FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS – K2 NORTH SIDE, TIBET CLIMBING & THIRD POLE EXPEDITIONS

FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS

NEW & OBSCURE ROUTES,
FIRST & WINTER ASCENTS,
5000 TO 8000m

KARAKORAM NORTH, TIBET &
INNER ASIA

2024/25 EXPEDITIONS BOOKING NOW

"There are those, I believe, who image that the number of unexplored and unclimbed mountains is fast running out; that given reasonable peaceful conditions, quicker and cheaper transport, in a generation or so, half a century at most, all the peaks of the world will have been scaled, and that, even in the more remote ranges, mountaineers wishing to tread new ground will have to 'invent' new ways of approach. That must indeed be a gloomy prospect. But I defy even the most pessimistic mountaineer to travel far in the highlands of Central Asia and still hold that view. He may come to wonder, as I have wondered, whether in a century and a half of mountaineering, one-tenth of the summits of the world have as yet been reached."

- ERIC SHIPTON, MOUNTAINS OF TARTARY, 1950

ice climbing gobi desert inner mongolia expedition winter

FINDING THE RAT

THE STUFF OTHER COMPANIES AREN’T TELLING YOU ABOUT

XINJIANG EXPEDITION INNER ASIA GOBI CLIMBING

THE WILDEST PEAKS ON EARTH

K2 KARAKORAM NORTH SIDE RIDGE GASHERBRUM EXPEDITION CHINA

UNTOUCHED 8000m CLIMBING

TIBET CLIMBING EXPEDITION FIRST ASCENT NEW ROUTE

THOUSANDS OF QUIET PEAKS

FEEDING THE RANT

THE FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS READING LIST

“THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK, AND READ BEFORE YOU THINK”
– FRAN LEBOWITZ

FIRST DEGREE FROSTBITE. THE IDIOTS GUIDE TO GETTING IT WRONG

THE MAIN ISSUE WITH FIRST DEGREE FROSTBITE IS LEARNING THE LESSON, BECAUSE ONCE EXPOSED THE RISK OF FUTURE INJURY INCREASES. ANALYSIS OF WHAT LEAD TO IT SHOULD BE THOROUGH AND INCISIVE, AND THE LESSONS HEEDED. THE CLIMBER WHO ALLOWS IT TO HAPPEN TWICE NEEDS TO APPRAISE THEIR MINDSET AND FACE THE GAPS IN THEIR BEHAVIOUR, BECAUSE IF SOMETHING SO BASIC IS SLIPPING THROUGH YOU NEED TO ASK WHAT ELSE IS

VISAS FOR EXPEDITIONS IN CHINA. DO YOU NEED ONE?

ONCE ISSUED, IMMIGRATION ENTERING CHINA IS EASY, AND THIS SAME VISA WILL SEE YOU THROUGH ANY CHECKPOINTS, HOTEL BOOKING AND PERMIT CHECKS THAT ARE COMMON IN THE SENSITIVE AND REMOTE AREAS WE USUALLY CLIMB IN. CHINA VISAS COVER THE ENTIRE COUNTRY, WHICH MEANS XINJIANG AND TIBET ARE PART OF THAT, NEEDING NO SPECIAL ADDITIONS TO THE VISA ISSUED FOR ENTRY.

Parbat pack expedition backpack Aluula ultralight

PARBAT EXPEDITION 140L ULTRA PACK

IN OUR WORLD EVERY GRAM SAVED ON PACK WEIGHT BECOMES FUEL, FOOD AND INSULATION, WHICH WHEN COMPARED TO REGULAR PACKS EQUATES TO AN INCREDIBLE EXTRA WEEK OF SUSTAINMENT. THIS FURTHER EXTRAPOLATES TO ANOTHER 1000m OF CLIMBING OR ANOTHER WEEK INTO WILDERNESS OR TWO WEEKS INTO WINTER, WHICH ARE VERY REAL NUMBERS IN A VERY REAL WORLD, FAR FROM THE REACH OF MOST CLIMBING ELSEWHERE

THINK MORE

NEEDING THE RAT

UNIQUE GEAR FOR OUR UNIQUE EXPEDITIONS

ELITECLIMB MORPHO TOOLS REVIEW. AS GOOD AS TOOLS GET

MALACHOWSKI SUPER ULTRALIGHT SLEEPING BAGS REVIEW. THE FINEST SLEEPING BAGS POSSIBLE

PARBAT PACKS. ACTUALLY GAME-CHANGING

FOR OUR 2024/25 EXPEDITIONS WE COLLABORATE WITH

ELITECLIMB SAMAYA OUTERU SNOW LEOPARD TRUST PARBAT MALACHOWSKI VAPRO AIRTRIM

That’s why I like feeding the rat. It’s a sort of annual check-up on myself. The rat is you, really. It’s the other you, and it’s being fed by the you that you think you are. And they are often very different people. But when they come close to each other, that’s smashing, that is. Then the rat’s had a good meal and you come away feeling terrific. It’s a fairly rare thing, but you have to keep feeding the brute, just for your own peace of mind. And even if you did blow it, at least there wouldn’t be that great unknown.

Mo Anthoine in Feeding the Rat, by Al Alvarez

FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONSNEW & OBSCURE ROUTES, FIRST & WINTER ASCENTS,5000 TO 8000m KARAKORAM NORTH, TIBET & INNER ASIA 2024/25 EXPEDITIONS BOOKING NOW