EXPEDITION CULTURE

IGNORANCE OF YOUR CULTURE IS NOT CONSIDERED COOL

– THE RESIDENTS

EXPEDITIONS HAVE THEIR OWN CULTURE, THAT HAPPENS OUTSIDE FIXED LIFESTYLES AND EVEN OUTSIDE CLIMBING CULTURE ITSELF. THE STUFF THAT CHANNELS INTO EXPEDITIONS COMES FROM A WIDE SPECTRUM OF THINKING, HISTORY AND LOGIC, AND BEING OUT ON EXPEDITION EXISTS IN A CULTURAL PARADIGM A LONG WAY FROM COMMERCIAL CLIMBING.

NONE OF THIS IS TO SAY THAT OTHER TYPES OF CLIMBING DON’T HAVE THEIR OWN CULTURES, THEY CERTAINLY DO, BUT REAL EXPEDITION CULTURE – STUFF THAT IS EXPLORATORY BY NATURE – SITS OUT ON ITS OWN IN THE PANTHEON OF CLIMBING.

WE THINK IT IS IMPORTANT FOR EXPEDITION CLIMBERS TO ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR CULTURE, EVEN NAMING OURSELVES FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS IN HONOR OF THE CULTURE DESCRIBED IN THE AL ALVAREZ BOOK. WE THINK THIS CULTURE IS DISTINCT AND REPRESENTS GOOD THINGS, AND IS THE CONVERGING POINT FOR AN ARRAY OF OTHER CULTURES, THAT CONNECTS TO STUFF FAR BROADER, OLDER, NEWER AND BIGGER THAN JUST THE CLIMBING OF MOUNTAINS.

.

THESE DAYS EXPEDITION CULTURE HAS MANY ASPECTS AND ‘FACULTIES’ COVERING ALL SORTS OF TOPOGRAPHIES AND REASONS TO GO THERE. BY ITS NATURE THEY ALL INVOLVE GOING TO OBJECTIVES IN PARTS UNKNOWN, AND ARE AS VARIED AS THE POLES, THE DESERTS, THE JUNGLES, THE RIVERS AND THE EXTREMITIES OF GEOGRAPHY, AND THE UNKNOWNESS ABOUT THEM.

EXPEDITION CULTURE EXISTED LONG BEFORE CLIMBING AS WE KNOW IT WAS A THING, AS PEOPLE HAVE ALWAYS SET OFF TO EXPLORE REMOTE PLACES. EVEN WHEN THE SPORT OF ALPINISM AROSE, IT EXISTED SEPARATELY, DISTINCT FROM EXPEDITIONS, AND IT WAS ONLY OCCASIONALLY IT INTERSECTED WITH IDEAS ABOUT GOING A LONG WAY, TO UNDISCOVERED PLACES, TO BE PRACTICED. EXPEDITIONS WERE WELL ESTABLISHED AS A CULTURE WHEN ALPINISM WAS EVENTUALLY INJECTED, WITH SOCIETIES, DOCTRINES AND PHILOSOPHIES LONG IN PLACE THAT WELCOMED ALPINISM AS A NEW DISCIPLINE. ONE OF THE REASONS WE HOLD ALEISTER CROWLEY IN ESTEEM IS THAT HE WAS ONE OF THOSE WHO PIONEERED THIS IDEA – THAT CLIMBING MOUNTAINS WAS A GOOD REASON TO GO TO FAR OFF LANDS.

THE CULTURAL POINTS THAT EXPEDITION CULTURE HANGS ON – NODES – EXTEND BACK AND OUT INTO ALL ASPECTS OF LIFE, WITH MUCH OF GLOBAL CULTURE BEING CONNECTED TO EXPEDITIONS AS IT WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR EXPLORATION, TRADE AND GEOGRAPHY. THE FAMOUS EXPEDITIONS LIKE THOSE OF YOUNGHUSBAND, AMUNDSON AND HEYERDAHL ARE PILLARS OF BOTH ACADEMIC AND POPULAR CULTURE THAT STILL REFERENCE AND INFLUENCE EXPEDITION CULTURE NOW, BECAUSE THEY INTEGRATED WITH SO MANY OTHER CULTURAL ELEMENTS SUCH AS MEDICINE, SOCIOLOGY, POLITICS AND MEDIA.

