Category: CRITICAL THINKING
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FRONTIER CLIMBERS. ARE YOU ONE?
THIS PROFILE IS BASICALLY THE DESCRIPTION OF A FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS CLIMBER; ONE WHO HAS DARED TO CLICK ON THE SILLY NAME, HAS MADE IT PAST THE INKY & GLITCHY GRAPHICS AND SPELLING, HAS SEEN PAST THE STUFF ABOUT CROWLEY, XINJIANG AND THE POOR STATE OF 8000m CLIMBING, HAS SALIVATED OVER THE EXOTIC AND…
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10 THINGS TO MAKE HIGHCAMP LIVABLE
THESE DAYS THINGS CAN BE SO LIGHT AND EFFICIENT IT IS AMAZING HOW FAR UP THINGS CAN BE LIVABLE, BLURRING THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN THE SORT OF CAMPS BIG ALPINISM WAS ONCE DEPENDANT ON. NOW, WITH A SMALL AMOUNT OF SUPPLIES - WHAT WILL FIT IN A SMALL STUFF SACK - HIGH CAMPS CAN BE PERFECTLY…
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THE ROAD TO K2 NORTH SIDE
OUR DIALOGUE WITH THE AUTHORITIES HAS BEEN AN EXPEDITION IN ITSELF, AS WE SINGLE-HANDEDLY REOPENED THE CHINA SIDE OF THE KARAKORAM TO CLIMBERS. THERE WERE TIMES WHEN IT APPEARED THINGS WERE GOOD TO GO ONLY TO BE CLOSED AGAIN, OR FOR THE CLIMBING COMMUNITY TO HAVE NO UPTAKE AS THINGS HAVE STALLED OR BEEN DISTRACTED…
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SIMPLIFY
ON ALL OUR TRIPS WE ADVOCATE LAYING OUT THE STUFF TO BE USED, THEN BITS REMOVED TO SCRAPE DOWN TO THE MINIMUM THAT CAN BE GOT AWAY WITH. AS THE PEOPLE ARE WHAT SETS THE EXPEDITION - NOT THE GEAR - EXTRA STUFF WON'T MAKE A POSITIVE DIFFERENCE, WITH SIMPLICITY TELLING US MORE ABOUT A…
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MONTBELL 1L FLEX WATER PACK. THE PERFECT PISS BOTTLE
THE ACID TEST OF ANY CLIMBER IS HOW THEY RESPOND TO THE SUBJECT OF PISS BOTTLES. ONLY THOSE* WHO HAVE SPENT BAD NIGHTS IN OPEN BIVYS, SWAYING PORTALEDGES, TIED IN TO CRAMPED LEDGES AND STUFFED INTO TINY TENTS KNOW THE CRITERIA TO WHICH A GOOD PISS BOTTLE MUST BE HELD, AND HOW EXCEEDINGLY DIFFICULT IT…
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GIMME DANGER. ACCEPTABLE & UNACCEPTABLE RISK
WHAT APPEARS CRAZY TO THE PASSING OBSERVER CAN ACTUALLY BE CAREFULLY AND LOGICALLY PLANNED WITH A GREAT DEAL OF CONTINGENCY, EVEN TAKING WHAT APPEAR AS RISKS AND RETOOLING THINGS TO MAKE THEM SAFE. WE ALLOW THE ARMCHAIR GALLERY TO THINK ALL THIS IS MENTAL, THAT WE ARE COURTING DANGER OR INVITING CATASTROPHY, WHILST WE GET…
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EXPEDITIONS X. DEVISING BETTER ASCENTS
IN A BIG WAY, ALPINISM IS VERY EXPERIMENTAL, WITH EVERY NEW ROUTE OR FIRST ATTEMPT AND EXPERIMENT IN TAKING ALREADY KNOWN FACTORS A BIT FURTHER. ALPINISM IS INHERENTLY EQUATION-BASED WHETHER IT BE STOVE FUEL, ALTITUDE GAIN, INSULATION OR COUNTLESS OTHER THINGS, SO GETTING SMARTER IS TO MAKE THIS EXPERIMENT OPEN ENDED RATHER THAN CONVERGENT ON…
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2024 NORTH KARAKORAM EXPEDITION: OUR PARTNERS
WE NOW HAVE THE LIGHTEST AND MOST FUNCTIONAL HIGH ALTITUDE EQUIPMENT EVER ASSEMBLED, TO GO AND CLIMB WHEN AND WHERE THE RULES FROM ELSEWHERE DON'T APPLY. ALL THAT STUFF YOU SEE USED ON EVEREST etc IS FINE, BUT IT DOESN'T DO WHAT WE NEED IN THE NORTHERN KARAKORAM IN LATE AUTUMN. THE STUFF WE HAVE…
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JOHN MIDDENDORF
JOHNS RADICAL INITIATIVES OVER PROTEST, OPEN SOURCING, EXPEDITION IDEAS AND HANDS-ON WORK WE SHARE, PROTECTING WILDERNESS, DESIGNING BETTER, AND GOING FURTHER BY OUR OWN STEAM ARE ALL STANDARDS WE UPHOLD WITH ALL THE OTHER COMPANIES WE COLLABORATE WITH. AS SAD AS IT IS TO KNOW HE'S NOT OUT THERE TINKERING AWAY AND EXPERIMENTING, IT'S GOOD…
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ཁྱོད་ཀྱི་མྱུལ་དཔྱད་ ཁྱེད་ཀྱི་སྐད་ཆ། YOUR EXPEDITION. YOUR LANGUAGE
THIS SITE TRANSLATES INTO THE 12 LANGUAGES WE SEE THE MOST ENQUIRIES FROM, AND OBVIOUSLY GOOGLE CAN TRANSLATE IT INTO HUNDREDS MORE (EXCEPT TIBETAN WHICH ANNOYS US). THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE RESOURCE THAT HAS THE CAPACITY TO EVOLVE CLIMBING AS MUCH AS ANY GEAR OR TRAINING CAN, BY CLIMBERS FROM DIFFERENT CULTURES TEAMING UP TO…
