ALPINISTES SANS FRONTIERES. ALPINISTS WITHOUT BORDERS
EXPEDITION CLIMBING MAY OUTWARDLY APPEAR TO BE A FAR RANGING AND EXOTIC ENDEAVOUR THAT EXPLORES TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH WHEREVER THEY MAY BE BY SOME GRAND VISION OF HUMANITY, BUT THE REALITY ISN’T LIKE THAT. ACTUAL EXPEDITIONS AND THE PROCESSES AROUND THEM CAN BE VERY CONTAINED AND LOCALIZED, WITH ONLY A SMALL PERCENTAGE GOING ON OUTSIDE A FEW VERY WELL KNOW REGIONS. VAST TRACTS OF HIGH ALTITUDE TERRAIN HAVE BEEN BARELY EXPLORED, LET ALONE CLIMBED, AND EVEN WITHIN HIGH PROFILE AREAS THE LIONS SHARES OF ATTENTION GOES TO ONLY A DROP IN THE BUCKET OF WHAT EXISTS.
FAR FROM BEING THE PURSUIT OF HUMAN SPIRIT, MOST EXPEDITIONS THESE DAYS DEAL IN SPLITTING HAIRS, TINY INCREMENTS, MINOR VARIATIONS AND ANECDOTAL CHANGES TO OBJECTIVES LONG ESTABLISHED. MANY EXPEDITIONS WE DON’T THINK ARE REALLY EXPEDITIONS AT ALL, BEING SIMPLY UPDATES ON STATISTICS SUCH AS SPEED ASCENTS, LINKING UP LISTS AND EXISTING ONLY WITHIN A SINGLE CLIMBERS CONTEXT RATHER THAN ACTUAL EXPLORATION.
AS ALWAYS, WE DON’T OBJECT TO ANY OF THIS, BECAUSE AS ALWAYS IT’S ALL SOMETHING WE HAVE VIRTUALLY NO INTERACTION WITH. THESE ARE NOT THE THINGS WERE CONCERN OURSELVES WITH, INSTEAD FOCUSING ENTIRELY ON WHAT LAYS OUTSIDE THE WHOLE PARADIGM OF INDUSTRIAL CLIMBING. WE DEFINE WHAT WE DO BY OTHER FACTORS TO WHAT THE COMMERCIAL INDUSTRY DOES, AND THE LIMITATIONS AND BORDERS WE GO BEYOND DEFINE OUR TRIPS, OUR TEAMS AND OUR LOGISTICS.
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“WITHOUT BORDERS” IS A TALL ORDER TO ASK, AND IS SOMETHING THAT CONJURES IDEAS ABOUT HIGH LEVELS OF COMMITMENT, HIGHLY SPECIALIZED METHODS AND A DEGREE OF DARING BEYOND WHAT IS NORMALLY CALLED FOR. ORGANIZATIONS THAT USE THIS SUFFIX* HAVE REPUTATIONS EARNED THE HARD WAY – BY BEING THERE WHEN NO ONE ELSE WILL – AND SIT OUTSIDE THE NORMAL IDEAS ABOUT REASON AND REWARD.
WE THINK THIS FITS WHAT WE DO WELL, DISRUPTING AN ACCEPTED MENTALITY IN CLIMBING THAT HAS SATURATED SOME AREAS AND REINFORCED SOME BORDERS TO THE DETRIMENT OF THE SPORT AND THE PEOPLE WHO ARE PART OF IT. IT’S ONE THING FOR BORDERS TO EXIST AS PART OF LOCAL ORGANIZATION AND GEOGRAPHY, BUT ANOTHER FOR THEM TO BE IMPOSED BY INDUSTRIES AS CAPRICIOUS AS ADVENTURE TOURISM THAT DEFINES LIMITS AND BOUNDARIES BY THINGS LIKE CHEAP LOGISTICS, CORRUPT BUREACRACY AND THE WHIMS OF SHORT TERM VISITORS.
SAN FRONTIERES MEANS TO LOOK AT PLACES ACCORDING TO DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES THAT ARE NOT CONTROLLED BY CONVENTIONAL BORDERS. ALL BORDERS AND LIMITS ARE SEEN AS ARBITARY CONVENTIONS, SOME MORE CONTRIVED THAN OTHERS, THAT OFTEN RESULT IN BLINDSPOTS OVER OTHERWISE NOBLE AND EXCITING POSSIBILITIES. HIGH ALTITUDE CLIMBING IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF THIS, THE PRESENT PARADIGM BEING THE RESULT OF ABSTRACT BORDERS, NOT NATURAL ONES, THAT HAVE BEEN CONTESTED MORE BY POLITICS AND INDUSTRY THAN BY CLIMBERS.
THE GREAT ERAS AND EVOLUTIONS IN ALPINISM HAVE ALWAYS CORRESPONDED WITH REAPPRAISALS AND CHALLENGES TO BORDERS, WITH PIRATE ASCENTS, CHANGES IN APPROACHES AND DIALOGUE WITH AUTHORITIES HAVING AS MUCH TO DO WITH PROGRESS AS ANYTHING TO DO WITH TECHNOLOGY, MEDIA AND CELEBRITY.
