“THE WICKEDEST EXPEDITIONS IN THE WORLD!” OUTLIERS IN AN ALL TOO NORMAL INDUSTRY

*WARNING: POSSIBLE IRONY AHEAD. PROCEED WITH CAUTION

ONCE AGAIN WE ENTER THE FINAL MONTHS OF THE YEARLY CYCLE OF HIGH ALTITUDE EXPEDITIONS, AS THE FINAL NUMBERS START TO BE SEEN AND THE PUNDITS START TO FASHION THE LAST ARTICLES. AS WE ENTER OUR LATER PREPARATIONS FOR OUR TRIPS TO TIBET, THE KARAKORUM, JAPAN AND THE GOBI OVER THE WINTER – ALL CONFIRMED AND BOOKED – MOST OTHERS WIND DOWN TO TAKE STOCK FOR THE NEXT TIME.

RECORD NUMBERS OF CLIMBERS HAVE HIRED RECORD NUMBERS OF GUIDES TO USED A RECORD AMOUNT OF OXYGEN CLIMBING RECORD MILES OF FIXED ROPES, LEAVING RECORD AMOUNTS OF HUMAN SHIT ON A RECORD NUMBER OF PEAKS. MORE WAS SAID BUT LESS WAS DONE TO CONSERVE THE WORLDS HIGHEST PEAKS FROM THE DAMGE OF AFFLUENCE, AS MORE MONEY GOT FUNNELED TO MORE COMPANIES TO MAKE ASCENTS MORE COMFORTABLE, MOSTLY BYPASSING THE MIGRANT WORKERS WHO SEE LITTLE OF THE ECONOMICS YET STILL PERISH UNABATED.

ON THE OTHER HAND RECENT SEASONS HAVE SEEN A RETURN OF FIRST CLASS ALPINISM AS A WAVE OF QUIET ACHEIVERS MAKES IT MARK, WITH THE EXPECTED DEATHS AND HEROICS THAT SHADOW THAT END OF THE CLIMBING SPECTRUM IN A REAL-LIFE FAUSTIAN DRAMA. SADLY TOO IS THAT THIS EQUATION IS SELF-DEFEATING, IN THAT THE PERCENTILE OF GOOD ALPINISM GETS EVER-SMALLER IN RELATION TO THE PERCENTILE OF INDUSTRIAL MOUNTAINEERING THAT HAS NO INDICATION OF EVEN SLOWING, SO THAT THE OCEAN OF WHITENOISE DROWNS OUT WHATEVER GOOD STUFF HAPPENS IN THE BARRAGE OF MELODRAMA, CELBRITY, EMPTY STATISTICS AND MARKETING.

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IN THIS ERA OF CLIMBING ANYTHING EVEN SLIGHTLY OFF THE NORM GETS COMMENT, BEING BRANDED AS RADICAL BEFORE LOST TO THE NEWS CYCLE. BARELY UNUSUAL EVENTS GET MENTIONED NEXT TO TRUE REVOLUTIONS IN THE SPORT, WITH CRITIQUES JUDGING MORE THE NOVELTIES THAN ANYTHING THAT REALLY CHALLENGES ALPINISMS FUTURE. FOCUS GOES TO STUNTS USUALLY MORE THAN CONCEPTUAL PROGRESSIONS, AND TRIPS SUCH AS OURS DRAW MORE ATTENTION FOR POLITICAL INTRIGUE THAN THE CLIMBING, EARNING US A REPUTATION THAT IS FUN TO HAVE BUT CAN BE BASED ON MISUNDERTANDING.

OVER THIS TIME WE HAVE RECEIVED THE USUAL COMMENTS AND CRITICISMS THAT WE HAVE COME TO EXPECT, BEING REFERRED TO AS COWBOYS, MAVERICKS, FOOLS, SPIES, FANTASISTS, PIRATES AND DELUSIONAL, WITH ONE PUNDIT CALLING US SATANISTS AND ANOTHER SUPPORTERS OF GENOCIDE (FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH OUR CLIMBERS FREELY COME FROM ALL RELIGIOUS BACKGROUNDS, SOME ATTENDING MASS EVEN ON OUR TRIPS, AND WE EMPLOY MOSTLY ETHNIC MINORITIES INCLUDING TIBETANS, UYGHERS, KYRGYZ AND HUI MUSLIMS, EVEN OCCASIONALLY AUSTRALIANS WHEN WE HAVE TO).

THESE ACCUSATIONS SET US IN A CERTAIN PLACE IN THE INDUSTRY – AND ARE FAR LESS NEFARIOUS THAN WHAT SOME OF OUR PEERS ARE ACCUSED OF – AND THE REASONS WE GET THESE NAMES ACTUALLY ALLOWS US TO WELCOME THEM. HALF THE TIME IT IS BECAUSE WE OVERTLY COMMENT ON AN INDUSTRY THAT IS LONG PAST ITS BEST (IN WHICH CASE THE COMMENTS ARE ACCEPTABLE SABRE-RATTLING), AND THE OTHER HALF IS THAT WE OPERATE IN A VAST PARADIGM THAT TO THE OUTSIDER APPEARS OMINOUS, FRAUGHT, IMPOSING AND UNKNOWN.

