Month: January 2024

IN AN INDUSTRY LOST TO SLEAZY COMMERCIALISM WE RESORT TO THE LAST BASTION OF ALTERNATIVE MARKETING – THE ‘BAND SHIRT’ AND STICKERS. WE DON’T SPEND ON POP UPS, SCROLLING BANNERS, SPONSORED POSTS AND TRADE SHOWS, INSTEAD OUR INFLUENCERS ARE GRIMEY PACKS BEING PUSHED THROUGH ARRIVALS, FADED SHIRTS AT THE CRAG, AND PEELING AND MELTED STICKERS ON WATERBOTTLES, ICE TOOLS AND COOKING POTS BEING USED BY REAL CLIMBERS WHO KNOW WHAT REAL EXPEDITIONS ARE ABOUT.

CONTRARY TO THE DISTOPIAN FANTASIES SOME HAVE ABOUT CHINA AND TIBET, THESE LADIES RUN THEIR OWN BUSINESSES FREE FROM STATE INTERFERENCE, CULTURAL INTERFERENCE AND THE INTERFERENCE OF TIBETAN MEN. IF CAPITALISM CAN BE SEEN TO WORK THEN THIS IS THE EXAMPLE, AS WE PAY GOOD LIVING WAGES DIRECTLY INTO THEIR HANDS, AS WE HAVE DONE FOR WELL OVER A DECADE.

NORTH SIDES OF PEAKS, ON THE NORTH SIDES OF THE RANGES, UP ON THE NORTHERN PLATEAU AND IN THE NORTHERN PARTS OF THE GREAT DIVIDE. PLAY WITH THE SEMANTICS OF WHAT WINTER MAY MEAN IF YOU MUST, BUT ANYONE WHO HAS BEEN OUT THERE KNOWS THE PETTINESS IS CONFINED WITH THE SOUTHERN, LOWER LATITUDES, AND THAT ‘NORTH’ SOMEWHERE LIKE THE GASHERBRUMS IS A DIFFERENT PARADIGM THAT FEW PERCEIVE IN SUMMER LET ALONE EARLY JANUARY.