EXPEDITION CLIMBING HAS TWO DISTINCT SORTS OF VALUE: RESPONSIBILITY VALUES & VALUE FOR MONEY. WE THINK CHINA HAS AN UNPARALLELED POSITION WITH BOTH.
WE WILL START BY SAYING EXPEDITION CLIMBING HAS ALWAYS BEEN LINKED TO SOCIAL CHANGE ONE WAY OR ANOTHER. FROM THE FIRST DAYS OF ALPINISM IN THE EUROPEAN ALPS WHEN ARISTOCRATS TEAMED UP WITH GOAT HERDERS TO SCALE PEAKS IN THEIR FIFEDOMS, THROUGH THE CENTURIES OF CLIMBING BEING PART OF EXPANDING GEOGRAPHIC, SCIENTIFIC & POLITICAL PROCESS, THE ERAS OF EXPEDITIONS BEING CENTRAL TO FIGHTING FASCISM & EMPIRES, DECADES OF EXPEDITIONS BEING ONE OF THE FEW NEUTRAL MEETING GROUNDS DURING THE COLD WAR, RIGHT UP THROUGH THE LAST FEW DECADES WHERE AN INDUSTRY HAS GROWN AROUND IT TO RAISE LIVING STANDARDS IN MARGINAL PLACES & MAKE GOVERNMENTS THINK ABOUT PROTECTING THESE PLACES. UNLIKE THE SPORT SIDE OF CLIMBING, EXPEDITION CLIMBING HAS GONE HAND IN HAND WITH THE LEADING SOCIETAL EDGES OF THE DAY. AND TODAY IS NO DIFFERENT.
VALUE FOR MONEY
FOR THE INDIVIDUAL CLIMBER EXPEDITIONS TO CHINA HAVE SERIOUS VALUE FOR YOUR DOLLAR. IF YOUR SCALE OF VALUE IS FOR SITTING IN A BIG TENT PLAYING CONNECT 4 AND NETWORKING FOR YOUR NEXT INVESTMENT, YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED, BUT IF YOU VALUES ARE ALONG THE LINES OF CLIMBING DAYS ON THE MOUNTAIN AND METERS CLIMBED AT ALTITUDE THEN THE RANGES OF TIBET & THE KARAKOUM ARE AHEAD OF ANY OTHER.
THE VALUE IN CHINA IS BASED AROUND THE COUNTRIES RAPIDLY MODERNIZING INFRASTRUCTURE GETTING YOU ONTO THE MOUNTAIN AS QUICKLY & IN AS GOOD A CONDITION AS IS HUMANLY POSSIBLE. WE ACTUALLY HAVE TO SLOW TRIPS DOWN BECAUSE THE RATE AT WHICH WE ASCEND ON THE ROADS FROM OUR BASE CITIES CAN EASILY BE FAR FASTER THAN HUMAN METABOLISM CAN ADJUST TO. IN CHINA WE MEASURE ALTITUDE GAIN IN HOURS, NOT DAYS.
THIS MEANS APPROACH TIMES ARE SHORTER & WITHOUT THE ARMY OF PORTERS THAT RESULTS IN SIMILAR COSTS BUT SPENT MUCH MORE EFFICIENTLY, WHICH GOES ON TO RESULT IN YOU BEING IN BASECAMP PREPARING TO CLIMB IN FAR BETTER CONDITION THAN IF YOU’D SPENT 2 WEEKS WALKING VIA A STRING OF HEAVILY TRAFFICKED VILLAGES. IT MEANS YOUR SUPPLIES ARE FRESHER, YOUR GEAR IS STILL CLEAN & MORALE IS STILL HIGH, AND IS THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE WHEN YOU HAVE 5 WEEKS OF CLIMBING AHEAD. CHANCES OF SICKNESS IS LOWER BECAUSE THE ENVIRONMENT IS CLEANER & WE ACCLIMATE WITH HOT SHOWERS & BETTER FOOD & BETTER SLEEP.
THE CLIMBING ITSELF ALSO COMES IN AT THE BEST DOLLAR-METER VALUE WE KNOW OF, AND THOUGH THAT’S NOT THE BEST WAY OF LOOKING AT IT, FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A SERVICE PROVIDER IT MAKES A LOT OF SENSE: WE CAN SIMPLY PROVIDE MORE ACTUAL CLIMBING. BOTH K2’S NORTH SIDE & TIBET, DUE TO THEIR ACCLIMATION SCHEDULES, REPRESENT THE MOST CLIMBING DAYS POSSIBLE FOR THEIR RESPECTIVE ALTITUDES, WITH THE LEAST AMOUNT OF UNNECESSARY HANGING AROUND IN BUSTLING CAMPS.
