The Adventure Team Works Hard & Has Fun in Europe
Adventure Team | Dec 21, 2020
The following story chronicles the recent Europe exploration of Seven Corners Adventure Team member, David Fischer. David is Seven Corners' Chief Revenue Officer and fearless adventurer. Read on to learn all about David's hard work and fun adventures in Europe.
Working hard and having fun are not mutually exclusive. I have always believed that success is built on the ability to do both.
During my recent trip to Europe I met with several companies that Seven Corners is looking to either initiate new business with, or to strengthen an existing relationship.
The outline of the trip moves fast, so hang on!
The trip started Sunday afternoon with a flight from Indy to Frankfurt GE landing Monday morning. From Frankfurt I departed to Copenhagen DE for a dinner meeting with the CEO of Global Warning Systems (GWS).
Tuesday, I met the entire GWS team in Lund Sweden. That evening I flew to Hamburg GE to meet with the Chief Sales Officer with Hanse Merkur. Wednesday morning he and I met with his direct staff to determine next steps with an opportunity that has been on the radar for almost a year. That evening, I flew to Munich GE to catch up with the DOGTAG team and we ended up in Hentertux Austria late Wednesday night. We had meetings on Thursday and Friday and had a ski adventure on Saturday. Saturday evening, we departed to Innsbruck for a flight back to Frankfurt. Sunday morning, departed Frankfurt and arrived back in Indy late Sunday.
Monday morning, I was back to the Indianapolis airport for a flight to Dallas, Texas for a day trip. You guessed it team, I am jet lagged.
Thursday and Friday were busy with planning meetings on how to expand the product offering and presence of DOGTAG in the market and how our organizations could best partner. Unbelievably, it snowed for 40+ hours. Although I was in the middle of glacial valley, visibility was limited to less than 100 yards.
The view from my room Friday morning and it continued to snow for another 15+ hours.
In the Valley it snowed 3-4’ and on the summit there was 5-6’ of fresh snow. We intentionally planned our meetings to finish by Friday afternoon with the hope of skiing.
Unfortunately, it was snowing so hard that skiing was out. The forecast for Saturday looked promising with clear blue skies.
I love winter in the mountains and do not ever remember going to bed wishing that it would stop snowing. Being jet lagged I woke at 2:30 AM, a bit disappointed to find the snow still coming down. When I woke again at 7:00 AM it was clear blue skies!
From my window I saw the mountains that had evaded my view and caught a glimpse of the amount of snow that had fallen. WOW! We skied the far left peaks and face.
We shoveled breakfast down as fast as we could. Our goal…be the first on the mountain!
After breakfast, we found that our first priority was digging out our van. Looked like we were not going to be first on the mountain.
Three gondola rides took us to the top at almost 10,800”. We could not get our skis on fast enough. The views were spectacular and the snow was pristine. We surveyed the runs and determined our best bet was to ski to the backside of the mountain that was not open. A true “POWDER” day!
The top of the backside of the closed run with Italy in the background. All we had to do was step over the rope...
The 5-6’ of untouched powder out-weighed the risk of hitting the bottom and needing to wait for the staff to open the chair lift. Or worse…having to climb out on our own. I have to admit, at age 52, I truly felt like a kid on a snow day. Neither of us were thinking beyond getting into the powder.
Skiers chase that feeling of “floating” through deep powder. That smooth, quiet, balanced controlled weaving that is only found in powder. There is no feeling like it and once felt, you can not ever get enough.
I have skied since the age of four and have never skied in snow this deep!
It was amazing! We managed to get three runs of clear powder. And then… in less than 90 minutes, the slopes had been devoured by other like-minded “powder hounds”.
The rest of the day we skied long runs with soft pack and building moguls. By 1:00, my legs seared with exhaustion as I gasped for air in the high altitude on my non-ski conditioned quads. We took a break for lunch to refuel and rest our legs hoping they would recover for more runs.
I knew better than to take my ski boots off during lunch. Even putting them up on the bench helped, but that was not enough for my now aching sore legs. We both agreed that our youthful minds were asking our aged bodies to do more than they could deliver. A final run from the top to lowest running gondola…a 4,000 meter push. My legs were toast, my feet ached and I could not stop grinning! What a day.
Mike Welby with DOGTAG and me at the summit.
A quick shower and we headed to Innsbruck so I could catch my flight back to Frankfurt to eventually make my way back to Indy.
During the flight home, I found myself going through the pictures reliving a great trip with wonderful people. The best part...the work did not feel like "work", the discussed opportunities are exciting and the people were fantastic.
I made it home Sunday night in time to put Sophia (our youngest of five and only remaining child at home) to bed, have a glass of wine with my wife, sleep for a couple of hours and then went back to the airport less than 10 hours later to catch a flight to Dallas to meet with one of our largest on longest standing Brokers.
The 9 days of the trip have been a blur. I have been in 5 countries, 7 hotels, 11 cities, 14 flights, visited with 5 companies, in non-stop meetings and skied epic powder. The one common theme? All of it was fun!
Now, I'll throw a challenge out to the Seven Corners team. The tenth through the twentieth people to ask me if I am having fun being part of the Seven Corners team and why get a gift from our friends at DOGTAG. Be prepared to answer the same from me.
Work hard. Have fun. Be the difference.
Until our next adventure: push your limits, find new boundaries and never stop discovering!
And by the way…have fun!
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