an incisive, insightful and splendid review
MARK TWIGHT
CLIMBING HAS A SORT OF ‘CANON’ OF WRITING THAT UNDERPINS THE PERSPECTIVE FROM WHICH IT ALL SPRINGS. IT INCLUDES THINGS LIKE THE ASCENT OF RUMDOODLE, ANNAPURNA BY HERZOG, MESSNER’S MURDER OF THE IMPOSSIBLE, EVEREST THE HARD WAY, FREEDOM OF THE HILLS AND CONQUISTADOR OF THE USELESS, WRITING THAT MAY NOT ALWAYS BE THE BEST SELLERS, BUT WRITING THAT INFORMS THE LEADING EDGE OF CLIMBING ITSELF.
AMONG THESE, IN IT’S OWN PLACE, SITS MARK TWIGHT’S EXTREME ALPINISM, A BOOK THAT WAS INTENDED (AND IS OFTEN CLAIMED) TO HAVE TRIGGERED A REVOLUTION BUT WHICH PERHAPS BETTER SERVES AS A REMINDER OF WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN, INSTEAD BECOMING THE PUNCTUATION BEFORE ‘BIG’ CLIMBING STARTED IT’S DESCENT INTO INSTA-COMMERCIALISM.
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AS STUDENTS MANY OF US HAD POSTERS ON OUR WALLS EITHER OF TWIGHT HIMSELF OR WITH PHOTOS BY HIM, USUALLY ADVERTISING COMPANIES LIKE GRIVEL IN A TIME WHEN THEY WERE AS OUTSIDE THE MAINSTREAM AS THE DEAD KENNEDYS. NO HELMETS, PURPLE PLASTIC BOOTS, WRAP AROUND SUNGLASSES AND ROLLED UP FOAM MATS, THE IMAGES EVOKED A LIFESTYLE PALPABLY SEPARATED FROM THE NORM SO WHEN EXTREME ALPINISM CAME OUT IT OFFERED INSIGHTS INTO A COUNTER CULTURE AS REVEALING AS ABBIE HOFFMAN’S STEAL THIS BOOK, ASIA OVERLAND OR THE ELECTRIC KOOL-AID ACID TEST. ALREADY AN EMPTY CLICHE, THE USE OF ‘EXTREME’ IN THE TITLE WAS ENOUGH TO GENERATE BUZZ, AND IT ONLY TOOK A LOOK AT THE CONTENTS PAGE TO SEE TWIGHT WASN’T BEING GLIB, WITH CHAPTERS ON CHARACTER AND SELF ANALYSIS GIVEN PRECEDENCE BEFORE ANY MENTION OF GEAR.
WHAT NEWER CLIMBERS MAY NOT REALIZE IS THAT EXTREME ALPINISM CAME OUT AS A CULT CLASSIC, IN A TIME WHEN GETTING HOLD OF IT TOOK SOME EFFORT. FRIENDS WOULD GROUP-BUY A COPY, OFTEN ALREADY WELL READ IN THE STORE. IT WAS FOUND ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY ONLY IN CLIMBING SHOPS, OF WHICH THERE WERE NEVER THAT MANY, WHERE IT’S WEIRD FORMAT SIZE SAT UNCOMFORTABLY APART FROM THE SERIES OF GUIDEBOOKS, EURO MAGAZINES, PULP ALPINISM LIKE TOUCHING THE VOID AND CLASSICS LIKE I CHOSE TO CLIMB. LIKE BUYING CONTRABAND OR THOSE CRAZY PARAMILITARY MANUALS OF THE 80’S, IT TOOK A PROCESS TO GET HOLD OF THAT COULD INCLUDE SEARCHING LISTS ON MICROFISCHE. HAVING IT MEANT A CERTAIN DEGREE OF COOL AND RAISED EYEBROWS FROM THE SHOP STAFF, AND ‘TWIGHT SAYS…’ BECAME AN OVER-USED CLICHE.