WHAT WAS IT ARTHUR C. CLARKE SAID…THAT THE ONLY WAY TO DISCOVER LIMITS IS TO VENTURE PAST THEM, AND THAT ANYTHING SUFFICIENTLY ADVANCED IS INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM MAGIC?

ALL SIMILAR THINGS MUST HAVE OUTLIERS BECAUSE NOT EVERYTHING CAN BE THE SAME, AND THE REAL MATTER IS IF SOMETHING IS AN OUTLIER BY CHOICE. FOR US WE VERY MUCH CHOOSE TO DISTANCE OURSELVES FROM THE MAINSTREAM, BECAUSE IF WE WANTED TO JOIN IT WHAT WE DO COULD NOT HAPPEN. BY ITS NATURE EXPLORATION, SELF-RELIANCE AND INNOVATION CANNOT HAPPEN IN A SPACE ALREADY SATURATED WITH NORMS, REGULATIONS, INTERESTS AND ATTENTION, AND EVERY EXPEDITION CLIMBER FROM MUMMERY TO HIRAIDE HAS HAD TO REMOVE THEMSELVES FROM THE REACH OF THE NORMAL TO DO SOMETHING NEW.

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AND ALL ALONG WE AT FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS SIT AS DISTANT OUTLIERS, IN THE SCENE BUT NOT OF THE SCENE, SHARING LITTLE MORE THAN A COMMON PAGE IN SEARCH ENGINES WITH THE BIG PLAYERS. JUDGING BY THE ANALYTICS WE GET LOTS OF CURIOUS CLICKS, AS MANY ABOUT EXOTIC GEAR AS ABOUT TRIPS, WITH A MAJORITY MAKING IT TO THE CONTACT PAGE THEN BAULKING WHEN IT GETS REAL.

THIS IS WHAT IS INTENDED, AND THOUGH THE OCCASIONAL CLIMBER EXPECTING SOMETHING DIFFERENT GETS THROUGH, THE MAJORITY OF THOSE WHO REACH OUR INBOX FIND THEMSELVES AN ALTERNATIVE FOR EXPEDITION CLIMBING THAT WELCOMES THEM WITH ENORMOUS POSSIBILITIES. WE FIND OUR CLIMBERS VERY MUCH ATTRACTED TO ALL THE ACCUSATIONS OF BIZARRE STUFF, MANY HAVING COME THROUGH THE TRIBULATIONS THEMSELVES OF WANTING THINGS THE MAINSTREAM WON’T DO.

MANY CAME TO CLIMBING ALREADY AS ODDBALLS, DISCONTENTS, ECCENTRICS, SEEKERS, AGITATORS AND MISFITS, AND WORRY THAT MOUNTAINEERING HAS BECOME TOO SQUARE AND TOO OVERRUN WITH FORMAT AND STANDARDIZATION. THESE FOLK DON’T WANT TO BE TOLD WHAT TO DO, TO HAVE EVERY OPTION PREFABRICATED AND EVERY ELEMENT GUARANTEED, AND THEY WANT TO NAME THE SUMMITS THEY REACH THEMSELVES AND NOT HAVE WHAT’S ROUND THE CORNER ALREADY KNOWN.

WE KNOW WHAT WE HAVE HERE, AND AFTER 25 YEARS ACROSS THE REGION STILL GREET EVERY ENQUIRY WITH THE ENTHUSIASM WE OURSELVES FEEL. WE NEVER GHOST PEOPLE, OR DERIDE A CLIMBERS IDEAS, OR DISMISS AN IDEA FROM A POSITION OF JADEDNESS OR CONDESCENTION, BECAUSE WE THINK THAT ANYONE WHO HAD THE WHEREWITHAL TO SEND THAT FIRST EMAIL IS ALREADY A CUT ABOVE THE AVERAGE. IF YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE EMAILS YOU WON’T HANDLE THE EXPEDITIONS, AND BY THE TIME WE HIT THE GROUND WE ARE ALREADY WELL INTO THE PROCESS.

OUR AIM ALL ALONG HAS NEVER BEEN TO COMPETE ON COMMON GROUND, BUT TO GO OUTSIDE OF WHERE THE SPOTLIGHT IS TO ALL THOSE PLACES THAT ARE A BIT MYSTERIOUS AND A BIT MISUNDERSTOOD. WE THINK THIS IS NORMAL CLIMBING, AND LOVE THAT THE MAJORITY OF HIGH ALTITUDE TERRAIN IS BEYOND THE SCOPE OF THE MAINSTREAM, AND IF THAT EARNS US A REPUTATION AS MISFITS AND ICONOCLASTS WE CAN LIVE WITH IT.