'Have I got what it takes?'
Adventure!
We worked, we struggled,
it took us 4.5 years,
we prepared ourselves
and we took off from Helliniko airport back then…
no…yes…not sure I can remember…
with the necessary press conference and the like.
Can I ask a question?
If you would want to put in order,
back then my wife was also present,
my mother who never wanted me to go to the mountains,
if you would want to rank these 4 points:
my work,
myself,
family,
friends
what would be that rank?
Speak up, yes…
Fine! Anyone else?
I like you, you remind me of my father
only he would set work first!
There is this philosophy,
or if you would prefer
a sense of guilt having to do with the whole issue,
regarding what my priorities in life are.
For some older people and a lot of people today
the issue of putting oneself on the top of the list
is a shameful thing to do.
Only the bad thing is,
my grandmother used to have this proverb,
'How to share a pie in pieces when you don’t have one?'
Meaning that if the baking dish is empty,
no one will have a piece!
It’s not a bad thing to do.
Maybe a right way to put it,
maybe,
would be me myself,
which I heard coming from you and was glad to,
family,
work, friends…
friends, work…in whatever order you prefer.
If you don’t have a family, put your friends.
'Why?' someone might ask.
But, if I cannot make peace with myself,
how will I manage at work?
And how will I manage with my friends or my family?
Such question had always been on my mind.
Setting off on a climbing expedition
it is the most basic question.
'How will you be leaving your family
and where are you heading for?'
'Well, don’t you have a job to do?'
Your friends would say,
'There! On holidays once again!
'Make sure you’ll come back!'
Unfortunately, for better or worse,
taking up a hobby requires
to be interested in listening to the voice deep within
and the rest will follow.
The next thing to happen was to get together, of course,
we are at the airport,
we prepare ourselves in Patagonia
and at the back of our head the question insists:
'Can I make it?'
'Isn’t it too far?'
'Isn’t it too difficult?'
Aldus Huxley wrote once that,
'Experience is not the incident that has happened to us
but our reaction to the incident itself
as a thought or action.'
What did he mean by that?
That what I experience in life is a whole lot different
compared to what the guy next to me experiences
and what we have to do
is to express what scares me,
the things that I’m proud of,
the things that I’m afraid of
so as to be able
to create some relation with someone else.
We’ll see later on how this is possibly related.
While trekking in Patagonia
we had the chance to see this amazing bird, condor,
which was flying very close to us;
it must have taken us for carcasses,
that fast we were moving during our training!
It was an incredible bird
of a size hard to imagine.
And the reason behind placing it in this slide
is because I consider
that we all are such impressive, strong birds.
What does it take to get there?
To develop?
It takes the challenge and the support.
It’s a very simple equation
but with some tricks involved.
Well, challenge.
I previously mentioned that adventure cannot be defined
neither by me nor by anyone else.
It is what I feel and it has to do with our personal mood.
Therefore, challenge is whatever I make myself do
that puts me out, takes me out of the comfort zone.
But there is also support
and that was these guys, the rope-mates,
the Cannibal, Dimitris, the person who is attached to you with a rope.
The person who keeps an eye on you
so that you won’t fall while climbing up a mountain
and in case you do fall to stop right there, fall no further.
He is also the person who in case
he wakes up feeling a little sluggish in the tent in the morning,
believe me when I say it can happen as often as not,
and you tell him, ‘Let’s climb up to the top!’
he may then reply, ‘Forget it! I don’t feel like it today!’
And then you say, ‘Tomorrow it won’t be possible.’
'Our time is up!'
'I can’t! I don’t want to!'
Then the question is: will you go up there by yourself?
Will you be getting back?
The rope-mate is,
the way I call it, the key to your success.
Or your failure.
And this can be defined
only if you agree with him on what you both want to do.
Things in such case for better or worse, are clear.
There is a rope that helps you
either to climb up a mountain or not.
Are there any ropes in our personal life?
Unfortunately, there are.
And we are bound by them one way or another.
It’s a whole different thing if we want to consider them or not.
Well, rope-mates.
Challenge yourself and draw more people to it
or get yourselves a hobby
that will involve more than one person
who will be there for you.
This is the advice of the day;
we are about to see more of it later on.
So, we set off.
