A Critical Quality Consideration – Which Oncology Clinical Certifications Matter?

Winter Climbing & AT Skiing on Wildcat A&D (4,422 & 4,062ft.) and Cannon Mountain

Winter Climbing & AT Skiing on

Wildcat A&D (4,422 & 4,062ft.)  and Cannon Mountain

A Study in Contrasts

January 24, 2013

Wes Chapman

 Wildcat from Tuckerman Ravine on Mt. Washington

Mt. Washington from Wildcat

Cannon Mountain from Franconia Ridge

I enjoy alpine touring (AT) skiing – the semi-old school use of climbing skins and sophisticated bindings to allow cross country functionality on alpine skis. I’ve used them for the last 4 years both to access wild back country areas (occasionally) and/or to get some exercise (frequently) climbing up the front of the mountain – either late in the day or to get to an area closed to lift traffic by a “wind hold”.

Most of the AT skiing that I do is on Sugarloaf in Maine – a delightful Hill that celebrates AT skiers and the bridge to the past that they represent. I’m currently working on the winter 4,000 footers in New Hampshire, and I decided that doing the 3 ski areas in the state on AT gear – Wildcat, Cannon and Waterville Valley (Mount Tecumseh actually) – might be a fun way to get a little skiing and climbing mixed on the same trip. I always buy a lift ticket and do a few “lift assisted” runs together with the climb – it only seems fair.

Wildcat is one of the oldest and most challenging ski areas in the East. The original Wildcat Trail was laid out by the great skier Charley Proctor and cut by the Civilian Conservation Corps beginning in 1933. The development of ski lifts was started shortly thereafter by Brooks Dodge and George Macomber – famous names in eastern skiing in general and Dartmouth skiing in particular. The mountain stands alone without any residential real estate development. The facilities are old school New England skiing, and I absolutely love the place.

Looking down Wildcat Ridge to Mt Washington

Wildcat is actually a long (2.5 miles) ridge to the southeast of the Presidential Range. There are 5 peaks on the ridge, 2 of which count as 4,000 footers. The ski area is built on the “D” peak, and it is a 2.1 mile walk down the ridge to the highest summit in the chain – A Peak at 4,422 feet. This is a really nice walk in the winter, and the trail was hard snow and very fast.

Wildcat requires that uphill walking and skiing be done on the Polecat Trail, which is the longest and gentlest grade trail on the Hill. The trail was fast, the crowds light and I was on the top in 1.25 hours. At the top I got to talking with a young woman on the local Ski Patrol – a recently minted MS from Cornell with a degree in botany. She was totally engaging, apologizing for the limitations on AT skiing at Wildcat and the requirement to buy a lift ticket – restrictions that I don’t find particularly onerous.

On the way down the ridge I met a dozen or so fellow climbers and skiers. Wildcat is a hospitable environment for New Englanders who love the mountains that retains the charm of its roots. I am a fan of this place.

The next day my friend Pete and I headed over to Cannon Mountain in Franconia Notch, hoping for a repeat performance. Cannon is a state owned and operated facility in Franconia Notch, which frankly has a fairly poor reputation among skiers and hikers in New Hampshire. Like Wildcat, the ski area was originally cut by the CCC, and dates back to the ‘30’s. Unlike Wildcat, it is wildly festooned with lifts and equipment, designed to suck a little money out of the motorists passing by on I93, located directly below.

I bought a ticket, strapped on my skis and headed up the Hill, only to be promptly turned back by a passing ski patrol. I explained that I had a ticket, and was in no way trying to rip them off – in fact I was paying for lifts that I really didn’t plan to use much. It didn’t matter – climbing in any form was found to violate the delicate sensibilities of the downhill only crowd.

Having a ticket, we took a couple of runs on the blue ice that they make at Cannon instead of snow. We found that most of the best runs had snow making equipment, but no snow. I was not impressed, and Pete was disgusted – he had just spent a couple of days enjoying the skiing at Okemo, and this was an ugly mess by comparison.

