THE BELIEFS OF FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS

I SUPPOSE WE SHOULD HAVE EXPECTED THIS AFTER PUTTING OUT SHIRTS WITH ALEISTER CROWLEY NAKED ON THEM…

WE GET SOME STRANGE EMAILS – THE WEIRDER THE BETTER WE SAY – AND COUNT SEEING “ARE YOU SATANISTS?” IN THE SUBJECT BAR AS BEING RIGHT UP THERE, ALONG WITH EMAILS FROM THE BAND IRON MAIDEN AND THREATS OF LEGAL ACTION FROM AN INDUSTRY WHOSE BAD PRACTICES WE WON’T BE SILENT ON. NOW IT’S NOT UP TO US TO DIVULGE THE NATURE THE ENQUIRY (IT’S NOT WHAT YOU EXPECT), BUT IT RAISED THE RESPECTABLE QUESTION OF WHAT EXACTLY FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS BELIEVES AND ADVOCATES.

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CONTRARY TO SUPERFICIAL SUPPOSITION, WE DON’T WANT TO OUTLAW THE TOXIC PRACTICES OF WHAT WE ALL KNOW THE 8000m CLIMBING WORLD HAS BECOME. WE JUST DON’T WANT IT TO INFECT ALL THAT’S LEFT OF WHAT IS A DWINDLING, FINITE ENVIRONMENT. HIGH ALTITUDE WILDERNESS IS NOT COMMON, AND IT PROVIDES A UNIQUE HUMAN EXPERIENCE THAT NO COMMERCIAL INTEREST SHOULD DESTROY.

WE INVEST IN THIS BECAUSE OUR BELIEFS ARE ROOTED IN THE NOTION THAT DIRECT EXPERIENCE OF WILDERNESS IS SOMETHING INATELY VALUABLE TO HUMANS, THAT WE EVOLVED BY FINDING THE BEST OF OURSELVES BY RISING TO THE MOST DEMANDING ELEMENTS OF NATURE. THAT WE DIG PALEOLITHIC CORPSES OUT OF HIGH GLACIERS TELLS US THAT OUR ANCESTORS WERE ONTO THIS, AND THAT THE MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF OUR CIVILIZATIONS FROM THE CANAANITES TO THE DAOISTS ALL INCLUDE PROPHETS GOING UP MOUNTAINS WE THINK IS REMNANT OF THIS. FOR SOME REASON WHETHER IT’S THE HUNTING OR SOME OTHER BELIEF, IT’S WORTH THE RISKS AND PRIVATIONS TO VENTURE AS HIGH AS WE CAN.

IT’S EASY TO ASSUME THAT EARLY PEOPLE THOUGHT THE EFFECTS OF ALTITUDE WERE DEMONS, AND THAT OVERCOMING THIS HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH INITIATION AND PHILOSOPHICAL POTENCY. WE THINK AS HUMANITY THE EXPERIENCE OF HIGH AND DIFFICULT PLACES MIGHT BE PART OF OUR COLLECTIVE IDENTITY, AND THAT PART OF THIS IS RISING TO MOUNTAINS ON FAIR TERMS RATHER THAN TRYING TO REDUCE MOUNTAINS TO US.

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WE APPROACH ALL THIS WITH CURIOSITY, RESPECT, AN INQUIRING MIND AND CAUSE FOR EXCITEMENT, IN SOME WAYS BOTTLES AS EXPLORATION, IN OTHER WAYS THE EXPRESSION OF IDEAS. WE SEE SOME SYNCRETISM OF TECHNOLOGY, HUMAN PERFORMANCE, LUST FOR LIFE AND EVEN POLITICS, AND A LARGE DOSE OF GIVING THE FINGER TO A LOW-LAND WORLD THAT SEEMS HELL BENT OF COLLAPSING INTO MEDIOCRITY.

FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS WORLD IS ONE THAT IS ANTITHETICAL TO ORDINARINESS, WHERE WE SEEK TO DEFEND EXTRAORDINARY IDEAS THAT MAY BE DANGEROUS TO THE NORMAL WORLD. WE BELIEVE A SPACE MUST BE MAINTAINED SO THAT REMARKABLE THINGS ARE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN, SO THAT ANYONE CAN ENTER IT AND FIND ASPECTS OF THEMSELVES THAT THE NORMAL WORLD WON’T ALLOW.

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NONE OF THESE ARE PERSONAL BELIEFS, OTHER THAN WE EXPERIENCE ALL THIS PERSONALLY JUST AS EVERY ONE ON OUR TEAMS DOES, HENCE WE CAN RELATE TO OUR TEAMSTERS AS EQUALS THAT HIGH ALTITUDE CLIMBING IN REMOTE PLACES WILL MAKE US BETTER PEOPLE. SHIT VALUES DON’T LAST LONG SOMEWHERE LIKE THE GOBI IN WINTER OR THE UNCLIMBED RANGES OF CHINESE TURKESTAN, AS THE MOMENT TO MOMENT EXPERIENCE OF BEING THERE RELIES ON GOOD VALUES SUCH AS TOLERANCE, CURIOSITY AND RADICAL SOLUTIONS.

