WINTER HIGH ALTITUDE NORTH SIDES
YET AGAIN EXPEDITION ALPINISM IS HITTING A WALL AND STRUGGLING TO FIND A WAY FORWARD.
WE HAVE SEEN THIS BEFORE, WHERE HIGH ALTITUDE CLIMBING HITS THE SAME LIMITATIONS THAT NORMAL ALTITUDE CLIMBING HITS, JUST A FEW DECADES LATER, IN THIS CASE THE SAME STUFF JUST SCALED UP FROM THE 80s. NOW, AS IT WAS THEN, THE PERCEIVED WALL IS ONE OF VISION – SOMETHING ALL THE FANCY GEAR, TECHNIQUES AND SIMULATED TRAINING CANNOT OVERCOME AND MAY EVEN DETRACT FROM.
AS WE ARE SEEMINGLY PERENNIALLY DOOMED TO PERPETUATE, YET AGAIN BIG ALPINISM IS EMBROILED IN ANOTHER SHITFIGHT, THIS TIME OVER WHAT CONSTITUTES A ‘WINTER’ ASCENT. AS USUAL IT IS BETWEEN A CORE OF ACTUAL WINTER HIGH ALT CLIMBERS, BUOYED ON BY THE ARMCHAIR ANALYSTS AND STATISTICIANS WHO LOOK BACKWARDS TO DAYS OF YORE RATHER FORWARDS. OF COURSE THIS CONTRIVED CHRONOLOGICAL CONSERVATISM HAS NEVER GIVEN RISE TO THE NEXT EVOLUTION, MADE MORE ABSURD IN THIS TIME OF CLIMATE SHIFTS WHERE THE NUMBERS MEAN EVEN LESS THAN EVER.
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ANYWAY…
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CLIMBING HAS BEEN THROUGH COUNTLESS VERSIONS OF THIS BEFORE, AND ALWAYS IT’S BEEN DEFEATED BY FORWARD THINKING CLIMBERS WHO TAKE THE ADVANCES OF THE DAY, BLEND THEM UP, AND APPLY THEM IN WAYS THE ONLOOKERS NEVER SEEM TO PREDICT. THE HARD ASCENTS AND NORTH FACES OF THE ALPS, THE POLISH IN THE WINTER ACROSS THE GREATER RANGES, THE GREAT SOLOISTS LIKE LAFAILLE AND JELLO, AND THE MANY WHO TRIED WHILST THE REST SAT BACK AND WHO THE STATISTICIANS AND ‘JOURNALISTS’ CAN’T BE BOTHERED WITH YET WHO MAKE UP THE PART OF THE ICEBERG BENEATH THE WATERLINE. ALL THESE ELEMENTS CONJURE WHAT’S NEXT, NOT THE REPETITION OF WHAT’S COME BEFORE.
OUR POINT HERE – AFTER COMING OUT OF OUT FIRST TRIPS IN TIBET IN THE ’23/’24 WINTER AND ABOUT TO GO BACK IN – IS THAT HIGH ALTITUDE WINTER NORTH SIDES IS THE ANTIDOTE TO THE CIRCULAR RHETORIC AND HAIR-SPLITTING THAT HIGH-STAKES 8000m CLIMBING IS HEADED FOR. THIS IS NOT THAT NEW, AS THE GREAT POLISH CLIMBERS TRIED IT IN THE 90s, ONLY FOR IT TO HAVE SLIPPED FROM POPULAR THINKING AS THEY MAY HAVE THROWN THE BAR TOO HIGH FOR TIME BEFORE IT WAS LOWERED BY OTHERS AFTER.
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.
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BE AWARE TOO THAT THIS STUFF IS POSSIBLE, AND THAT THE FINEST HIGH ALTITUDE ALPINISTS OF TODAY ARE NOT RAISING THEIR HANDS FOR IT MEANS IT IS OPEN FOR THE NEXT GENERATION. THAT MORO, BIELECKI, URUBKO AND TXIKON SEEM CONDEMNED TO FIDDLE WITH DATES AND TIRED ROUTES SPEAKS MORE OF THE PAST THAN THE FUTURE, BECAUSE HUGE ADVANCES IN ALPINISM AWAIT THE UP AND COMING GENERATION WHO ARE LOOKING AT THESE PEAKS ACROSS A WHOLE NEW LANDSCAPE, LITERALLY.
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SO WHAT DOES IT TAKE THEN?
AS ALWAYS, TWO THINGS; NEW LOGISTICS AND NEW THINKING. BOTH RISING ABOVE AND BEYOND WHAT A DINOSAUR INDUSTRY WILL CURRENTLY PROVIDE. THE WINTER HI ALT STUFF GOING ON SOUTH OF THE DIVIDE IS SO HOPELESSLY CULTURE AND INDUSTRY BOUND, WE SHOULD EXPECT WHERE WE CURRENTLY ARE BECAUSE NOTHING ELSE IS ON OFFER.
LOGISTICALLY WINTER 8000m NORTHSIDES MEAN HARDER TERRAIN, HARDER CONDITIONS AND THE PRESSURE THAT IMPOSES ON THINGS LIKE APPROACHES, CREW AND GEAR. FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS RESOLVES ALL THIS – AS WE ARE PROVING IN TIBET RIGHT NOW – BY MINIMIZING THE FRAILTY OF HUMAN PORTERS, APPROACHING IN RAIN SHADOW AND USING RESOURCES THAT ARE STRONGER, LIGHTER, MADE OF COMPOSITES AND USE ENERGY IN WAYS THAT CIRCUMVENT THE LIMITATIONS OF TRADITIONAL MEANS.
LIKE ANY FORM OF 8000m CLIMBING, IT IS TESTED, ADJUSTED AND PREPARED FOR ON LOWER PEAKS, HAMMERING OUT THE ISSUES BEFORE PROJECTING ONTO THE FINAL OBJECTIVE. THIS MEANS THE NORTH SIDES OF 6000m AND 7000m PEAKS IN PLACES THAT SCALE TOWARDS WHAT AN 8000m ASCENT INCURS, INCLUDING ALL THE APPROACH STUFF, EQUIPMENT, STRATEGIES, FOOD AND TEAM DYNAMICS THAT NEED TO BE SORTED. THESE TRIPS MEAN THAT THE FINAL OBJECTIVE TAKES PLACE ALONG A LOGICAL CURVE, THAT ALLOWS FOR MORE INNOVATIVE ASCENTS THAN THE DINOSAUR VERSION SEEN ELSEWHERE THAT CLEARLY IS GOING NOWHERE OTHER INTO IT’S OWN NAVEL.
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RIGHT NOW ALL THIS IS A BLINDSPOT OVER HI ALT ALPINISM, DEEMED IMPOSSIBLE, POINTLESS OR SIMPLY IGNORED BY THOSE WHO DRIVE USING THE REAR VIEW MIRRORS. THIS IS A GOOD THING, AND IS THE INDICATOR FOR THOSE WHO LOOK FORWARD, SEEING AN OPEN END TO ALPINISM RATHER THAN THE NEED FOR SOME SELF-INDULGENT CONCLUSION. THIS IS NOT THE SILLY BICKERING OVER DATES AND MINUTEA THAT SUCKS THE OXYGEN OUT OF BIG ALPINISM ELSEWHERE, BUT WHOLE NEW WORLD OF NEW OBJECTIVES THAT LAYS OVER THE EVENT HORIZON OF A SPORT CHASING IT’S TAIL.