Pete enjoying the native deposits of ice at Cannon

On the slope at right – a nice trail waiting for someone to turn on the snow guns

We made a couple of runs, and headed back to Hanover for a little cross country skiing to clear our heads and put some distance between us and the ugly memory of Cannon.

If you get a chance, spend a day at Wildcat – it’s a great mountain with a real skier culture. Alternatively, if given a choice between a day at Cannon or working on my taxes, I’d pick the tax work every time.

Adios, from Wildcat (looking at Mt Washington)

Kilimanjaro and the Prouty Mountaineering Team – Ten Tips for a Successful Summit

Kilimanjaro and the Prouty Mountaineering Team

Ten Tips for a Successful Summit

Wes Chapman, Jill & Gary Rogers

November 1, 2012

Seke Godson and Wes Chapman, successful and healthy at the summit,

January 2010

Preface: Kilimanjaro is one of my favorite mountains – it is the only one of the seven summits that middle-aged people who hold down a job can reasonably hope to climb. While Kilimanjaro is not a technical climb, it is the highest mountain that most who attempt it will ever climb. The trick to a successful outcome is to arrive at the summit healthy, comfortable, and in control. Listed below are ten suggestions compiled with the help of a bunch of my climbing friends who have reached Kili’s summit and descended in good health. I’m climbing Africa’s highest peak again this December, and you can bet that I’ll be checking this list twice.

 1.     Polepole (slowly, in Swahili): Seke Godson, head guide for East Africa Voyages, tells all his clients that moving “polepole” is the single most important key to success for Kilimanjaro, or any other high altitude adventure. This is the most common phrase that you will hear from all the guides and porters as you move up Kili. Polepole. Heed it! Let’s face it, most of the folks that take on this climb are driven, Type A personalities and need to be constantly reminded to slow down. Moving fast can create a physiological oxygen deficit, which your body has a very difficult time filling at high altitude. If this shoe fits you – like it does me – take a page from the Eagles, and Take it Easy.

Guide Seke Godson

2.      Special Clothing: Wes Chapman is a dedicated fan of two small and inexpensive, but incredibly useful pieces of clothing – the buff and the sun hoodie. The buff is a simple stretchy sleeve, useful as a neck gaiter, breathing filter, hat or whatever. I first saw a sun hoodie in action on Cotopaxi a couple of years ago, and I was sold immediately. They keep out the sun, and weigh nothing. I use a sun hoodie on all high altitude climbs – it is far and away the best protection from high altitude tropical sun. You can buy both of these for less than $50, and you’ll use them until they are worn out. If your high-altitude climbing career ends with Kilimanjaro, attractive young women may find that the buff is a valuable and appreciated top for beachwear. Similarly, the hoodie is appreciated beachwear for old guys like me.

The many uses of a buff – great in dust storms and hold-ups

3.      Gaiters and well-tested Footwear: Gary Rogers remembers that gaiters are essential on the mountain. Though there is little snow any longer on Kili, there are plenty of small stones and dust on the trail. Gaiters will help to keep this detritus out of your hiking boots and enable you to avoid the discomfort and potential blisters it may cause. Jill Rogers advises to make sure you have tested all your sock, liner, and boot combinations on hikes of ten miles or more. If you feel the slightest hot spot anywhere on your feet, ankles, or shins take care of it immediately! Your climbing mates will wait. Besides, they should be moving “polepole” anyway. Carry an assortment of blister bandages and moleskin in your own backpack, stuff that you know sticks and works on you. And don’t forget to pack a little scissors. If you’re certain to get blisters in specific spots, use the bandages preventively.

Gary Rogers sporting gaiters

   Jill Rogers with happy feet

4.      Eat with care: Gary Rogers knows from experience that many people have problems eating at high elevation. These problems come in two varieties, and you may suffer from either or both when above 10,000 feet. One problem is loss of appetite. The other is a slowing of the digestive process. Since you will be hiking many hours each day, it is important to eat and drink aplenty. So even if you don’t feel like it, eat every meal. But don’t overdo it by putting a large burden on your belly. Small meals and many snacks throughout the day are my strong recommendation. Also, you may want to carry some medication like Pepto-Bismol to treat minor digestive system upset.