We board a huge, noisy plane,
the only plane that flies to Antarctica
which belongs to an English company
which charged back then, 1999,
can you guess the amount?
25 million drachmas per person!
25 million drachmas!
Why?
Because there is no other means of transport to get you down there,
and this can be achieved only through a special request,
and since they were the only ones they took full advantage of it.
Totally, the budget, because I haven’t mentioned it
was 70 million drachmas per person back then!
And Nikos Lycos undertook it;
I owe to thank him deeply for that,
because he believed in what we wanted to do.
So, we set off, we board the plane, a C130 military plane,
no luxury, here, have a look, this is 1st class,
this is what costs 25 million drachmas.
A bare plane where we sit the best way we can
and at the back,
somewhere over there,
a curtain can be seen.
Do you know what this curtain is?
Actually, this is a photo of our flight back from the Antarctica.
Behind this curtain,
the barrels with human waste in Antarctica are placed.
Due to Antarctica’s nature,
because it is too cold, whatever your body produces
is bound to stay there for millions of years!
So, you are not allowed to leave anything back to Antarctica
therefore take everything back with you!
So, behind these curtains there were the barrels
filled with all that people leave behind!
Both in liquid and solid form!
During the flight back from Antarctica which lasts about 8 hours,
all that starts melting,
there’s no such problem while you are in Antarctica,
but in there they start melting.
So, there’s also a strong eau de toilette smell on board!
But…
isn’t it the same as with anyone of us?
How many things each one carries within himself?
However,
our aim is to fly!
To leave,
head for our destination!
Place a curtain the same way the nice NIS people did
and there’s your solution…
maybe…
The plane lands.
We arrive in Antarctica, landing on a blue runway of ice,
the only one in the entire Antarctica,
and it lands using its wheels.
You wouldn’t wish for such experience!
I’ve done a lot of things in my life
but being on a plane doing several maneuvers while landing…
never had such experience before!
Anyway, it touches down…
eh…the engine still on.
Someone comes out and says,
‘Welcome! Here’s Antarctica! You can come out…’
The plane’s engine still on…
‘Why is the engine on?’
‘We cannot switch the engine off because if we do it will freeze instantly,
and if we don’t manage to start it up again
we’ll have to spend the entire winter here
and that’s something we wouldn’t like to happen!’
That was the first ‘good morning’ in Antarctica!
‘Ah! That’s great! Thank you very much!’ we replied.
So, we step out; the weather is marvelous, around -10°C,
no winds, amazing.
What was the first thing to happen?
Upon reaching your destination,
after having tried for so many years,
having been dead on your feet walking and having gone through
all that was needed so as to become attached to the rest of the team,
you wouldn’t wish for a full description of what was actually happening,
we saw the mountain.
Once we did, and this happens every time,
you stare at it and then say,
‘Haven’t I been far from home long enough?’
The first thing to cross your mind is to go back!
You have done all that and then say,
‘I want to leave! Can I leave?’
And then the rope-mates say, the more skilled and experienced ones,
‘Stay put and you’ll see! Just wait!’
Stick around and you’ll see! Things are about to change!’
Let’s see what Nikos Lycos said upon reaching.
(Will it work now?)
(Not in the mood!)
‘Reaching by plane and looking at the first views
you get the impression that you are about to land on some other planet.
Finally, while landing we noticed that it was indeed some other planet
on which infinity is not some familiar sea
but a sea of snow and ice instead.
It is a unique experience!’
Antarctica was indeed a whole different place.
Terrifying!
For Nikos Lycos being a yachtsman, seemed like and ocean
since he had been in the Pacific, too, some years ago.
You feel so small, so lonely.
And the truth is that since the land there where the mountain is
is flat, you can find yourself being lost in just an hour’s walk.
And, I don’t know if you are familiar with it,
no compass functions there, since we were so close to the Pole,
therefore, generally, if you are not able to find your way,
you’re finished!
Do you want me to describe the -30°C there was?
Anything accidentally left exposed would freeze within seconds.
The conditions, in general, are difficult.
But after having set up our small houses, those you can see there,
they are more that small and yellow,
they are really expensive
and aim at keeping you alive in conditions like that!
We also take the gear out
in which case it’s the clothes I told you about previously,
also food which is actually space food, dry food
because you want to carry the least weight, just how Knorr soups are.