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.

.

EXPEDITION CLIMBING CULTURE HAS SURPRISINGLY LITTLE IN COMMON WITH OTHER STRAINS OF CLIMBING, BEING SO OVERWHELMINGLY CONCERNED WITH OBJECTIVES THAT ARE NOT WELL DEFINED. UNLIKE TRIPS TO KNOWN OBJECTIVES WHERE THE BULK OF THE PROCESS THAT IS NOT THE CLIMBING IS ALREADY WORKED OUT AND THUS THE CLIMBING CAN BE THE MAIN FOCUS, EXPEDITION CLIMBING SHARES THE FOCUS BETWEEN SEVERAL PRIMARY ELEMENTS.

EACH OF THESE ELEMENTS USUALLY HAS AN ENTIRE CULTURE OF ITS OWN, FROM THE CARTOGRAPHY TO THE POWER SUPPLIES TO THE MEANS OF APPROACH AND THE EQUIPMENT. EACH ONE OF THESE HAS ITS OWN NOMENCLATURE, ITS OWN TRADITIONS AND ITS OWN STANDARDS, EVERY BIT AS EVOLVED AND DEVELOPED AS ANY CULTURE OF CLIMBING ITSELF.

AN OBVIOUS EXAMPLE IS THE CULTURE AROUND THE APPROACHES TO MOUNTAINS, SOMETHING SO EMBEDDED IN THE HIGH ALTITUDE EXPERIENCE AS TO BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED. IN ESTABLISHED HIGH ALTITUDE AREAS THIS CULTURE IS A BLEND OF TRADITIONAL SOCIETAL ROLES – PEOPLE HAVE ALWAYS CARRIED STUFF SOMEWHERE – AND THE CULTURE AROUND OUTSIDERS WANTING STUFF CARRIED THAT IS OUTSIDE LOCAL TRADITIONS. MOST PEOPLE READING THIS WILL KNOW THIS CULTURE AND THE COMPLEXITIES THAT GO WITH IT, BEING A SOPHISTICATED THING WITH ITS OWN LANGUAGE, ECONOMICS AND ETHNICITIES. WITHIN THIS ALL ARE OTHER CULTURAL ASPECTS LIKE FOOD, GENDER, RELIGION AND CLANS, THAT HAVE ALL AMALGAMATED AND EVOLVED TO FORM A CULTURAL SCAPE THE HIGH ALTITUDE CLIMBER MOVES THROUGH.

EXPEDITION CLIMBING OFTEN LACKS MUCH OF THIS CULTURE, WHERE APPROACHES ARE THROUGH PLACES WITH NO HISTORY OF IT. TIBET AND XINJIANG ARE GREAT EXAMPLES, WHERE LOCALS HAVE NO INTEREST IN CARRYING THE STUFF OF OUTSIDERS, AND THEREFORE NO CULTURE HAS EVOLVED AROUND IT WITH ANY ESTABLISHED IDEAS OR STANDARDS. PEOPLE AND STUFF STILL NEEDS TO PASS THROUGH, BUT IT DOES SO IN OTHER WAYS, CONNECTING TO CULTURAL NODES THAT MUST BE ENGINEERED RATHER THAN PICKED OFF THE RACK.

.

CARTOGRAPHY IS ANOTHER CULTURE THAT EXPEDITION CLIMBING INTERSECTS DIFFERENTLY TO COMMERCIAL CLIMBING, WHERE UNCLIMBED RANGES RELY HEAVILY ON A WIDE ASSORTMENT OF TOPOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE. WHERE A TRIP TO THE GASHERBRUMS IN THE PAKISTAN REQUIRES NO MAPS OR NAVIGATION, A TRIP TO THE CHINA SIDE REQUIRES CHANNELLING A DOZEN CARTOGRAPHIC CULTURES IN ORDER TO FIND AN APPROACH. CHINESE MAPS CONTAIN DIFFERENT INFORMATION COMPARED TO SATELLITE DATA, REPORTS FROM EUROPEAN TEAMS, GEOLOGICAL DATA, CLIMATE RECORDS AND ACCOUNTS GOING BACK A CENTURY. EACH ELEMENT BRINGS WITH IT A CULTURE RANGING FROM METEOROLOGISTCS TO MILITARY, TECH GEEKS TO SOVIET-ERA SPORTS SOCIETIES.

