on the importance of setting unreasonable goals 🧗

read time: 3 minutes

Just under two years ago, I rolled into British Columbia for the first time on an old red crotch rocket, a 1990 Suzuki Katana.

I worked a summer in Alberta after graduating, and then bought the bike and decided to ride it out to BC in September.

Riding through the Rockies, I vividly remember stopping over and over again to gaze up at the towering peaks that seemed to jut straight out of the earth.

It seemed unbelievable to me that mountains like this actually existed in real life, having grown up on the east coast where the tallest ski hill in my province had about 90m of vertical drop.

At the time, I had no real experience in the mountains, other than a few small hikes.

All I knew was that I was in love with these mountains, and I wanted to do everything I could to learn how to climb them.

Fast forward two years, and I’m on summit #58, and I just ticked off my first of the Fifty Classic Climbs (a list of the best alpine climbs in North America).

The West Ridge of Forbidden Peak is a gem of the North Cascades. A big approach, complicated route access, and a stunning ridge climb with massive exposure.

This route has been on my radar for a long time. I came across it in a guidebook early on, and I’ve had it bookmarked since the day I saw it.

It’s well-known throughout the Pacific Northwest as one of those hallmark climbs that combine all the different skillsets into one epic outing.

Technically, it’s not an advanced alpine route… at a 4-pitch 5.6, it’s a great beginner-to-intermediate alpine climb.

But man… little Lukas would have been absolutely stoked to know that I’d be climbing these mountains one day.

Looking back, it’s sometimes weird to think about how I got here.

I never sat down and hatched a plan. I didn’t have any real mentors. In fact, I didn’t know a soul in BC when I moved out here, let alone know anything about the climbing community.

I didn’t have much gear, and at the time I didn’t have any friends that were into it.

But I knew one thing… I wanted to climb mountains.

Here’s the moral of the story…

Set unreasonable goals for yourself.

Not too many - the human brain isn’t wired to pursue more than one or two big goals at a time.

But find one big thing that makes your eyes light up, and do everything you can to chase that.

It doesn’t have to make sense. But if you follow obsession, you have to trust that you’ll end up right where you should be.

Looking back, it’s easy to see the dots connect.

But in the moment, you’ll often wonder where you’re going.

You’ll experience setbacks. You’ll doubt if it’s really worth it. You’ll wonder if you should’ve aimed for something else… the list goes on and on.

But one day, you’ll take a moment to look back. You’ll turn around and realize that you’ve come a lot further than you could’ve ever imagined.

Here’s the bottom line.

There’s much more to my story than this… and maybe one day I’ll get into the details of the past few years in this world.

But if you take one thing from this letter, make sure it’s this.

There are no benefits whatsoever to playing small, and aiming too low.

Do everything you can to avoid life of wasted potential.

There’s a lot more to yourself than you think… don’t waste it.

See you next week :)

Lukas Mann