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LOCATION
THE EASIEST DEFINITION OF FRONTIERE IS LAND BORDERS, TO MEAN COUNTRIES, ZONES WITHIN THEM OR PLACES DEFINED BY BORDERS SUCH AS DESERTS AND DISTANCE. OF ALL THE TYPES OF BORDERS THESE ARE THE MOST OBVIOUS AND THEREFORE THE MOST UPHELD, SO THE ONES THAT CONTAIN AND CONFINE THINGS LIKE INDUSTRY THAT OFTEN HAS REGIONAL ALLEGIENCE.
BUY SHIFTING AWAY FROM A COMMERCIAL OR EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT TO GEOGRAPHY AND APPROACHING AS INTERNATIONAL AND PAN-CULTURAL, WE CAN REASSESS HOW BORDERS LIMIT THINGS IN THE MOST TANGIBLE FORM,
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STYLE
WE ARGUE THAT THE BIGGEST FRONTIER IS ONE OF STYLE, WHERE THINGS ARE DEFINED NOT BY A TANGIBLE BORDER, BUT BY THE LIMITS OF TASTE, THINKING AND INTEREST. WHERE A SENSE OF REWARD BECOMES OBSCURE SO DOES EVERYTHING NEEDED TO GET THERE, MAKING AN OBJECTIVE MORE IMPOSSIBLE TO ACHEIVE THAN ANYTHING GEOGRAPHICAL.
SYNCRETIZING STYLES, INVENTING NEW ONES AND DISCONNECTING THE TYRANNY STYLE HAS OVER WHAT COULD OTHERWISE BE FREE AND ANARCHIC PURSUITS IS ONLY POSSIBLE OUTSIDE LARGE INDUSTRY THAT RELIES ON THE STRICTLY ORGANIZED LOGISTICS THAT DEFINE THEM. ONLY BY A DO-IT-YOURSELF, ‘PUNK’ ETHIC CAN STYLE BE DISCARDED AND A NEW ONE CREATED THAT BETTER FITS THE POSSIBILITIES, AS HAS BEEN THE HISTORY OF ALPINISM EVER SINCE IT STARTED.
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POLITICS
ON THE MAP THINGS CAN BE ALL CONTIGUOUS AND ACCESSIBLE, BUT ON THE GROUND LOCAL POLITICS CAN THROW UP BORDERS THAT NO UNDERSTANDING OF THE TOPOGRAPHY MAKES SENSE OF. TRIBES, HISTORIES, SUPERSTITIONS, ETHNIC TENSIONS AND POWER PLAYS CAN ALL DRAW INVISIBLE BOUNDARIES ACROSS THE MAP, NOT JUST IN THE PLACE TO CLIMB IN BUT ALSO AT HOME.
THE POLITICS OF ANY ONE PLACE IS NOT AN ISOLATED THING, AND SITS WITHIN GLOBAL POLITICS BY AFFECTING THE POSITIONS OF EVERYTHING ELSE. PLACES CAN SWITCH FROM ACCESSIBLE OR NOT DUE TO NOTHING THAT HAPPENS RIGHT THERE, BUT BY HOW IT IS REACTED TO ELSEWHERE, OFTEN WITH NO DIRECT RELATIONSHIP.
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TRENDS
CLIMBING IS TREND BASED, AND WHAT MARKET DRIVERS WANT IS WHAT THE RESOURCES GET FUNNELLED TO, WITH ANYTHING OUTSIDE THAT BEING BEHIND A BORDER OF DEAND, SUPPLY AND RECOGNITION. NOT RESTRICTED ONLY TO THE MARKETS FOR THINGS LIKE GEAR AND TOUR COMPANIES, TRENDS AFFECT THE JOURNALS, THE MAGAZINES, THE CLIMBING MEDIA AND CELEBRITIES.
TRENDS THAT ARE STATISTICS AND NUMBERS BASED NEVER MOVE THINGS FORWARD, AS THE ‘CURVE’ OF CLIMBING PROGRESS IS NOT REALLY A CURVE BUT A SERIES OF TANGENTS AND LEAPS. JUST AS PREDICTING THE NEXT TREND IN FASHION OR MUSIC KILLS IT OFF BEFORE IT EVER ARRIVES, THE NEXT THING IN EXPEDITION CLIMBING CAN ONLY COME FROM DISMISSING PREVIOUS TRENDS NOT FOLLOWING THEM.
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PERCEPTIONS
SOCRATES SAID THE ONLY TRUE FRONTIERS ARE IN THE MIND, AND THE WAY PEOPLE SEE THINGS DECIDES THE CONTENT THEY SEE. ALMOST DAILY WE ANSWER QUESTIONS WITH THE ADVICE TO USE A GOOD TRANSLATION APP, BECAUSE MOST PEOPLES PERCEPTIONS END AT AROUND THE SAME PLACE AS THEIR LANGUAGE. READ THE SAME STUFF, WATCH THE SAME DOCUMENTARIES, LISTEN TO THE SAME PEOPLE, BELIEVE THE SAME STORIES, AND ALL THAT HAPPENS IS THE WALLS OF PERCEPTION CLOSE IN RATHER THAN GET UNDERMINED, PUSHED THROUGH OR JUMPED OVER.