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WHAT SETS THIS BOOK APART AS BOTH INSTRUCTION & TREATISE IS TWIGHT’S OWN HISTORY, WITH A CLIMBING RESUME THAT PERFECTLY REFLECTS THE POTENTIAL OF HIS ERA AND A PUBLISHING HISTORY THAT LEAD SEAMLESSLY INTO THE BOOKS CONTENTS. ALREADY KNOWN FOR ROUTES THAT BOTH PUSHED THE POSSIBILITIES OF THE TIME AS WELL AS BUILT ON THE CURVE OF WHAT CAME BEFORE, HIS EXPLOITS WERE BROADCAST IN A REFRESHINGLY ANTAGONISTIC VOICE IN AN ERA WHEN MOST CLIMBING WRITING CAME IN AN OXFORD ACCENT. TWIGHT FELT LIKE THE RECEIVER OF A BATON PASSED FROM THE LIKE OF JIM BRIDWELL AND MUGS STUMP BECAUSE HE WAS, BUT WITH A BIG DOSE OF THE HARD EURO- AND BRIT-ALPINISTS TOO – GUYS LIKE ANDY CAVE – AND JUST A HINT OF THE RUSSIANS HIS GENERATION WERE MIXING WITH. PERHAPS THE BEST BIT OF TWIGHT’S VOICE WAS FROM HIS POSITION OF MENTOR, HIS ABILITY TO RELAY ALL THIS STUFF WITHOUT SOUNDING LIKE THE PARENT, SOMETHING THAT WAS BEING DEMONSTRATED BY GUYS LIKE STEVE HOUSE & VINCE ANDERSON WHO BACK THEN WERE SEEN AS EXAMPLES OF THE REVOLUTION PLAYING OUT.
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PART MANUAL, PART TREATISE, PART RELIC, THE CONTENTS OF EXTREME ALPINISM ARE AS RELEVANT TODAY AS THEY EVER WERE, ONLY NOW IN DIFFERENT WAYS. IN IT’S TIME THIS WAS A REVOLUTION IN HOW TO THINK, HOW TO TRAIN, WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO EAT, WHAT TO USE AND WHAT TO ASPIRE TO AND THOUGH THE SUPERFICIAL DETAILS OF MUCH OF ALL THAT HAS MOVED ON, THE UNDERLYING IDEA OF EMBRACING AND HARNESSING THE EMERGING POSSIBILITIES STILL SPEAKS.
THE STUFF ABOUT MENTAL PROCESSING AND CHARACTER SEEMS QUAINT NOW, AFTER 20 YEARS OF CLIMBING BEING RE-PACKAGED FOR THE RECREATIONAL MARKET IN VARIOUS FORMS. TO THINK OF ALPINISM AS A FORM OF SELF-EVALUATION OR EXPRESSION LOST IT’S TEETH WHEN THE SAME VOCABULARY HAS BEEN HIJACKED BY COMPANIES LIKE TESLA AND A GENERATION OF CLIMBING FILMS VIA NETFLIX HAS SUCKED THE SINCERITY OUT OF MOST DISPLAYS OF SOUL SEARCHING. BUT, BY SUSPENDING THE REACTIONS OF OUR TIME, IT IS STILL EASY TO GLIMPSE WHAT TWIGHT IS GETTING AT; A BUMP IN THE DIRECTION OF CONFRONTING YOUR CHARACTER AND USING ALPINISM AS WAY TO DIRECT THE PROCESS. FOR THE CLIMBER WITH A RISK TAKING PERSONALITY, THE SORT WHO MAY BE SEEING SERIOUS CLIMBING AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO LESS POSITIVE LIFE CHOICES, THIS STUFF CAN BE VALUABLE. FOR EVERYONE ELSE IT’S BASICALLY STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTION ON HOW TO THINK LIKE A CLIMBER AND WOULD WORK EASILY FOR MOST OTHER HIGH-RISK PURSUITS.
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MANY WILL HAVE COME ACROSS EXTREME ALPINISM AS A TRAINING MANUAL, SOMETHING THAT HAS GENERATED NOISE EVER SINCE IT CAME OUT. TWIGHT HIMSELF HAS CRASHED AND RISEN FROM THE ASHES OF TRAINING MANY TIMES SINCE THIS PRIMITIVE ATTEMPT, YET LIKE THE STUFF ON CHARACTER, BETWEEN THE LINES THE ETHIC STILL HOLDS. LIKE A SORT OF PROTO-CROSSFIT, QUASI-SPECIAL FORCES PROGRAM, WHAT’S PRESENTED LOOKS ‘OLD SKOOL’ NOW DESPITE THE FACT IT WOULD PROBABLY STILL HAVE GOOD EFFECT FOR ANYONE NEW TO THIS SORT OF THING. MOST OF THE SCIENCE HAS BEEN REFINED, DEBUNKED OR EXPANDED ON AS 20 YEARS WOULD HOPE IT WOULD, BUT THE GENERAL IDEAS ABOUT MULTIPLE SYSTEMS, SPECIFICITY AND PERIODIZATION STILL HOLD, AS DOES THE ETHOS OF RECOMPOSING ONESELF TO COME OUT BUILT AS A CLIMBER.