ENERGY SUPPLY IS ANOTHER, MAJOR CULTURAL ELEMENT, WHERE SOMETHING ALMOST CULTURELESS IN THE KHUMBU, HAS AN ENTIRE CULTURE IN OTHER PLACES. PULL STARTING A GENERATOR NEEDS NO BIG CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT AS IT IS ALREADY A UTILITARIAN DEVICE, WHEREAS DEVELOPING WIND, HYDRO AND SOLAR FOR USE IN PLACES NO DIESEL GENERATOR CAN GO MEANS ENGAGING WITH AN EXTREMELY DYNAMIC TECH CULTURE IN A HUGE STATE OF GROWTH.

EACH OF THESE THINGS HAS ITS PEOPLE, AND SO A SCENE, HISTORY AND BASELINE OF KNOWLEDGE THAT IS FASCINATING TO COMBINE. THE INTERSECTION OF THESE THINGS PROVIDED BY EXPEDITIONS IS UNIQUE TO EACH TRIP, AND CREATES A CULTURE THAT IS DIVERSE AND GETS TO PLAY OUT IN REAL WORLD SITUATIONS. GO ON ANY REAL EXPEDITION, REGARDLESS OF THE OBJECTIVE, AND ALL OR MANY OF THE SAME CULTURES CONVERGE. THE ANTARCTIC SAILOR, THE PADDLER IN SIBERIA, THE KITE SKIER IN PATAGONIA AND THE HIGH ALTITUDE MOUNTAINEER, ALL SHARE MORE CULTURAL NODES THAN THE EXPEDITION CLIMBER DOES WITH SOMEONE STANDING IN LINE OF EVEREST.

.

OUR OWN EXPEDITIONS EXIST IN A CULTURE THAT INTERSECTS WITH BLUE WATER SAILING, JAPANESE MOUNTAIN LIVING, HIGH TECH INDUSTRIAL DESIGN, POLISH DESIGN, THE 3000 YEAR HISTORIES OF CHINA, TIBET AND CENTRAL ASIA, FRONTEIR ENERGY GEEKS, THE MILITARY HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS AND THE GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETIES OF EUROPE THAT WERE THE PRODUCT OF IMPERIALISM. EACH HAS ITS WHOLE OWN CONVERSATIONS AND PERSPECTIVES, AND EVERY OTHER EXPEDITION WOULD HAVE SIMILAR.

OUR CONTRIBUTION TO EXPEDITION CULTURE IS THAT WE CONTINUE TO ORGANIZE REAL EXPEDITIONS, INTO OFTEN UNDOCUMENTED HIGH ALTITUDE AREAS DURING A TIME WHEN LITTLE OF THIS GOES ON. WHERE IN THE PAST THERE WAS A HUGE THIRST FOR EXPLORING AND CLIMBING IN THESE PLACES – INDEED TIBET AND TURKESTAN ARE SYNONYMOUS WITH EXPEDITIONS EVEN IN POPULAR CULTURE – CURRENTLY THERE IS A BLIND SPOT DESPITE A SURGE IN THE THINGS THAT MAKE EXPEDITIONS MORE VIABLE. WE THINK WE KEEP A CORNER OF EXPEDITION CULTURE ALIVE BY REMAINING BARELY AFFECTED BY COMMERCIALISM, IN A PLACE WHERE WE CAN MEASURE UP AGAINST THE GREATS OF EXPEDITION HISTORY LIKE SHIPTON, HEDIN, FLANNERY AND OTANI.

.

AND WHAT OF CLIMBING CULTURE?

CLIMBING HAS A WELL DEVELOPED CULTURE THAT MOST EXPEDITION CLIMBERS WILL HAVE THEIR OWN ANGLE ON, PROBABLY COMBINING OR AT LEAST ENTERTAINING SEVERAL SUB-CULTURES. MOST WILL HAVE AN INITIAL CLIMBING CULTURE THEY STARTED INTO, AS FEW CLIMBERS GO DIRECTLY INTO EXPEDITION STUFF, AND EVEN THE MOST INDUSTRY-EMBEDDED CLIMBER ONLY INTERESTED IN THE COMMERCIAL 8000m STUFF WILL HAVE INTERACTIONS WITH CLIMBING CULTURE IF EVEN ONLY OCCASIONALLY AT THE CLIMBING STORE.