ONCE OFF THE GLACIERS, K2 NORTH SIDE HAS A CLIMBING-TO-NONCLIMBING DAY RATIO OF 1:3 (COMPARED TO THE USUAL 1:4 OR 1:5 OF OTHER 8000m PEAKS) DUE TO MORE STABLE WEATHER, MORE EFFICIENT APPROACHES & VIRTUALLY NO HUMAN TRAFFIC TO CONTEND WITH (THIS IS SOMETHING GREG CHILD OPENLY NOTED AFTER HIS ASCENT IN 1990).
THE SAME RATIO FOR A TRIP OF THE SAME LENGTH, WITH BASECAMPS AT EXACTLY THE SAME ALTITUDES IN TIBET PUSHES THIS RATIO TO AN INCREDIBLE 2:1 ON THE 5500 – 7000m PEAKS THERE. AND THAT INCLUDES FIRST ASCENT TRIPS. WE REGULARLY RUN FIRST ASCENT TRIPS TO PEAKS AROUND 6000m ON 20 DAY ITINERARIES WHICH INCLUDE INTENTIONALLY SLOWING DOWN APPROACHES TO ACCLIMATE PROPERLY. THIS IS SOMETHING DEEMED IMPOSSIBLE EVEN A DECADE AGO.
ALL OF THESE TRIPS CAN EASILY HAVE 8000m OF ACTUAL CLIMBING AT ACTUAL ALTITUDE IN SHORTENED BUT STILL SAFE TIMELINES. IF YOUR VALUES CENTER ON THE AMOUNT OF SHARP END CLIMBING YOU GET, NOWHERE ELSE IS THIS AS DOABLE.
SOCIAL VALUE
CHINA HAS IT’S OWN SOCIETAL NORMS THAT OFTEN RUN DIFFERENTLY TO THE REST OF THE WORLDS. THOUGH THERE ARE SOME STARK CONTRADICTIONS WITH THE VALUES OF EUROPE, WHEN IT COMES TO ENSURING FAIR WAGES, MANAGING HUGE SWATHES OF WILDERNESS & RAISING LIVING STANDARDS, CHINA IS FAR AHEAD OF ANY OTHER COUNTRY WITH HIGH ALTITUDE MOUNTAINS. SIMPLY CHINA’S ECONOMY MEANS MORE MONEY GETS SPENT ON EDUCATION, CLEAN INFRASTRUCTURE, EFFICIENT TRANSPORT & FOOD SECURITY AND THOUGH POVERTY STILL EXISTS IT’S NOTHING LIKE YOU SEE IN SOME PLACES – TO THE VERY REAL POINT THAT HUNDREDS OF SEASONAL MIGRANTS DON’T CLAMBER TO CARRY TOURISTS LUGGAGE FOR A MEAGRE LIVING OR HAVE TO LIVE OFF TIPS.
THE SOCIAL VALUE OF CLIMBING IN A CHINA MEANS YOU GET TO SEE FIRST HAND HOW QUITE LITERALLY ‘THE OTHER HALF’ DOES THINGS. THERE IS ALMOST NO TOURISM BUBBLE IN THE PLACES WE GO SO YOU GET TO INTERACT WITH UIGHER, KYRGYZ, TIBETAN & CHINESE PEOPLE ON A REALISTIC LEVEL – THE KEY WORD THERE BEING ‘INTERACT’. IN ALMOST EVERY AREA WE GO TO WE ARE THE FIRST FOREIGNERS THE LOCALS WILL MEET, MAKING THE INTERACTIONS WITHOUT FORMAT. WE REPRESENT OUR CULTURES AS MUCH AS THEY REPRESENT THEIRS AND THIS IS GROUND ZERO FOR BUILDING UNDERSTANDING OF ONE ANOTHER, ESPECIALLY IN PLACES THE MEDIA HAS ALREADY MADE A LOT OF NOISE ABOUT.
