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

CLIMBING EXPEDITION COFFEE ROASTED BEANS

EXPEDITION COFFEE ROASTS. THE RIGHT BUZZ IN THE RIGHT PLACES

FROM 2025 ALL OUR EXPEDITIONS WILL HAVE UNIQUE BEAN ROASTS, EITHER FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS OWN WICKEDEST ESPRESSO IN THE WORLD! BEANS, OR SOMETHING DONE TO THE TEAMS OWN REQUEST.
IS THIS THE FINAL DESCENT INTO THE ABYSS OF HIPSTERISM, FIRST-WORLD PROBLEMS AND THE INANE? WE DON’T THINK SO. IT COULD BE IF WE WERE TALKING SOMEWHERE ALREADY IN THE GRIPS OF URBAN CHIC LIKE EVEREST, BUT THE CULTURAL JUXTAPOSITION IN AN OFT-MISUNDERSTOOD PLACE LIKE TIBET, WHERE WE GET TO SHOOT ESPRESSOS WITH KHAMPA COWBOYS ACROSS THE ROAD FROM YAK MARKETS, IS POST-MODERN CLIMBING AT ITS BEST

THERM-IC 8K ULTRA WARM MITTS REVIEW.

YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY GOOD GLOVES AND THE EXPENSE IS ALWAYS JUSTIFIED, AND ANYTHING THAT REDUCES THE CHANCE OF ENDING UP WITH FROSTBITE IS MONEY WELL SPENT. SAVE YOUR DOLLARS ELSEWHERE (TITANIUM SPOONS ARE FOR SUCKERS), BECAUSE FAILING ON A $15K TRIP BECAUSE YOU SCROOGED ON GLOVES IS JUST DUMB. IF YOU MUST HAVE A FETISH, MAKE IT GLOVES

TOM ROSPABE. IMAGES OF AKSAI QIN.

AKSAI QIN IS A REMOTE AND ALIEN FRONTIER ON THE EDGE OF HABITABILITY, WHERE PEOPLE ARE BARELY RELEVANT, ESPECIALLY IN WINTER WHEN THESE IMAGES WERE TAKEN

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