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

AKSAI QIN KUNLUN XINJIANG CLIMBING EXPEDITION

OIERLIZUOKE 6700m, AKSAI QIN, 2024. WHERE CELCIUS & FARENHEIT MEET.

IN 2024 FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS OBTAINED THE FIRST PERMITS TO THE NORTH SIDE OF THE K2 MASSIF SINCE 2011, INCLUDING THE NORTH SIDE OF K2 ITSELF. THE OBJECTIVES WERE A +6500m FIRST ASCENT, OBSERVATIONS OF GLACIAL CHANGES OVER THE PAST DECADE, RECCE OF THE NORTHERN CHINA SIDE OF K2 IN EARLY WINTER CONDITIONS, AND A BRIEF VISIT TO THE CHINA SIDE OF THE GASHERBRUMS.

THIS IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED.

SAMAYA ASSAUT2 & ASSAUT3 ULTRA XP TENTS

THERE’S A LOT GOING ON HERE

UNDISCLOSED EXPEDITIONS XINJIANG TIBET DISPUTED AREAS

EXPEDITIONS TO PLACES THAT DON’T EXIST*

WE BARTERED OUR SOULS AT THE CROSS ROADS OF TURKESTAN AND TIBET A LONG TIME AGO, IN EXCHANGE FOR GAINING ACCESS TO THE LARGEST COLLECTION OF UNCLIMBED HIGH ALTITUDE PEAKS ON EARTH. WE WILLINGLY HANDED OVER ANY PLACE IN THE COMMERCIAL CLIMBING INDUSTRY, TO HAVE PERMISSION TO PLACES FAMOUS FOR BEING KNOWN AS FORBIDDEN

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