WILD THINGS; LIGHTER IS RIGHTER 40 YEARS ON

OUR RECENT POST REASSESSING STEVE HOUSES GEAR FROM NANGA PARPAT EARNED US A SPATE OF COMMENTS. A FEW THINGS WE GOT WRONG AND WERE CORRECTED, BUT THE REAL VALUE CAME IN THE FORM OF TAKING THINGS BACK A LEVEL, TO SOMETHING WE WERE AWARE OF BUT OVERLOOKED – WHICH WAS THAT THIS EXERCISE HAD ALREADY BEEN DONE, IN THE PRE-YOUTUBE ERA, BY WILD THINGS IN THEIR 1984 CATALOGUE.

NOW WE ARE BACK FROM A WINTER IN TIBET WITH A WEALTH OF DATA, AMONG VARIOUS CONCEPT PROJECTS WE HAVE RUNNING IS REVISITING CONCEPT DESIGNS FROM THE PAST, SPANNING OSCAR ECKENSTEIN AND GEORGE FINCH, THROUGH TO DON WHILAN, THE MALACHOWSKI FAMILY AND THE NORTH FACE AMK/GOLDWIN IN JAPAN. WILD THINGS IS A CLEAR STANDOUT ALONG THIS CONTINUUM, BRAZENLY PRESENTING NUMBERS. THIS THINKING WAS THEN FURTHER BROADCAST IN EXTREME ALPINISM, WITH ANOTHER 15 YEARS OF PROGRESS, AGAIN NAMING NAMES, CREATING ANOTHER SET OF DATA VECTORS BY WHICH TO PLOT WHERE CLIMBING CAN GO.

WILD THINGS LIST, SWITCHED TO THE 20th CENTURY METRIC, FOLLOWED BY OUR NUMBERS GOES LIKE:

SHELL BIB/BASE ‘ALTITUDE SUIT’ 1134g / 750g

FUEL, 600ml 363g / 750g

ROPE, SINGLE DOUBLE 1928g / 1600g

RACK (10 BINERS, 4 SCREWS, 2 CAMS, 2 PITONS) 1815g / 1300g

TENT 1815g / 950g

HARNESS 340g / 150g

HEADLAMP 227g / 85g

ICE TOOLS* 2268g / 1110g

80L PACK 1315g / 700g

BOOT LINERS 454g / 550g

SLINGS X 6 113g / 108g

HELMET** 363g / 385g

UNAVOIDABLES*** (WATER, CLOTHING, FOOD, STOVE. SLEEPING BAG, CRAMPONS, BOOT SHELLS) 9027g / 7010g

TOTAL 21,205g FOR DIFFERENCE OF 45% / 15,448g FOR A DIFFERENCE OF 5,757g / 46%

*ORIGINAL WAS FOR 3 TOOLS (DOWN FROM 4) PLUS EXTRA PICKS AND WRIST LEASHES). WE ACCOUNT FOR 3.

**ORIGINAL WAS FOR A GALIBER WHICH WAS INTENTIONALLY HEAVIER BY BEING FULL SHELLED. WE ACCOUND FOR A CONTEMPORARY SHELLED GRIVEL SALAMANDER

***THE SAME ITEMS AS WE REGULARLY TAKE

.

PICK THIS APART AND THINGS AREN’T ALWAYS AS THEY APPEAR ON PAPER, WHILE OTHER THINGS SPEAK VOLUMES ABOUT WHERE PROGRESS ACTUALLY LAYS. STOVES WEIGH NO LESS, AND GAS CAN ACTUALLY WEIGH MORE, BUT THEY NOW ARE MORE EFFICIENT AND EASY TO USE. BOOT LINERS NOW WEIGH MORE, BUT ARE MORE THERMALLY EFFICIENT, AND THE OUTER SHELLS ARE LIGHTER, SLIMMER AND SIMPLY MORE COMFORTABLE.

WHAT’S INTERESTING IS THAT CURRENT CRUNCHING SHOWS AN EFFECTIVELY EXACT SAME DIFFERENTIAL, BETWEEN THE INNOVATIVE NEW STUFF AND THE STUFF IN COMMON USE. THE NUMBERS SHIFT ABOUT A LITTLE AS THE BASELINE ‘UNAVOIDABLES’ NOW ARE ALSO LIGHTER BY, AND THAT SOME THINGS HAVE BARELY CHANGED (ie SLINGS) WHILST OTHERS CHANGED DRAMATICALLY (ie TENTS). WE ALSO COULD EASILY IGNORE LIKE FOR LIKE, AND PLAY WITH HYBRID HELMETS, CUSTOM PACKS, SKINNIER ROPES AND LEAVE OUT AN ICE TOOL – DROPPING ANOTHER 1000g OR SO TO OUR ADVANTAGE.

.