AS SOME THINGS COME FULL CIRCLE, THE TRAINING IDEAS HERE WENT ON TO KICK START A WHOLE GENRE OF TRAINING THE MOST NOTED OF WHICH BEING TRAINING FOR THE NEW ALPINISM AND IT’S OFFSHOOT, UPHILL ATHLETE BOTH OF WHICH ARE IN DIRECT LINEAGE AND THEMSELVES SHOWING A DECADES WORTH OF DATING. ANYONE FAMILIAR WITH TWIGHT’S MORE RECENT IDEAS BROADCAST FROM HIS NONPROPHET PLATFORM, WITH REFERENCE TO THE 20 YEARS OF STUFF SINCE EXTREME ALPINISM, WILL SEE A GREATER CURVE ALONG WHICH TO PLOT THE SORT OF THINGS WHERE THE FUTURE OF ALPINE-SPECIFIC MAY GO.
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ARGUABLY IT’S THE GEAR SECTION THAT SHOWS IT’S AGE MOST, TO NO SURPRISE. EXTREME ALPINISM WAS PUBLISHED RIGHT ON THE CUSP OF THE GREAT GEAR EXPLOSION, PERHAPS EVEN THROWING FUEL ON IT, THAT SAW THINGS LIKE RADICALLY CURVED LEASHLESS TOOLS, LED HEADTORCHES, SUPER GAITER BOOTS, LOW PROFILE CRAMPONS, JETBOILS AND WEARING HELMETS BECOME STANDARD WITHIN A FEW YEARS, SCUTTLING HALF OF WHAT THE BOOK DISCUSSES.
WHAT’S HERE IS BOTH TIME CAPSULE OF FOR THE GEAR OF THE DAY – GEAR THAT PERFORMED ON MANY OF THE HARDEST ROUTES EVER DONE – AND PRESCIENT OF THE CHANGES THAT WERE GOING ON AND A TIME WHEN CLIMBERS HAD DIRECT INFLUENCE ON DEVELOPMENTS. NOT UNLIKE NOW, THE LATE 90’s WAS TIME OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND DEMANDS FOR IT WITH RESULTS BEING VERY TANGIBLE, AND LESS WHITE NOISE IN THE CLIMBING WORLD MEANING ANY PROGRESS GOT NOTICED.
VALUABLE IN THIS SECTION IS TWIGHT’S EXPLANATIONS OF SYSTEMIC AND SYSTEMATIC GEAR USE THAT COVERS RELATIVE WEIGHT, ACTUAL USE, MODIFYING GEAR AND THE FAMOUS ARGUMENT AGAINST GORETEX THAT HAS NEAR-ICONOCLASTIC NOTORIETY. BEYOND BEING JUST A LIST, THIS IS A DRIVERS MANUAL FOR THE USE OF TOOLS AND CLOTHING THAT WAS ON THE EDGES OF WHAT IT WAS MADE FOR BACK THEN AND COULD BE SAID TO STILL BE IN MANY CASES. TWIGHT ASSUMES THE READER IS AN ADULT AND GIVES AWAY SOME OF THE DIRTY SECRETS OF HOW TO SQUEEZE PERFORMANCE OUT OF STUFF, AND SETS A PRECEDENCE FOR DOING SO.
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THE LAST SECTION COVERS TECHNIQUE AND IN A CONTEXT STILL RELEVANT NOW THOUGH HARD TO GUESS FROM THE GENERAL PROFILE THAT CLIMBING PRESENTS. THIS IS FAR, FAR, REMOVED FROM THE HIGHLY INDUSTRIALIZED 8000m CLIMBING OFTEN SEEN, BUT FOR ANYONE LOOKING AT STUFF OUTSIDE OF THAT WHAT’S HERE IS PERHAPS THE FINEST DESCRIPTION OF WHAT ACTUAL HIGH ALPINISM IS MADE UP OF.