Lunch on the trail

5.      Personal hygiene: Wes Chapman is highly recommends three practical items – Baby Wipes, Vaseline and Bag Balm. Baby Wipes sound like a fairly disgusting article for the uninitiated, but are simply wonderful on a trip like Kilimanjaro. Remember, you will be eight days without a shower, and there is simply no substitute for cleanliness. Bring and use Baby Wipes and the whole world will look rosier! Vaseline and Bag Balm are both synthetic topical lubricants, with Bag Balm a Vermont concoction for sore cow udders – and it works beautifully.

Toilet tent with a view

6.      Tent Activity: Jill Rogers recalls that the nights in the tent on Kilimanjaro were quite cold and very long. Given the mountain’s location very near the equator, the sun goes down around 6:00 pm at all times of the year. Typically, we went into dinner having our headlights with us and came out in the dark. Then it was off to our tents until sometime after sunrise at 6:00 am. So, make sure to have plenty to read (I recommend a light-weight Kindle) and a few crosswords to tackle, while zippered into your sleeping bag. That’s unless you can sleep straight for ten hours or so. Hot water in a Nalgene can help warm up the inside of your sleeping bag, and if your feet are cold, zip up your parka and pull it up over the bottom of your sleeping bag to cut the cold breezes. Wes and Gary both recommend a Big Agnes sleeping bag and pad system for a good night’s sleep.

Camp II at 12,500 ft.

7.      Pack a flannel pillow case: Elizabeth Spencer advises to bring along a flannel pillow case, fill it with your down outerwear, and enjoy a pleasant night’s sleep. She did this, but had her treasure usurped by the benefactor funding the expedition – her older brother. If you are at risk for confiscation via primogeniture, bring two flannel pillowcases – it’s nice to have a comfortable pillow that feels like a piece of home.

8.      Summit Night: Jill Rogers advises to organize your pack well for summit night. You’ll endure many long hours of exertion in the dark and it will likely be very cold. You’ll certainly need to intake energy, but may not feel much like eating. Prepare by having hard candies or packets of GU in an easy-to-reach outside pocket of your coat or front pocket of your pack belt. These items are quick and easy to suck on. Protein bars get too hard in the cold and you’ll get out of breath trying to chew them. Other items to have easily available include a couple of hand warmers, extra batteries for your headlamp, lip balm, toilet paper, and your camera as sunrise approaches. Gary Rogers recommends you keep your shirt on at the summit. The temperatures during your trek to the top on “summit day” may be near or below zero degrees Fahrenheit.  At the summit, though you may be tempted, it is advisable to stay dressed for the photographs.

Dawn near Stella Point

Jill prefers a puffy down parka on summit day,

Cotopaxi, July 2011

Gary goes shirtless on Kili’s Uhuru Peak,

September 2008

9.      Use the “rest step”: Seke Godson and the other Kili guides will teach you a valuable technique for climbing the steeper portions of the trail that will help you to preserve energy.  It is called the rest step.  It may be slow, but it really works. Use it! Especially on summit night. Emily Wroe commented about her Kili climb, “I never knew I could walk so slowly and still get somewhere.”

Practicing the “rest step” on Day 5

Emily Wroe in the mountains of Alaska

Mt. Meru framed by glaciers in the crater on Kili

10.  Tipping: Wes Chapman, climber and trip leader, knows that tipping on expeditions is an art form, and the simple application of percentage mark-ups from restaurant service doesn’t work at all. From a practical perspective, I figure that $30-40 per person per day is in the “just right” sweet spot. For multi-day trips, another practical method is using a lower and upper limit for the trip of $250 and $500 respectively. US dollars or Euros are usually preferred, but any major currency is normally well received. Bring enough cash! And pass it directly to the head guide for distribution among the assistant guides, cooks, porters, etc. The support teams have fairly detailed pre-arranged distribution plans, and direct distribution will only produce discord. The only exception is a small additional amount may be given directly to the porter who is responsible for your comfort – caring for your tent, gear, breakfast tea, and the like. Also, it is standard practice and thoughtful to leave behind unwanted clothing and gear with the crew, but this should never be considered as a substitute for a cash tip. Often groups have a fun lottery for the guys on the last day and everyone goes home with some useful item for their next trip up the mountain, as well as their tip.