WE KNOW FIRST HAND HOW QUALITY INTERACTION WITH URBAN, RURAL & NOMADIC PEOPLE PLAYS OUT BECAUSE WE MOVE THROUGH THEIR WORLDS AT THE SAME LEVEL THEY DO – ON FOOT, SLOWLY, CARRYING OUR LOADS & WILLING TO LISTEN. WE GET TO SEE FIRST HAND WHAT AFFECTS THEIR LIVES, WE GET TO SAY FIRST HAND WHAT OUR LIVES ARE ABOUT, AND WE GET PLENTY OF TIME TO THINK ABOUT HOW ALL THAT CAN BE IMPROVED. CHINA HAS NO INFLUX OF NGOS AND NPOS PICKING UP THE SLACK LIKE YOU SEE IN PAKSITAN, INDIA & NEPAL. THERE’S NO ‘ONE PEN’ KIDS, ATM BEGGARS OR SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS ADDRESSING THE PROBLEMS, SO WHEN IT COMES TO FOREIGN INPUT IT’S UP TO US TO DECIDE FOR OURSELVES.
THE SOCIAL VALUES OF GOING TO REMOTE PARTS OF XINJIANG & TIBET ARE HIGH BECAUSE THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNCOMMERCIALIZED CONTACT THESE DAYS ARE VERY RARE – FOR BOTH SIDES OF THE INTERACTION. THE ‘LONELY PLANETIZATION’ OF DISTANT LOCATIONS AND THE ‘TWITTERIZATION’ OF HUMAN INTERACTION HAS RESULTED IN A CULTURAL HOMOGENITY VERY HARD TO STEP OUTSIDE OF. BUT WE FOUND A WAY.
COMBINED VALUE
WE’VE DONE PLENTY OF TRIPS OURSELVES TO THE COMMERCIAL HIGH ALTITUDE CLIMBING AREAS ELSEWHERE AND WE ARE NOT SURE WHERE THE VALUES BOTH ECONOMICALLY & SOCIALLY ARE GOING IN THOSE PLACES. BUT IN TIBET AND THE NORTH SIDE OF THE KARAKORUM – BECAUSE WE WORK DIRECTLY WITH GOVERNING BODIES THAT MANAGE THEM – WE HAVE A REAL CHANCE TO BE PART OF THE FUTURE OF THE UNEXPLORED PLACES THAT ARE LEFT. WE HAVE NO INTERESTS IN SEEING THESE PLACES ‘OPEN UP’ AND BECOME INDUSTRIALIZED, SO OUR OBJECTIVE IS TO SEE THEM MANAGED SUSTAINABLY.
TO US SUSTAINABLE VALUES FOR THESE PLACES LOOKS REALISTIC WITH SMALL TEAMS VISITING AS EFFICIENTLY AS THEY CAN. COSTS CORRESPOND DIRECTLY WITH SMALL FOOTPRINTS, NOT LEGIONS OF MINIMUM WAGE WORKERS. LOGISTICS REPRESENT CLEAN TECHNOLOGIES & INFRASTRUCTURE, NOT SCRAPING AWAY FURTHER AT ALREADY OVERLOADED & OUTDATED SYSTEMS. BUREAUCRACY REFLECTS EFFORTS TO LIMIT & MAINTAIN IMPACT ON FRAGILE ENVIRONMENTS BOTH TOPOGRAPHIC & DEMOGRAPHIC. LOCAL INTERACTION MEANS HUMAN TO HUMAN, SPENDING MONEY DIRECTLY TO THE COMMUNITIES WE PASS THROUGH, ADVOCATING EDUCATION & DIVERSITY, NOT THE STEREOTYPES OF TOURISM & CONSUMERISM.
WE ARE NOT SURE WHERE THE VALUES OF HIGH ALTITUDE CLIMBING ARE AT THESE DAYS OVERALL – MORE PEOPLE DOING IT MEANS MORE REASONS BEHOND THEIR ACTIONS – BUT FOR THE SMALL PART OF IT WE ARE INVOLVED IN WE KNOW WE CAN INFLUENCE THINGS FOR THE BETTER. WE MAY NOT BE ABLE TO DO MUCH ABOUT THE CORE OF VALUE PROBLEMS, BUT AT THE REMOTE EDGE IN THE UNIQUE ENVIRONMENTS OF THE WILDERNESSES NORTH OF THE HIMALAYAN DIVIDE WE CAN MAKE SMALL TEAMS OF CLIMBERS THE CHANGE WE WANT TO SEE.