Imagine this kind of thing which you eat for 40 days
and then get back having this terrific taste in your mouth
and which only requires boiled water to prepare.
But you cannot boil any water unless you take gas along or,
in our case, oil.
And precisely because oxygen levels are low over there,
water boils at 70°C,
at 68° to be exact which means that
it is not as hot as it takes for the food to be ready
and so on, and so on, and so on…
But we put ourselves in a routine.
We had done such things before.
Set up a tent, fight against the weather conditions
and stay someplace that was the easy part.
‘Could I possibly make it?’
‘I am on familiar grounds.’
‘I have struggled for the same thing before.’
You can see the mountain on top; it rises threatening.
We try to summon energy up for the climb.
We melt 6 to 7 liters of snow for each one of us every day,
using these small camp stoves
which you take to pieces in the blink of an eye,
pack them up and leave.
Too much water, huge demand
and, of course, paying attention accordingly. 728 00:40:42,10 --> 00:42,90 For example,
while preparing tea having added sugar in it and stirring
I took the spoon out of the hot tea and thought,
‘Where should I put it?’ Never mind, I put it in my mouth.
The very move, taking the spoon out and placing it here,
the spoon stayed here!
Such wounds are not easily healed there.
You need to use your mouth and other parts of your body;
there is particular difficulty, you need to be very careful.
So, there is a lot of danger involved.
Let me give you a simple example.
You happened to forget to pull your zipper up
because you felt warm while walking.
If it freezes there you can’t pull it up again!
Whatever we discuss here and looks simple,
down there is more of a spatial attempt.
Here is where your skillful, more experienced friends show up to help you.
This is the view from hotel ‘The stars’!
It offers great sense of security, temperature -10°C inside the tents,
which is awesome when it is -40°C outside,
and also the possibility to take some warm sleep.
No matter how strange this might sound to you,
because we were sleeping on feather beds,
don’t know how many of you are able to do so,
we often do it, which is a nice feeling,
we sleep on the best feather beds in the whole planet!
Which helps you a lot so as to wake up full of energy.
The struggle begins.
This photo, by the way, is not from the Antarctica.
It is from Mount McKinley on the north part of the world,
but it clearly shows the load we were called upon to carry.
A 25 to 30 kilos backpack
and a sleigh bearing twice as much.
This will lead us to the foot of the mountain.
Does anyone know how to climb a mountain?
I get up and go climbing, am I right?
In case you do that, you will be dead in 2 hours!
A mountain can be climbed as follows:
we set off, we climb up to
1000-2000 meters height;
we leave our stuff there and go back.
We spend the night there.
We pick up some more stuff, go up at 1000 meters,
leave them and go back.
Why do that?
So as to give our body the opportunity to adjust.
We take the stuff from Camp 1, as it is called,
take them to Camp 2, another 1000 meters upwards.
Then go back again.
We go down to Base Camp.
We pick up some other stuff, then go to Camp 2.
We pick all stuff from Camp 1 and take them to Camp 2.
To cut a long story short, a 40km distance can turn to a 500km one!
And this is how it happens every time.
You cannot reach the summit right away.
To achieve self-knowledge while building up your self-confidence
cannot happen overnight.
Some effort is needed and one that will be taking you back
while you will be trying to pull it forth.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
Realism is what it takes.
I must believe that it is not simple
and you will also see that it isn’t easy either.
At such temperatures everything was getting cold
and that black thing you can see on top of the nose
is mainly for protection against the sun.
As if the cold is not enough, you need to care about the sun, too.
You can get sunburns
and then you need to find out how to fight the days to come.
We reach our tents
and start getting ready for the summit.
The route is long
but the trail is out there.
The route that you follow is what matters to me.
The top is worth the effort, too,
but the route you follow is worth everything!
Your effort, at least while on the mountain, is obvious.
We opened up road to reach there where we wanted to go.
Whatever you do for yourselves marks your path.
Not only for you but a path which others can also follow.
Do you know how this is called on the mountain?
Blaze a trail.
That is walk, ‘cutting’ the snow
so that the one following will not fall into it.
So the one that follows steps on smoother ground.
The last one walks here, on the floor!
Do it!
Your attempt to form yourselves
will bring more people to the same path!