Seke Godson (left) and porters singing to clients

Wes Chapman in the crater on Kilimanjaro

Staying in Motion with the Arthritis Foundation Weekend Walk

A Celebration in Motion with the Arthritis Foundation

A Fun Walk for a Great Cause

September 29, 2012

Wes Chapman

The Arthritis Walk^® is the signature fundraising event for the Arthritis Foundation and I joined them for the first time this weekend for their annual walk at Alice Peck Day Hospital in Lebanon. The Foundation says of the walk,” it’s not just an event, it’s a celebration of year-round movement to help prevent and treat arthritis” – and this is absolutely true.

Every year these folks get together to celebrate movement and make a positive impact on the lives of people living with arthritis by raising funds for arthritis research, education and life improvement programs in communities across the country. Arthritis has been an unfortunate way of life in my family, and increasingly an unwelcome visitor in my own. I had to come out and see what this was all about – and it was terrific; a group of dedicated people celebrating the simple beauty of being able to move.

The rallying cry of these walks nationwide is Let’s Move Together^® encouraging people to get up and get moving. I’ve been a very lucky sufferer of arthritis – able to move a lot. I was touched by the people – young and old – out celebrating movement on a cool damp day – not the easiest weather for arthritis sufferers.

I’m a fan of this event, and it is a great cause – I’ll be back. I hope that you enjoy some of the photos.

A post-walk gathering under cover

The start of the walk

A nice trail layout behind Alice Peck Day Hospital

Mrs. Baby on the Woodlands Trail

Champion the Cure Challenge Century Ride

Champion the Cure Challenge

A Great Century Ride for a Terrific Cause

August 18, 2012

Supporting Cancer Care in Eastern Maine

I’ve been friends with the Lafayette and Rawcliffe families for the last 50 years, and actively involved with cancer charities for the last 12 – so when Dan Lafayette and Rudy Rawcliffe invited me up to a century (100 miles) bicycle ride to support the local cancer center in my home town I jumped at the chance. The Lafayette family generously helped build one of the best designed and well operated outpatient cancer centers in New England as part of the Eastern Maine Medical Center, located in Brewer Maine.

My business takes me through a lot of cancer centers, and this is one of the most smoothly functioning and patient friendly that I have ever seen. Their use of advanced technology – like RFID supported operations – is second to none, and yet they clearly operate with the best “patient centric” focus.

At the start at 6:30 AM

I was delighted to find that the century ride was as well designed and executed as the cancer center that it supports. The ride starts in Brewer, and heads up the east side of the Penobscot River (Routes 178 & 2) for 40 miles – all the way to Howland. This is paved shoulder, high speed bicycle cruising at its finest – dead flat with long straight highway. We averaged over 20 mph for a lot of this portion of the ride – it was simply a blast.

This part of Maine very recently “emerged” from the Atlantic (in the last few thousand years) due to glacial rebound, and it is still principally unconsolidated, flat lying, sea bottom sediments. The trip to Howland clung to this low lying river country along the Penobscot River providing beautiful views of the river for most of the this section.

Quiet water along the Penobscot River

Turning south and west in Howland (Routes 6 & 155), we headed into interior Maine into slightly more rolling country, but with freshly paved road surface (thanks to Federal stimulus money) and no traffic – I mean no vehicles at all. This lacked the spectacular river views of the morning, but was great bicycling for another 30 miles or so. Along the way the SAG stops were well stocked and staffed with some wonderful friendly people and great amenities – this was a really well organized ride.