LIKE ANY CULTURE, CLIMBING CULTURE IN GENERAL HAS ITS OWN ARCHETYPES, CULTURAL PILLARS AND MEMES, DISPERSED ACROSS SUBCULTURES THAT HAVE WAYS TO DRESS, HEROES AND LIFE CHOICES. THESE THINGS ARE ALL REINFORCED BY MARKETS, COMMUNITY AND IDENTITY, COMPLETING A CULTURAL BUBBLE AS STRONG ANY OFFERED BY ANYTHING ELSE.

INJECTED INTO EXPEDITION CLIMBING, A LOT OF GENERAL CLIMBING CULTURE SEES ITS EDGES, WHEN PULLED AWAY FROM THE CULTURAL NODES THAT HOLD CULTURES TOGETHER. CHANGE THE LOCATION, CHANGE THE STANDARDS LIKE GRADES AND TICK LISTS, CHANGE THE HEROES THAT SET THE STYLES, AND THE CULTURE OF CLIMBING MUST COMPETE WITH SEVERAL OTHERS OUT IN THE UNDOCUMENTED VALLEYS SOMEWHERE LIKE XINJIANG. THIS IS HEALTHY WE THINK, SO LONG AS THE INDIVIDUAL IS UP FOR IT, AND CAN HANDLE THE JOLT TO THEIR ‘CLIMBERNESS’.

SOME PEOPLE CAN’T WAIT FOR THE SYNCRETISM OF EXPEDITION CULTURE TO REBOOT THEIR EXISTING BUBBLE, OTHERS STRUGGLE TO FIND THAT THEIR PERSPECTIVE DOESN’T ENGAGE WHAT EXPEDITION CULTURE NEEDS THEM TO. TEAMS OF EXPERIENCED EXPEDITION CLIMBERS CAN BE PARTICULARLY ALIEN, SHARING A CULTURE HONED OVER MANY TRIPS, PLUGGING THEM INTO AN ARRAY OF OTHER THINGS THAT NORMAL CLIMBING MAY NOT BE CONCERNED WITH.

.

EXPEDITION CULTURE SETS ITS VALUES IN THINGS LIKE DIVERSITY AND EXTENT OF TRAVEL, BREATH OF PERSPECTIVE AND ENGAGEMENT, INTEGRITY OF IDEAS AND APPETITE FOR RESEARCH. IT DOESN’T MATTER IF IT’S LONG RANGE PARAGLIDING, SEA KAYAKING, CAVE DIVING OR TREKKING INTO JUNGLES, AN OVER-CULTURE EXISTS WHERE SUCH VALUES HAVE CURRENCY ACROSS ALL OF THEM.

BUT LIKE ANY CULTURE, EXPEDITION CULTURE CAN BE LOST, JUST AS PUNK LOST TO HAIR-METAL AND THE TOCHARIANS TO THE TANG. ALL CULTURES LIVE IN THE EXPLOITS OF THEIR PEOPLE, AND JUST AS GREEN DAY IS PUNK WITHOUT SOCIAL DISCHORD, SO TO EXPEDITION CLIMBING CULTURE RISKS BEING LOST TO INDUSTRIAL HIGH ALTITUDE TOURISM. THE KNOWLEDGE BASE, CONNECTIONS, IDEAS AND CHARACTER TYPES CAN FADE OR WORSE – BE HIJACKED BY COMMERCIALISM – AND WITH IT NEW KNOWLEDGE OF WILD PLACES DRIES UP WITH NO DATA COMING BACK FROM THE UNKNOWN.

ALREADY WE SEE THE WAY ‘INFORMATION’ IS DISTORTED, LACKING IN VERACITY, AND REMAINS UNREFERENCED ON PLACES LIKE XINJIANG AND TIBET, WHERE THE SPACE FOR DISCOURSE GETS FILLED WITH UNINFORMED OPINION RATHER THAN EXPERIENCED DIALOGUE. EXPEDITION CULTURE HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE FIRST IN, THAT BEING THE VERY NATURE OF THE ENTERPRISE, TO DOCUMENT AND EXPLORE AND REPORT BACK WHAT’S OUT IN THE WORLD.