Yes!
Finally, I like it!
I want to be there!
After 30 days, I want to be there!
And I want to do it!
Messner mentions someplace,
the greatest mountaineer ever for me
for the simplest reason that he has achieved stunning feats
but he has lived to be able to tell others!
Well, he has said,
‘Each and every bound I surpassed opened up new, wondrous horizons.’
What he has achieved is remarkable, not trivial!
Well, let’s see now how the ascent,
the final effort towards the summit begins.
The Antarctica does not hesitate into showing how it actually is.
The weather starts deteriorating.
Ominous clouds cover up the sky
and the wind blows stronger.
The wind is getting stronger and stronger
reaching up to 160km per hour
while visibility is limited to 1 meter.
An Antarctic storm has burst.
‘We got here yesterday after a 6 hour strenuous effort,
laden with 25 to 30 kilos heavy backpacks
after having surpassed the hardest part of the route,
an iced wall 800 meters high.
Unfortunately, today weather conditions have grown worse.
The temperature has dropped at -12°C inside the tents.
There is a 20 to 25km wind blowing outside
which makes the temperature much lower,around -32°C
and there is enough fog and low ceiling
so we have to stay inside the tents
keeping ourselves busy with Ancient Greek philosophies
and religious quests at all levels
hoping that the weather will soon improve
so as to make the final effort towards the summit.
Greetings!
Bye! Bye!’
After 4 days of bad weather with about 40cm snow
when the average snowfall levels in Antarctica are 2,5cm
the weather improves at night
and the expedition team decides on the final attempt to the summit.
At 12 midnight with bright sun
and a temperature of -30°C,
the team sets off for the difficult ascent towards Vinson Massif summit.
The main issue regarding this time of the day
is the significant temperature drop.
Antarctica has always been a symbol.
A place of extreme conditions demanding absolute respect
being the ideal scenery of heroic personage
and ultimate fellowship.
The gradient of the slope rises
until it reaches a rocky edge which leads to the summit.
The last meters preceding the summit
are covered in extremely slow pace.
Vinson Massif- Altitude 5,140 meters.
The Greek expedition team reaches the summit
after a 10 hour strenuous ascent.
The first Greek words,
the first Greek steps on the highest summit of Antarctica.
Antarctica has always been a symbol of human effort
and human partnership.
Greece has always been a pioneer in both fields.
I don’t know why that is
but each time
I climb up a summit I cry.
Is it perhaps because of the pressure of so many days,
years of effort?
Is it perhaps because
I find myself among the people who helped me get there?
However, it is a fact that each time I reach a summit
I realize, all of a sudden,
that there is another one at the back!
And that’s when you get itchy feet again!
The feeling you get once on the top is outstanding!
The feeling of ‘I’ve done it!’
‘I’ve made it!’
‘I’ve got what it takes!’
is beyond compare!
To me, it’s the culmination of an effort
which cannot be put into words.
For this effort,
Nikos Lycos suffered the loss of a finger
because of frostbites.
Each one of us might lose something during this effort.
I consider, though, that what we gain
counts for more.
Nikos Lycos was the last person on the camera,
the one who was laughing.
If you ask him today, he will reply,
‘Finger? What finger?’
What he brings in mind now is that he made it
to the top even without the experience the rest of us had.
And he fought for it,
really fought for it!
And for that he should be praised.
Being on the top means:
I can. I am adaptive.
I live.
I am self-confident.
I can put into practice that famous quotation:
there’s no such thing as ‘I can’t’;
there’s only ‘I don’t want’!
And this finally makes you believe in certain values
which help you by sharing them with friends
and succeed in doing
what people in the place where I come from in Epirus call
‘a fine networking’!
And in case networking
at social relations level means nothing to you,
it means a lot at professional level.
As Carol (Talbot) previously said,
‘Are you self-confident?’
‘I can tell!’
And I want to spend time with self-confident people
because they make me fly high;
they make me express my own self-confidence!
I would like to conclude…
can I conclude?…
I would like to conclude with a wish-prayer
as my beloved (Nikos) Kazantzakis called it.
(Nikos) Kazantzakis said,
‘Lord, I am a bow in your hands,
do not stretch me that much,
I’ll break.
Lord, I am a bow in your hands,
stretch me
but mind so that I won’t break.