NOW, WILD THINGS DID THE SMART THING AND DIDN’T JUST SPEW NUMBERS, BUT INCLUDED A VERY FORTHRIGHT FOOTNOTE THAT LAYS OUT THE TEST TO TRY THE DIFFERENCE YOURSELF BY DOING PULL UPS. THE ARTICLE SHAREs MUCH OF THIS THINKING WITH ANOTHER WILD THINGS COMPATRIOT WHO CAME A FEW YEARS LATER, MARK TWIGHT, SO WE CONTACTED HIM FOR COMMENT – FOUR DECADES DOWN THE LINE – TO GET HIS OPINION WITH SO MUCH CHANGE SINCE.

MARKS GENEROUS AND CANDID RESPONSE WENT INTO THE EQUATIONS AROUND WHAT LIGHTER GEAR COULD MEAN, CAUTIOUSLY REFRAINING FROM REIMAGINING THE PAST. HE MAKES VERY CLEAR THAT THE IDEAS DISTILLED BY WILD THINGS INTO EQUIPMENT WAS AN ETHIC SHARED BY A LOOSE COLLECTION OF CLIMBERS, AND THAT THE RESULTS ARE THERE TO SEE IN THE FOSSIL LAYERS OF CLIMBING. WILD THINGS WAS NOT THE ONLY COMPANY PLAYING TO THIS ETHIC, WITH OTHERS ACROSS THE SCENE RUNNING AN ARMS RACE FOR NEW DESIGNS THAT WOULD OPEN UP NEW POTENTIAL, AND KEEP UP WITH THE INCREASINGLY EXTREME IDEAS OF CLIMBERS LIKE ALEX McINTYRE AND VOYTEK KURTYKA,

CORRELATED WITH TRAINING – WHERE THE CONVERSATION IMMEDIATELY GREW WINGS AS MIGHT BE EXPECTED – THE DIAGNOSTICS OF WEIGHTED PULL UPS TWIGHT BELIEVES STILL HOLDS WATER, AND IS THERE TO BE SELF-ADMINISTERED, IN REAL TIME, AND SIMPLY. THOUGH THE RELEVANCY TO THINGS LIKE LACTATE THRESHOLDS etc MAY HAVE MOVED ON, THIS BASIC TEST PUTS THE CLIMBER AT THE CENTER OF THEIR CHOICES AND LAYS DOWN THE PRIMARY EQUATION THAT AFFECTS PERFORMANCE AT ALTITUDE.

A PERTINENT ELEMENT OF THE DISCUSSION WAS THAT THE POTENTIAL WITH RADICALLY LIGHTER LOADS IS GRIST FOR THE IMAGINATION, AND SOMETHING THAT BEARS FRUIT OVER CYCLES OF TIME. THOUGH THAT VANGUARD GENERATION DROPPED THE BALLS IN SO MANY OTHER WAYS (OR PASSED IT TO COMMERCIALISM, A RANT FOR NEXT TIME…), THEY GOT THIS INGREDIENT RIGHT.

THE POINT OF ALL THIS IS NOT TO MASTURBATE OVER NUMBERS, CREATING DREAM GEAR LISTS, OR USING THEM TO REWRITE THE PAST. THE POINT IS TO USE THEM TO PROJECT FORWARD, TO SEE WHERE CLIMBING CAN GO, BY MATCHING THEM WITH OTHER FACTORS LIKE TRAINING, CLIMATE AND ACCESS TO PICK WHAT THE NEXT GENERATION CAN PLAY WITH.

REMEMBER TOO THIS IS FORTY YEARS AGO, BEFORE COLOURED CATALOGUES LET ALONE THE INTERNET AND MARKETING DIRECT TO YOUR INSTAGRAM FEED. CONSIDER THE CURVE IN THE FORTY YEAR BEFORE THAT – SHIPTON AND TILMAN – OR FORTY YEARS BEFORE THAT AGAIN – CROWLEY AND THE DUKE OF ABRUZZI, AND A CORRELATION EMERGES THAT NO COOL GEAR IS WHAT MAKES AN ASCENT, BUT INNOVATION IS WHAT ALLOWS CLIMBERS TO PLAN. IT ALLOWS CRUNCHING OF NUMBERS AND PROJECTIONS ACROSS A SPECTRUM OF FACTORS, TO FIND SWEET SPOTS WITH WHICH TO PICK OBJECTIVES.

WE THINK THERE’S A DIVERSION OF FACTORS BETWWEN CLIMBING NOW AND WHERE IT WAS IN THE APEX ERAS OF BEFORE, WHEN INNOVATIONS IN EQUIPMENT WERE MIXED UP WITH SHIFTS IN GEOPOLITICAL ACCESS, PUBLIC THIRST FOR THE STORIES, AND ADVANCES IN MEDICINE AND HUMAN PERFORMANCE TO UNLEASH INNOVATIVE ASCENTS, AND YET CURRENTLY HIGH ALPINISM IS IN LOW EBB DESPITE ALL THESE THINGS NEVER BEING MORE ATTAINABLE.

.