PERCEPTION CAN ONLY SHIFT WHEN THE DEVICE IT IS SEEN THROUGH IS CHANGED, WHICH MEANS THE CONCEPTS OF ‘POSSIBLE’, ‘LOGICAL’, ‘DESIRABLE’ AND ‘FAMILIAR’ HAVING TO CHANGE. DIFFERENT PARADIGMS PROVIDE DIFFERENT REASONING AS TO WHY AND HOW THINGS CAN WORK, AND OFTEN A SHIFT IN JUST ONE FACTOR CHANGES THE WAY EVERYTHING ELSE CAN LINE UP.
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INCONVENIENCE
IT SHOULD BE SAID THAT MOST CLIMBERS FRONTIER IS THE THINGS THEY CAN BE BOTHERED WITH, AND FOR MANY, EXPEDITIONS WILL NEVER HAPPEN BECAUSE THERE IS NO ‘CLICK TO BUY’ BUTTON. REAL EXPEDITIONS NEED REAL COMMUNICATION SO REAL INFORMATION CAN BE TRANSCEIVED, AN EXAMPLE BEING THAT FOR OUR TRIPS THE PRELIMINARY EMAIL CHAIN HAS A RATIO OF ABOUT 100 EMAILS PER 2 WEEKS IN THE MOUNTAINS.
CONVENIENCE IS LINKED DIRECTLY TO A CLIMBERS IDEA OF REWARD, AND IF THAT REWARD DOESN’T RECOGNIZE EXPLORATION, UNIQUENESS AND ENTERING UNKNOWN TERRAIN, THEN CONFRONTING ANY BORDERS WON’T EVEN ENTER THE DISCUSSION. THE BEST ASCENTS NEVER HAVE BEEN AND NEVER WILL BE THE RESULT OF EASY THINKING AND FLOW CHARTS OF GUARANTEES, OR AN AVERSION TO PUSHING BOUNDARIES THAT STATISTICS DON’T ILLUSTRATE.
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UNAWARENESS
YOU CAN’T KNOW WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW, AND LOOKING IN THE SAME OLD PLACES JUST PRODUCES THE SAME LIMITATIONS AND BORDERS TO KNOWLEDGE.
FOR ALL THE INFORMATION SWIRLING AROUND, SOME PLACES AND OBJECTIVES WERE BETTER KNOW LOMG AGO, WHEN THE MEDIA OF THE DAY WAS MORE INTERESTED AND THERE WAS LESS WHITE NOISE FOR STUFF TO GET LOST IN. THE GENERAL PUBLIC USED TO BE MORE AWARE OF MOUNTAINS LIKE MUZTAG ATA, NANDA DEVI AND RAKAPOSHI BACK WHEN THEY WERE AT THE HEART OF EMPIRES AND EXPEDITIONS OF THE GREAT GAME, BEFORE AWARENESS SHIFTED MULTIPLE TIMES UNDER THE SPOT LIGHTS OF PUBLIC AWARENESS.
INTERESTINGLY, ENORMOUS BLIND SPOTS WERE THE RESULT RATHER THAN AN EXPLOSION OF AWARENESS FROM THINGS LIKE GOOGLE EARTH, THE FINEST EXAMPLE BEING THAT FOR ALL THE TALK AND BUZZ, VERY FEW ARE AWARE THAT K2 IS HALF INSIDE CHINA. MORE PEOPLE LOOKING AT MORE MAPS AND SATELLITE IMAGERY HAS ONLY REINFORCED THE BOUNDARIES OF AWARENESS.
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IN THE END, CLIMBING WITHOUT BORDERS IS NOT FOR EVERYONE, BECAUSE IT TAKES A COMPLETE RETHINK OF WHAT ALPINISM AND BEING A CLIMBER IS. THE WORLD NEEDS TO BE LOOKED AT A DIFFERENT WAY, WITH A DIFFERENT LOOP OF WHAT MATTERS AND WHAT DOESN’T, AND A DIFFERENT FLOW OF RESOURCES THAT SEPARATES IT FROM THE ALTERNATIVE.
WHERE NORMAL INDUSTRIAL ALPINISM RELIES ON MAINTAINING AND ENFORCING BORDERS AS A WAY OF DEFINING ITSELF, ALPINISTES SANS FRONTIERES DEFINE THEMSELVES BY GOING BEYOND THOSE BORDERS, INTO THE POSSIBILITIES BEYOND WHERE THE FUTURE OF HIGH ALTITUDE CLIMBING WILL BE FOUND.
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(THE USE OF THE ‘SANS FRONTIERES’ MONIKER USED HERE DOES NOT ASSOCIATE FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS WITH VARIOUS OTHER SIMILARLY NAMED HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS, MOST NOTABLY MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERS. AS AN EXPEDITION CLIMBING ORGANIZATION WE MAKE NO ASSOCIATING CLAIMS WITH THE EXTRAORDINARY WORK THEY DO).