The century route is marked in blue

Hampden Horseflies

Four old friends relaxing at the SAG stop in East Corinth

Wes Chapman, Stan Spencer, Rudy Rawcliffe and Bill Deighan

Ramsey Lafayette & Rudy Rawcliffe in Lagrange

Well stocked SAG stops

We joined Routes 15 and 11 in East Corinth, and the traffic picked up noticeably, but wherever we were on principal highways – there were paved shoulders. The route spent precious little time on major highways until we got into metropolitan Bangor, when the traffic increased – but not for very long. Most of the final 10 miles was winding through residential neighborhoods and back across the Penobscot to the Cancer Center in Brewer.

This is a very easy ride (for a century), and extremely well organized. The roads are flat, well maintained, and the traffic minimal. This is “everyman’s” century, and great for the self-esteem of the weekend warrior bicyclist. If you are thinking of trying out a century for the first time, coming back after an injury or suffering through a summer of too much food and not enough training – grab a slot in the Champion the Cure Challenge. These folks run a great century and the cause is terrific – we hope to see you next year.

Teammates coming in

Rudy & Wes at the finish

Stan makes it home

Adios, from Champion the Cure Challenge

No Telecom Service in a Service Based Economy – Misery and Myth

Trauma in Telecom Land, Part 2

How Verizon Treats its Customers: 1 Month, a Dozen Calls and $310 to Get Service RestoredIn a recent blog post, “Why I Tried…and Failed…to Fire Verizon”, I described the systemic screw-ups and service break-downs that led me to try to switch my phone and internet service from Verizon to Time Warner, and the systemic screw-ups and misleading sales tactics (thanks to boneheaded pay incentives) that convinced me to stick with Verizon, on the the-devil-you-know-is-better-than-the-one-you-don’t theory.

Having abandoned my efforts to fire Verizon and switch to Time Warner, I encountered yet another breathtaking breakdown in quality and service as I tried to reactivate my Verizon account. My fling with Time Warner lasted only three hours, in which an able and courteous Time-Warner technician tried, unsuccessfully, to switch my service to the competition. But that brief flirtation cost me phone and internet service for almost a month. Moreover reactivating the internet service proved so complicated that I couldn’t get it to work without hiring an independent computer consultant!

The hiatus in which I had to rely on my cell phone and broadband wireless device were marked by over a dozen calls to Verizon over a one-week period and a mind-boggling number of systemic snafus on the company’s part. It turned out that the earliest date Verizon could give me for reactivation was three weeks from the day I said my tearful goodbyes to Time Warner. I was, understandably, anxious to avoid any mishaps. So I phoned the company three days before the scheduled appointment, only to be told that it was a good thing I had called because my service order had “not been completed” and, had I not called, no one would have showed up.

Peter W. Thonis, Verizon’s communicator-in-chief, received a communicator-of-the-year award in 2010, but wouldn’t communicate with me

On January 23, the day of my appointment, a Verizon technician arrived at my home. After less than 10 minutes, in which he placed a few calls to Verizon’s central office, but seemed to perform no work inside my home, he explained that the service really needed to be switched on from Verizon’s central office. That might take as much as 24 hours.

Was there really nothing more for him to do, I asked, baffled as to why I had to wait for three weeks and stay home to await the technician if, in fact, all the work was done from a remote office.

No, he reassured me, there was nothing more to do but wait.

Sure enough, about 24 hours later, the phones were working again. Although, my answering service, which I had, in the past contracted from Verizon, had disappeared. Clearly this would involve more phone calls and more bureaucracy. Sigh.

A bigger problem was that my internet service wasn’t working either. When I checked back with the company, I was told that a mistake had been made (how many was this now?) and Verizon had not initiated the transfer process. After four phone calls (I was disconnected twice) and 1.5 hours on the phone with a technician, I still didn’t have internet service, but was told that someone else would phone me the following morning to resolve the problem. Instead, that same night, I received an email from Verizon, notifying me that they had received my CANCELLATION order, effective Jan. 30. CANCELLATION—I had just spent one month trying to RESTORE my service!!

