rule1 photos on Flickr

Phil Town on CNBC's The Millionaire Inside by Phil Town

Another screen capture from CNBC's "The Millionaire Inside" - talking about why investing in the market is the best possible return on your money - if you know how to do it right, without risk.

Phil Town on CNBC's The Millionaire Inside by Phil Town

A screen capture of me (Phil) talking about investing with a panel of other guests, including real estate expert Barbara Corcoran.

it never entered my mind by omoo

3 8

challenges and opportunities

White hand, black hand by Peter Renshaw

Rule #1: Nobody gets left behind [0]

The bloke on the left is Moose, [1] the one on the right is Dave. Neither had met before but have more in common than most.

It's the morning of day nine. Each of the prior days we'd wake early, fuel up and start off. Dave despite is age has to be one of the fittest blokes I've met. While Moose and myself would leave very early and do a leisurely 5-6km/h for the first 15 to 20 kilometers, Dave and a few others would run. Over the course of the entire trip that's 8x20km running each morning. We'd stop, have lunch then set off to do another 15-20 km before the end of the day. Dave was only one of two runners not to carry injury. We'd spent the previous night at a Ski lodge in Perisher. There was nothing open on the mountain so we piled into the van and drove back the 30km to Jindabyne for dinner. Although late I made the effort to find a supermarket and stock up for breakfast and any supplies I might need for the last day.

So to this shot. We'd had the morning march. Dave has done his 20 for the morning. Moose and myself had split up as I'd tagged along with a "nOOb" who'd tagged along and was struggling at the back of the main group. I just made the main group at the car park and this is about 4 kilometers from the mid point. Ahead was the summit. Everyone else was forward of us and being the most experienced and level headed of the lot, we bought up the rear to check for stragglers.

It was around this time Dave stopped, dropped his kit and cracked it. The exhaustion of the previous 200 or so kilometers was starting to catch up. In the build-up to the last day I suspect most of the group was cast their eye on the routines and weird specialised kit Moose and myself carried around. I suspect none of them knew that most of it was required just for this last leg. I bent down, picked up Dave's kit, whacked it on his back; gave him a smile and just reminded him it was only a few kilometers more. He took that in and continued on. [1]

When we got to the top Dave understood why. We turned the corner of the last curve and walked into a 50Km/h blast of cold wind. You couldn't see 5 metres in front. There was zero cover. If you sat down the cold ate into your bones. Even the act of breathing exposed you to the cold. The conditions continued all the way to and on the summit. Having said that it was the ideal day to summit. No rain, no snow, just a bit of wind. I got a cheeky smile from Dave at the top as he said, "so that's why you've carried all that shit all this way!!". [2], [3], [4]

This story starts with a Professor, an Analyst and a lost bet and ended nine days and 240 kilometers away at the top of Mt Koscuiszko. This trip made the New York Times. [5]

Reference

[0] seldomlogical, "Rules and resolutions", Rule #1 Nobody gets left behind