Lord, I am a bow in your hands,
stretch me
and let me break.’
Your choice lies here.
The way?
Find a hobby yourselves that you like
and find the people you’ll be practicing it with.
And I think this will be the first step
so that one can climb up
the highest, the most inaccessible, the…the…the mountain.
Thank you very much!
A wish-A prayer
Questions?
Can you listen to me?
I would merely like to share with you
that my heart is pounding right now
and I feel especially numb
by only looking at these snapshots of the summit,
knowing how these moments up there might have been,
having experienced similar situations
but without having achieved what this team has achieved.
Congratulations live, right from this spot!
All the best to you, too, my friend!
Now is the time for questions.
If you would like to ask Theodore a question
following his exceptional speech…
Yes!
…now it’s the time!
What plan B was?
The question, for those of you who couldn’t listen to it,
is if there was support and guidance for this venture…
…and if any other team had climbed up there.
Other teams had climbed up the mountain in the past,
we were not the first ones
neither the ones who discovered the mountain.
Of course
what I am about to tell you applies every time.
I don’t know how easy it may look to watch others doing it.
When you go for it, the mountain is brand new, unspoiled
and you discover it each time you go there!
For better or worse it’s a new effort each time.
Once mountain and conditions change
it’s like starting all over again.
What plan B was?
I’d rather not talk about it, it’s scary!
Plan B is that from a point on
it’s not easy to get back!
So, it’s either you come back at the beginning
and not go for it at all
or you just go there aiming at the summit!
And I will put it as lightly as my rope-mate used to put it,
‘You either follow or I’ll come down there and smash your face in!’
Support!
For better or worse, what he said does sound strange
but out there it’s the only thing that makes you move forward.
Even the fact that the other person wants to climb up there,
he does want,
which is infectious!
You cannot make it any other way;
he will pull you by the rope, dragging you!
OK? Yes!
Take a microphone please.
In the center…
My name is Maliaris.
I am a Naval officer.
I will pose a question to you.
You talked about effort and partnership.
Yes.
You said, I don’t remember the exact words you used,
you said that it is a Greek attribute.
You indicated that they are Greek…
Yes, the narrator has put it here,
Golozis a good friend,
that trying and co-operating can be attributed to Greeks.
Regarding the effort part,
I am 40 years old.
People say, 40 years now,
that fools try, smart people split.
Of course, it’s no wonder how we have ended up
in a situation such as this one!
Nevertheless, even though we have been raised up to split
and that trying is not advisable,
I believe that an effort has been made,
effort towards a particular direction.
But the partnership part, on the other hand,
has troubled me a lot
and I think all of us are troubled.
I believe that we consider this to be
the most significant flaw of our race,
in case we believe that there is Greek race.
Lack of partnership ability.
And I am particularly interested to listen from you
how the Greeks,
who haven’t learned how to co-operate
and we consider it to be a bad thing to do,
since there is someone more clever than the rest
and we do not believe in team work,
how did you experience that
and how do you believe we can be infected
since everything is infectious, for sure.
Yes.
I did not describe previously at all
what had preceded
so that we would get close as team members.
Because what you say is totally correct
since one of the things we do not learn in Greece is about teamwork.
I can see that each time we work with a Greek company group
or with a group from abroad.
There is nothing that makes us different
other than the disposition
to declare what we believe and stand for it.
What do I mean by that?
One of my favorite hobbies
is dancing.
Do you know why?
And I often ask the executives we work with telling them,
‘Tonight you will stand up and dance as a team!’
‘Why are we doing that?’ I ask them.
And they reply,
‘Because you want to make a fool of us!’
No!
I only do it for a particular reason.
Dancing requires 2 things.
I am talking about group not solo dancing.
It requires that you should learn about the steps,
knowing what to do,
and it also requires, of course, going along with the others
and it needs you to show something out of these steps.
Pass a message through music.
It forces you to be exposed.
What we find hard to do as Greeks
is expose ourselves.
It’s what I asked you to do when we started.
Which, most of the times, makes us wonder,
‘Why should I show what I am proud of?’
‘Why should I show what I am afraid of?’
Up on the mountains this is an issue easily handled.
You climb up, tied up with a rope,
you are the first in line and say,
‘I am not afraid! It’s a piece of cake!’
