The AXIGEN team had a three-day team building experience in Predeal, a beautiful mountain resort in Prahova Valley. So that explains my silence over the weekend. I was busy climbing Everest, aka Chomolungma. Yes, that is right, the name of our adventure was "Conquering Everest"!

We left Bucharest on Friday, with a bit of delay, but still, before 10 am. About 3 hours later we were in Predeal, checking in. The hotel's name was Eden. A good name I think, given the fact that you might reach the real Eden if you try climbing such a dangerous mountain. After lunch, we started making money for the trip. Divided into 7 teams of six, which then formed 3 larger teams, we spent about 5 hours outside, trying to get the sum we needed, about 3000 dollars.

Team names? Well, mine was called Undisclosed Recipients. The others were Highlanders, No Name, Faith, Nepal Death, AxiGentoo and Galactics. I loved them all!

Did I mention it was quite cold and that there was a lot of snow? Oh, and that it was, for most of us, the first real encounter with winter and its cold weather this year? Still we managed quite well. And pleasantly surprised myself with the courage and initiative I had to go running around Predeal to get crazy things like used train tickets or yesterday's paper. I was not alone in this. My team-mate Serban convinced a taxi driver to lend us his spare tire for about 5 minutes, while the rest of the gang collected insects (live ones), paintings, spoons, mirrors etc.

We then had dinner and a nice little party with music and lots of drinks. I had to say pass though because all that running around got me really tired and I hadn't had that much sleep before getting there.

The second day was dedicated to the actual ascension. Which happened indoors :) We had a map, our budgets (Undisclosed Recipients had 3070 dollars), a list of supplies we could buy, people we could hire and a nice little old man giving tips and tricks for a certain amount of time spent with him. and John Powers who was buying rocks from the top of the mountain, 10000 dollars a kilo.

The purpose of the game "Make as much money as possible". And the fun part started. No Name won (with about 200.000 dollars), Undisclosed Recipients was second, with 170310 dollars. And two teams died out there. What we really didn't understand was the actual purpose. Which did not mean a team should win as much as possible. No, it was all about the whole team of AXIGEN coming back with the largest amount possible.

Yes, we can all see it now, it was a genuine team building game. Designed to make you wonder a little, learn something and also have some fun. And we had lots of fun, that was the greatest achievement of the game, if you asked me.

FOOD
The meals at the hotel were not that hot. But not half bad either. However, we went to "Taverna Sarbului" (Serbian's Den) on Saturday night and to "Cabana Schiorilor" on Sunday, both in Sinaia. And that my friends was pure pleasure.

ADRENALINE RUSH
There were no extreme sports this year. But the two trips to Sinaia compensated, they did so more than enough. Our huge bus drove on some roads I wasn't sure I would drive on with my tiny Little Mushroom. There were moments when we all stopped breathing. And the guys also had to move a car (lift it and move it to the left) .

All in all, it was a great experience. I was really glad I could manage some real outdoor action. And learn some really interesting details on mount Everest.

The rest of the photos here!