OVER ALL THIS ANYONE CAN FIT THEIR OWN BELIEFS, AS WE SEE ON EVERY TRIP, WITH MORE THAN ONE CLIMBER GOING THROUGH A CRITICAL CHANGE THE FURTHER THEY GET FROM WHAT THEY THINK BACK HOME. LAOZI SAID THAT ‘THE FURTHER YOU TRAVEL THE LESS YOU KNOW’ MEANING THAT THE FURTHER YOU GET FROM THE BELIEFS OF HOME THE LESS THOSE BELIEFS APPLY, AND WHEN YOU ARRIVE SOMEWHERE LIKE THE NORTH SIDE OF THE KARAKORAM SOME BELIEFS HAVE REACHED BREAKING POINT.

THIS, WE THINK IS A GOOD THING, BECAUSE ‘TRUTH’ THAT CAN’T STAND THE TRAVEL DOESN’T DESERVE THE NAME. WE BELIEVE ALL IDEAS NEED TO STAND UP TO THE SCRUTINY OF THE WILDEST, MOST EXTREME AND MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACES, AND THOSE THAT DON’T SHOULD BE DISMISSED BECAUSE THEY WILL ONLY DRAG DOWN WHAT IS BEST. JUST AS SUPPLEMENTARY OXYGEN AND HELI-FIXING HAS PROVEN CAUSTIC TO THE ONCE-ELEGANT SPORT OF ALPINISM, RETROGRESSIVE, BORING AND NARROW IDEOLOGIES SHOULD BE DISMISSED AS CAUSTIC TO THE BEST IN HUMANITY.

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WE BELIEVE THAT CLIMBING CAN STILL DO GOOD IN THE WORLD, AND GET BEYOND THE CYNICISM, GREED AND DISNEYFICATION THAT HAS TURNED MUCH OF IT INTO A STATUS PURSUIT. WE DON’T, THOUGH, BELIEVE THIS CAN BE FOR EVERYONE SIMPLY BECAUSE NOT EVERYONE WILL RISE TO IT, AND IT IS INTEGRAL TO NOT LOWER THE BAR SO THOSE WITH NOTHING TO BRING TO IT CAN GET IN. THIS SOUNDS ELITEIST, WHICH WE DON’T DENY, BUT THAT’S NOT THE SAME AS BEING EXCLUSIVE.

FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS BELIEVES MANY PEOPLE CAN MEET THE STANDARD OF FAIR ALPINISM AT HIGH ALTITUDE, BY PROGRESSING THROUGH CLIMBING AND THE APPLICATION OF EFFORT. DON’T FORGET THIS STUFF IS FUN, AND THAT PROGRESSION AND EFFORT IS A LIFE WELL SPENT, AND THAT THE KEYS HERE ARE FUN, WUNDERLUST, CREATIVITY, VISION AND COURAGE NOT SOME DRUDGERY OF YEARS TOILING AS A SYCOPHANT. DO THE CLIMBING, HAVE THE FUN, LOVE THE PROCESS AND YOU’LL END UP SOMEWHERE LIKE A NEW ROUTE IN TIBET. THE CHOICES ARE YOURS AND THE RESULTS THERE FOR THE TAKING.

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AS FOR WORSHIPPING SATAN, NO. THOUGH SATANISTS ARE JUST AS WELCOME ON OUT TRIPS AS EVERY OTHER BELIEVER, WE DON’T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE ORGANIZATIONS OR PRACTICES NOR DO WE WITH ANY OTHER. SATANISTS MIGHT NOTE THAT WE HAVE PLENTY OF SCOPE FOR THEIR IDEAS AS WE REGULARLY VISIT TEMPLES IN TIBET THAT HAVE ANTITHETHICAL ORIENTATIONS SUCH AS TANTRIC AND BONPO, BUT NOT TO WORSHIP NOR ARE WE EVER INVITED TO BE PART OF RITUALS THAT SATANISTS MAY BE INTERESTED IN.

THE REASON ALIESTER CROWLEY COMES UP IN OUR SPIEL IS THAT HE WAS AN EARLY HIGH ALTITUDE MOUNTAINEER, IN A TIME WHEN ALL ASPECTS WERE RADICAL AND THE WHOLE THING WAS WAY OUTSIDE THE MAINSTREAM. HE CONFRONTED THE NORMS OF HIS DAY – LATE VICTORIANISM NO LESS – AND DID SO AS MUCH TO UPSET THE CONVENTIONS USING MOUNTAINEERING AS A TOOL AS HE DID FOR THE SAKE OF CLIMBING ITSELF. WE BELIEVE ALPINISM HAS LOST SOME OF ITS PUNK ETHIC, LOSING TOO MUCH TO THE STATISTICIANS AND RECORD KEEPERS, IN THE SAME WAY PUNK MUSIC LOST TO THE ESTABLISHMENT THAT BASED ON RECORD SALES.

FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS BELIEVES WE CAN KEEP THIS RADICAL ALPINISM GOING IN OCCULT, THE ONLY THING WE SHARE WITH OCCULTISM BEING THE BELIEF THAT SOME THINGS HAPPEN BEST OFF THE RADAR. LET THE INDUSTRIAL 8000m INDUSTRY CARRY UNPREPARED TOURISTS UP MOUNTAINS HALF MADE OF FROZEN SHIT, LET THEM BROADCAST THIS FOR PROFIT LIKE IT’S SOME KIND OF NEWS. LET NETFLIX EDIT IT ALL DOWN AND LET INSTAGRAM MAKE IT LOOK EASY – AND IGNORE US WHILE WE GET ON WITH IT OUT IN THE PLACES NO ONE HAS HEARD OF.