The cruelest joke of all was that the cancellation notice came with the following reassurance: “We will hold your current verizon.net email address and your User ID for you for 30 days from the date of this message. That way, coming back is easy!”

It turned out that returning to Verizon’s fickle embrace would be anything but easy. The following morning, I called Verizon again and was told that I would have to wait several more days as this “new order” was processed.

Since I had already been without internet for a month, and since the error was clearly Verizon’s, could they not expedite my service, I asked the friendly service rep on the phone.

“Certainly, madam, I will make every effort to have your service expedited,” said the impeccably polite technician who I ascertained was located in Verizon’s Philippine service center. In the ensuing days, I made a grand tour of Verizon service centers—in the Philippines, in India, in Ireland, and eventually New York– speaking to easily a dozen technicians, all of them unfailingly polite and helpful. But, as the week wore on, no one seemed able to reactivate my internet service. Nor could any of them explain why; most seemed as baffled by the problem as I was. At around Day Four, I started tweeting about the problems again; when Verizon’s social media folks got involved, they enlisted the company’s New York-based service center. Now, perhaps, the company would take this issue seriously, I thought, mistakenly assuming that Verizon’s New York crew would succeed where their far-flung global colleagues had failed.

Technicians at Verizon’s far-flung service centers were unfailingly polite… but were baffled by the company’s faulty systems

But after a full week of fruitless efforts to get my internet service turned on, I completely lost whatever shred of faith I had left in the company. So, on Jan. 30, I recruited Vladimir Sokolov (aka Vlad), the trusted computer consultant who helps me with my most vexing tech issues. Vlad spent 3.5 hours on the phone with Verizon technicians. He finally got the system working, despite Verizon’s best efforts, it seemed…and without ever getting an explanation from Verizon as to why they had so much trouble “reactivating me.”

“Verizon is a big and disjointed company,” explained Vlad who has done work for me on-and-off over the course of several years. “It seems that the sales department doesn’t know what customer service department is doing, and both are clueless about what the technical department is doing.”
For example, Vlad figured out that Verizon doesn’t have a procedure for reinstating old customers. They treat every returning customer as a new customer. The fact that I already had a Verizon footprint—see aforementioned User ID and email address in the cancellation notice–seems to have made it harder, not easier, for me to get reinstated.

To make matters worse, Verizon seems to have a policy of not telling customers what’s going on. “For some puzzling reason Verizon feels that it should not tell the customer exactly what happened,” concluded Vlad. “It is frustrating that Verizon doesn’t have a policy of open and honest communication with its customers. This misguided need for secrecy is very often a cause for confused customers and delays in fulfilling orders.”

Of course, Verizon isn’t the only company that obfuscates and misleads its customers; that is, after all, why I ended my brief flirtation with Time Warner.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I was not content to patiently troll Verizon service-centers around the world, charming as the technical-service people were. Even as I turned to Vlad for help, I decided to go straight to the top and sent an email to Peter W. Thonis, Verizon’s communicator-in-chief. His official title is Chief Communications Officer. However, Mr. Thonis chose not to communicate with me, and did not respond to several email messages pleading for help.

Thanks to Vlad, I am now reconnected to Verizon, at least until I can find an adequate alternative and recover from my latest telecom trauma. Vlad’s bill for reinstating my Verizon internet: $310. I guess the best you can say about Verizon technology and service is that it keeps competent guys like Vlad in business.

Next challenge: Get my voice mail back…

To read more by Andrea Gabor, please visit http://www.andreagabor.com/ or follow aagabor@twitter for periodic musings on the state of American business, education reform, the consumer experience, women in the workplace and food—how it is grown, cooked and eaten. A systems thinker since I wrote my first book, The Man Who Discovered Quality by W. Edwards Deming, most of my ideas and writing are informed by a systems view of the world.