A LITTLE SHOCKING AT THE TIME, TWIGHT’S EXPLANATIONS OF CLIMBING MOUNTAINS, STAYING ON MOUNTAINS AND CONDUCTING ONESELF ON MOUNTAINS STILL STIR UP ANXIETY IN MANY, JUST MAYBE EVEN MORE SO IN THE INSTA-ERA OF DOGMA & RISK ADVERSITY THAT CASTS THIS STUFF IN A MUCH DIFFERENT LIGHT THAN IN 1999. PULLING ON GEAR, WAITING ON PERFECT WEATHER, MODIFYING EQUIPMENT, LIVING ON GELS, CLIMBING UNROPED etc STILL UPSET SOME AND WRING THE HANDS OF MANY ONLINE, AND CAN BE A GOOD LITMUS TEST FOR PERSONAL ETHICS OF BOTH SELF AND PARTNERS. TWIGHT EXPOUNDS SOME STUFF CONSIDERED BLACK MAGIC OR ‘GUERILLA’ THAT WILL BE TITILLATING, OFFENSIVE OR INSPIRING DEPENDING ON WHAT YOUR IDEAS ARE BUT IT’S WORTH REMEMBERING THESE ARE TECHNIQUES AIMED AT PLACES LIKE THE TIEN SHAN AND PAMIR MORE THAN THAN YOUR LOCAL TRADE ROUTES.
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BEYOND ALL THAT, EXTREME ALPINISM IS A FUN READ, CERTAINLY NEVER DULL. IT’S A BIT CLUNKY AS ALMOST ALL CLIMBING BOOKS ARE, BUT WAY BETTER THAN THE COFFEE TABLE CLIMBING PORN DISGUISED AS INSTRUCTION THAT USUALLY FILL THE SPACE. THE METHODS AND IDEAS ARE ALL GIVEN PERSPECTIVE BY TALES – OFTEN A BIT OVER-DRAMATIC, THAT ILLUSTRATE WHY IT MATTERS, AND THE IMAGES ARE A STEP ABOVE CLIMBING PORN GIVEN THE DETAIL AND CONTEXT, AND NOW HISTORICAL VANTAGE. THERE’S NO HOKEY ILLUSTRATIONS, JUST REAL IMAGES OF PEOPLE DOING EXACTLY WHAT’S IN THE WRITING. TWIGHT’S QUITE THE PHOTOGRAPHER AND IT’S IMPRESSIVE THAT HE EVEN TOOK MANY OF THESE IMAGES AT ALL, MAKING THIS BOOK VALUABLE IN IT’S OWN WAY AS A DOCUMENT OF WHAT HARD ALPINE CLIMBING ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE.
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WITH OVER 20 YEARS OF HINDSIGHT NOW EXTREME ALPINISM IS STILL RELEVANT. THE REVOLUTION NEVER REALLY CAME, BUT GUERILLA CELLS IN PLACES LIKE ALASKA, CENTRAL ASIA, SICHUAN & ALONG THE HIMALAYA ABSORBED THIS STUFF AND PUT IT INTO ACTION. IN A WAY IT WAS SELF-DEFEATING, TWIGHT’S DIY ETHOS AND HIS KRISHNAMURTI-INSPIRED PUNK CALL TO ACTION KEPT THINGS GRASS ROOTS RIGHT AT THE MOMENT WHEN INDUSTRIAL CLIMBING STARTED PUSHING THINGS LIKE EVEREST & THE SEVEN SUMMITS TO THE WIDER MARKET AND BOULDERING GYMS MADE CLIMBING OUTSIDE AVOIDABLE. JUST AS HAIR METAL ASPHYXIATED PUNK, SAFARI-CLIMBING SWAMPED SERIOUS ALPINISM AS A MOVEMENT LIKE IT HAD BEEN. THE IDEAS LIVED ON IN GUYS LIKE KYLE DEMPSTER, MARC-ANDRE LERCLERC AND BRANCHES WENT OFF WITH PEOPLE LIKE UELI STECK. 9/11 CHANGED A LOT AND THE EXOTIC EMERGING LOCATIONS TWIGHT OFTEN MENTIONS IN CENTRAL ASIA GOT IGNORED AGAIN FOR 10 YEARS, MAKING EXTREME ALPINISM A GLIMPSE INTO POST-COLD WAR ATTITUDES BEFORE TERRORISM SHUT EVERYTHING DOWN AGAIN.
