It is extreme and painful, but also one of the most varied and interesting hikes in the Fichtelgebirge: 12 peaks, 68 kilometers, over 2,200 meters of altitude. Under the organization of the StartUpLab at Hof University of Applied Sciences, four students, a university employee and Michael Spitzbarth former CEO of the company bleed took on the challenge as part of a weekend workshop.
Why the whole thing?
There are many mountains to climb and countless obstacles to overcome on the way to becoming a successful entrepreneur. What better training for this than the 12-summit tour in the local Fichtelgebirge mountains? On the tour, the participants got to know their limits, pushed some of them and broadened their horizons.
In the best “imperial weather”, the tour took them through the most beautiful areas of Upper Franconia for three days. We sweated and chatted, got over aching feet and broken knees, faced challenging tasks and enjoyed the atmosphere. A loose group of strangers quickly grew into a really strong team.
The highlights of the tour
Michael Spitzbarth, originally invited as an official “Walk & Talk” guest and former CEO of “bleed organic clothing”, ended up joining the tour privately for three days. What luck, because the whole group was able to benefit from his exciting learnings about success and failure as a founder. Surprisingly, Michael also turned out to be an excellent tour guide with exciting information about the Fichtelgebirge and kept the group going in the best manner of a drill instructor when they were feeling a little weak.
Image: private;
Raft building challenge: turn garbage into new!
If you want to start a business, you have to think outside the box and work together as a team. That’s why a pile of boards, barrels, ropes and pallets awaited the participants on the shores of Lake Weißenstadt on Friday evening. The task: transport a crate of beer and four people dry across the lake. Creativity and team spirit were required! After a few failed prototypes, the group managed to embark on the journey to the lake and successfully master the task with a lot of team spirit and a completely different design than expected.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the company LIROS from Berg for the excellent rope material, the company HOFFMANN from Schwarzenbach a.d. Saale for various building materials and an extra thank you to the DLRG Weißenstadt, who accompanied the rafters on the high seas by boat for safety despite their previous deployment in the flood disaster area.
Wanna be an entrepreneur?
If you want to reach the summit of success with your start-up, you have to go higher and higher. Not one summit, not two summits – no, 12 summits had to be climbed in the three days. And with the additional burden of the hiking rucksacks. Each summit awaited the group with its very own charm and unforgettable nature experiences:
- Großer Kornberg (827 m)
- Epprechtstein (798 m)
- Großer Waldstein (877 m)
- Rudolfstein (866 m)
- Schneeberg (1051 m)
- Nusshardt (972 m)
- Ochsenkopf (1024 m)
- Platte (884 m)
- Hohe Matze (813 m)
- Kösseine (929 m)
- Haberstein (848 m) and
- Burgstein (879 m)
The route showed that every arduous dry spell is followed by a rewarding climax if you manage to grow beyond your own limits.
Skills such as teamwork, creativity, communication and determination, which are also needed to develop a successful entrepreneur, were trained on the third day of the workshop through an accompanying station hike by the Wurzelkraxler Akademie from Selb as well as through various exercises, feedback rounds and team reflections.
Work hard – play harder!
Successes should be celebrated, including the milestones after each day’s tour. The day’s efforts were duly appreciated and celebrated every evening in fantastic summer weather. Thanks to the great accommodation at Fichtelrad in Ruppertsgrün, the first evening was a barbecue evening in an extraordinary location, with a real hut feeling at 924 m altitude in the Seehaus – authentically including all the advantages and disadvantages of a bed camp. For the Grand de Final and conclusion of the three days, there was genuine Upper Franconian food of top quality in the beautiful beer garden in the Braustüberl Schönbrunn.
The first round of “12 Summits to Entrepreneurship” was a complete success for all participants. More than one had considerable difficulty getting back into everyday life on Monday. The best indication that the workshop has left a lasting impression.