That’s a fact!
There’s nowhere to hide up there!
Here, where the ground is leveled you can!
But the question is:
do you want to show who you are?
Once you do it the rest will follow you
and since you show all that you are
perhaps you’ll be able to say,
‘How about doing this together?’
and then they will follow you.
What is my suggestion?
Swim against the current!
Swim against the current!
This is why we say,
‘Since you love something whatever that is,
go ahead and try it!’
Maybe it will develop into your future professional
or personal occupation.
Go ahead and try the things you love
and do them regardless what people might say
that it’s not the right thing to do,
not the appropriate thing to do,
what do you want to do with it,
it’s a waste of time, it’s…it’s…it’s…
Go ahead and do it!
Does this answer your question at all?
Thank you, Theodore.
Yes.
One more question from the audience, please.
Yes, yes.
Just a minute. A microphone please.
Hello!
Yes. That’s fine. Thank you very much.
I am a discharged Greek Army officer.
My name is Popi Panagiotopoulou…
There are two of you in the auditorium!
…yes, and I am a Counselor of Internet business development.
I would like to ask you- there were 6 of you.
What about the team leader?
Was he nominated, was he chosen, was he the strongest of all,
the wisest, the most experienced, was he the most courageous,
did he change depending on the circumstances?
The first, second, third; how was he first appointed?
Yes, the first one was the man who had this vision,
the one that said once,
‘Well, there’s a mountain there in Antarctica!’
‘I will do it!’
So, he came forth and, like I said,
he called for some people and asked,
‘This is it,
it’s like this and that;
does anyone want to follow me?’ And believe me when I say,
that he did that in the most persistent way!
Not by knocking on doors
but by expressing how much he wanted to be there!
Mountaineering and, in our case, many other hobbies involve this.
They are so infectious!
When you watch someone playing backgammon passionately,
have you seen what happens in the traditional cafes?
20 people gather all around so as to express their opinion!
But you have to show it!
You have to dance to a particular rhythm!
Dance with it!
Dance with it!
It’s a whole lot different to follow dance steps up there
compared to expressing yourself through these steps!
Well, the team leader was chosen
because he believed more than the rest of us in the objective.
And not always the most suitable to take us to the top.
In our case, though, it happened,
and I point out that it happened
because it is not a usual thing to do on the mountain,
to be experienced, a fine mountaineer and a fine motivator.
That’s why he kept this position.
In other situations,
the team leader could be someone who might be stay at the back,
when I am talking about climbing,
and organize the ascent from down below.
There are heroic leading figures on the mountain
and a good team leader recognizes them
and let them, move ahead just like capable dogs,
like capable breed horses that you let loose to run a race.
Therefore, yes, it’s not always a matter of a decision taken
even though most of the times it is such a matter.
That I will set off to do this and I will end up doing that.
Thank you, Theodore.
Do I have your permission for one more question from Twitter
before moving on to a break?
Great!
There’s a very nice question on Twitter asking,
‘Has there been any moment of transcendence from any of the participants
in the workshops you organize that you would like to share with us?’
Yes.
During the workshops we organize there is this activity called ‘Spider’.
It is a netting with large holes from where people can pass through
and we ask members of the team to pass through,
to go from one side to the other without touching anywhere.
As you can guess people, people lift other people
passing them through continuously
so that they won’t touch the netting and take them to the other side.
The tension caused by all that to the teams,
the challenge is so great
that once there was someone who was sitting on a wheelchair,
a company executive who was a disabled person.
Suffering from a serious health condition; not able to walk at all.
But he so eagerly wanted
to take part in what the team was doing,
even though the doctor had told him ‘Forget about all that!’,
that he asked his team members to lift him up
and carry him through one such net hole.
I can’t bring in mind having witnessed any other such moving sight
of a person surpassing his actual limits
relying on the team’s strength.
The impression of it as a picture and a feeling was unique.
It is something that I keep in mind ever since then.
Thank you very much!
Thank you very much, too!
Congratulations once again!
All the best to you!
I’ll now let you conclude.
There will be a break right after Theodore concludes.
That’s right! Would you like me to inform about the break?
Great! I believe you can get time to catch your breath,
and we can discuss further out there
should you like to ask anything else.