TWIGHT HIMSELF ‘RETIRED’ FROM EXACTLY THIS SORT OF THING, QUITE PUBLICLY, NOT LONG AFTER, AND THE ATTRITION RATE FROM DOING EXACTLY WHAT’S IN THIS BOOK HACKED AWAY AT THE NEXT GENERATION DEPRESSINGLY KILLING MANY IN THEIR BEST YEARS OR BEFORE THEY REACHED THEM. AS A KIND OF DEATH CULT TOTEM EXTREME ALPINISM IS AS MUCH OF A GLIMPSE INTO THE MECHANATIONS OF TAUNTING MORTALITY AS IT IS LIFE AFFIRMING EXPRESSION OF AN EXISTENTIAL ENDEAVOUR. CLIMBERS ALREADY WITH A UNTESTED RELATION TO RISK MIGHT BE BETTER ABSORBING THE GENTLE MESSAGE OF FREEDOM OF THE HILLS BEFORE JUMPING STRAIGHT INTO TWIGHT’S FINGER-POINTING – AND FINGER-GIVING – METHODS. THIS BOOK IS NOT A SURVIVAL MANUAL, AND IS AS MUCH ABOUT GETTING YOU INTO DIRE CIRCUMSTANCES AS IT IS ABOUT GETTING YOU OUT THEM.
IT’S NOT ALL LOST THOUGH, THE IDEAS DETAILED IN THIS BOOK CAN STILL BE APPLIED IN THE PLETHORA OF HIGH ALTITUDE PEAKS AND ROUTES THAT DON’T HAVE FIXED LINES, HELIPADS AND TENT HAMLETS UP THEM. IF ANYTHING THINGS ARE EVEN BETTER THAN THE CLINTON ERA, NOW THAT CLIMBERS CAN BYPASS THE ‘ALPS & ALASKA PHASE’ AND JUMP STRAIGHT TO LEARNING THEIR TRADECRAFT ON REAL EXPEDITION PEAKS IN TIBET, XINJIANG & CENTRAL ASIA, SOMETHING TWIGHT AND HIS PEERS LIKE MICK FOWLER, CHARLIE FOWLER, MUGS STUMP & ALEX LOWE WERE ONLY THE BEGINNING OF. THE TRUE VALUE IN EXTREME ALPINISM IS NOT IN IT’S INSTRUCTIONS FOR MEDITATION, TAKING BOGUS CHINESE HERBS, DOING DEAD LIFTS TILL YOU SPEW, HOLDING A PETROL STOVE IN YOUR LAP, RATIONALIZING A HEADBAND OVER A HELMET OR CLIMBING WITHOUT SLEEP FOR 50hrs, IT’S IN IT’S DECONSTRUCTING OF CLIMBING AND INDUSTRY DOGMA SPANNING WHERE YOU GO, WHAT YOU CHOOSE TO CLIMB, HOW YOU CHOOSE TO CLIMB IT AND WHERE THAT FITS INTO LIFE. AS MUCH AS IT’S A REVOLUTION IT’S ALSO A REACTION, AGAINST WHAT HAD BECOME A BLOATED SCENE IN NEED OF AN AGITATING MANIFESTO TO RALLY AROUND, SOMETHING AS TRUE NOW AS IT WAS THEN.
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UPDATE: WORD FROM THE AUTHOR CONFIRMS THAT EXTREME ALPINISM HAS COME TO THE END OF PUBLICATION AFTER TWO DECADES. PROBABLY ONLY INCREASING THE BOOKS CULT STATUS BY MAKING IT STEALABLE, THIS GLIMPSE INTO CLIMBING’S TRANSITION FROM FRINGE TO MAINSTREAM PURSUIT MAKES IT ONLY MORE VALUABLE TO THOSE THINKING TO USE ALPINISM AS A LIFE CHOICE RATHER THAN A HOBBY.
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