Month: June 2024

JOHNS RADICAL INITIATIVES OVER PROTEST, OPEN SOURCING, EXPEDITION IDEAS AND HANDS-ON WORK WE SHARE, PROTECTING WILDERNESS, DESIGNING BETTER, AND GOING FURTHER BY OUR OWN STEAM ARE ALL STANDARDS WE UPHOLD WITH ALL THE OTHER COMPANIES WE COLLABORATE WITH. AS SAD AS IT IS TO KNOW HE’S NOT OUT THERE TINKERING AWAY AND EXPERIMENTING, IT’S GOOD TO KNOW THAT EVERY BIG WALL HAS HIS DNA IN IT

THIS SITE TRANSLATES INTO THE 12 LANGUAGES WE SEE THE MOST ENQUIRIES FROM, AND OBVIOUSLY GOOGLE CAN TRANSLATE IT INTO HUNDREDS MORE (EXCEPT TIBETAN WHICH ANNOYS US). THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE RESOURCE THAT HAS THE CAPACITY TO EVOLVE CLIMBING AS MUCH AS ANY GEAR OR TRAINING CAN, BY CLIMBERS FROM DIFFERENT CULTURES TEAMING UP TO BRING WHAT THEIR IDEAS, TRADITIONS AND PERSPECTIVES CAN CONTRIBUTE TO THE GAME.

WE TEAMED UP WITH PARBAT ABOUT A YEAR AGO, AROUND THE SAME TIME WE BECAME AWARE OF ALUULA COMPOSITES, AND TO FINALLY SEE THE CONVERGENCE OF THE TWO IS EXCITING STUFF, CHANGING – AGAIN – THE WAY WE RUN EXPEDITIONS. IF WE CAN CARRY MORE STUFF FURTHER, MORE SECURELY, WITH MORE WEIGHT EFFICIENCY THEN WE CAN CLIMB MORE REMOTE STUFF WITH LESS RELIANCE. THIS IS THE PRIME DIRECTIVE THAT DRIVES ALL ALPINISM, AND ANYTHING THAT ENHANCES THAT WE WORK WITH.

THE NORTH KARAKORUM IS THE LAST REMAINING TRUE 8000m WILDERNESS AREA. VERY, VERY FEW PEOPLE HAVE BEEN OUT THERE IN THE LAST 15 YEARS, AND EVEN BEFORE THAT IT WAS RARELY VISITED. DESPITE SOME BAD BEHAVIOUR AROUND K2 NORTH SIDE BASECAMP IN THE 1990s THAT LEFT BEHIND TRASH OF THE ERA, THERE’S VERY LITTLE DEBRIS FROM EXPEDITIONS OUT THERE AND EFFECTIVELY NONE AWAY FROM K2.

WE COULD EASILY RUN THINGS NEVER RETURNING TO ANY MOUNTAIN TWICE, AND EVEN THE MOST VISITED AREAS WE GO TO HAVE SEEN ONLY A COUPLE OF ASCENTS, WITH EVERY TRIP TO ANYTHING GOING PAST 95% UNCLIMBED OPPORTUNITIES

IT’S ONE THING TO SAY YOU CAN DO ANYTHING, AND A WHOLE OTHER THING TO ACTUALLY DO IT, AND MALACHOWSKI HAS PROVED OVER THE DECADES THAT WHEN IT COMES TO DOWN THEY MEAN WHAT THEY SAY. COLLABORATING WITH MALACHOWSKI IS TO TAP INTO A SPECTRUM OF POSSIBILITIES, PEDIGREE, MATERIALS AND RATE OF DEVELOPMENT THAT IS MATCHED BY ONLY A HANDFUL OF OTHERS (UNSURPRISINGLY WHO WE ALSO COLLABORATE WITH), UNLEASHING POTENTIAL WHERE IT COUNTS – ON THE MOUNTAIN – IN WAYS THAT CHANGE CLIMBING

WE ARE NOT BEING FUNNY WHEN WE CALL CHARLIE OUR ‘TOTEM ANIMAL’, BECAUSE HIS ENIGMA STILL INFORMS MOST OF WHAT WE DO AND HIS PRESENCE IS STILL OUT THERE. NOT IN SOME SUPERNATURAL WAY, BUT FOR REAL, AS THE PEOPLE HE MET STILL MENTION HIM, OCCASIONAL PITONS STILL SHOW UP AND HE STILL SETS THE STANDARDS FOR ‘PIRATE ALPINISM’. WE THINK WORLD ALPINISM HAS A LOT TO RELEARN FROM CHARLIES EXAMPLE, AS A CLIMBER, AN ADVENTURER AND AS PROTAGONIST OF STYLE

WE RUN THE ONLY Mt FUJI WINTER CLIMBING TRIPS, BASED ON A MIX OF JAPAN AND HIMALAYAN EXPERIENCE. MOST PEOPLE READING THIS WILL HAVE HEARD OF JAPANESE CLIMBERS, BUT ALMOST NO ONE KNOWS THE ALPINE CLIMBING IN JAPAN THEY COME FROM. FOR EXAMPLE ALMOST NO ONE RECOGNIZES THE BLURRY IMAGE IN THE PHOTO SHOWN ABOVE, SHOWING A SIDE OF MT FUJI FAR REMOVED FROM THE TOURIST VERSION, HOME TO SOME VERY SERIOUS ROUTES. WE FIND JAPANS CLIMBING TRADITIONS SO UNIQUE AND FASCINATING WE DECIDED TO BASE FROM THERE, TO INTRODUCE FOREIGN CLIMBERS TO THE MOST UNIQUE STUFF THEY’VE NEVER HEARD OF.

EXPEDITION CULTURE HAS ALWAYS HAD THE COMBINING OF NEW IDEAS AND TECHNOLOGIES AT THE CORE, AND UNLIKE SOME CULTURES IS WELCOMING TO BIG IDEAS, AUDACITY, GOING AGAINST CONVENTION AND A ‘MEANS OVER ENDS’ MENTALITY. EXPEDITION CULTURE ALSO HAS A HISTORY OF WILD THEORIES, STRANGE REASONS, UNTESTED HYPOTHESES, BIZARRE CLAIMS AND COINCIDENCES, MAKING IT AS MUCH A CULTURE FOR HARDENED ADVENTURERS AS FOR ROMANTICS, SKEPTICS AND MISFITS

IN THE LEAD UP TO OUR RETURN TO K2 IN 2024 WE ARE UPDATING THE ENTIRE FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS SITE, INCLUDING A WINNOWING AND REVITALIZING OF ARTICLES WE HAVE HAD UP FOR YEARS. WE ARE RECASTING THEM AS DANGEROUS IDEAS, NOT JUST FOR THE SEMANTIC STUNT, BUT BECAUSE EVERY SEASON AS 8000m CLIMBING DEVOLVES ELSEWHERE WHAT WE THINK AND DO SEEMS EVER MORE RADICAL