THE MAJORITY
OF THE WORLDS
HIGH ALTITUDE PEAKS
ARE IN TIBET
BEYOND A FEW WELL KNOWN AREAS MOST OF THE TIBETAN PLATEAU HAS BEEN UNCLIMBED. SECTIONED UP INTO SEVERAL REGIONS ACROSS DIFFERENT PROVINCES, THE TIBETAN AREAS STILL HAVE MANY RANGES AND MASSIFS WITH WORLD CLASS OBJECTIVES.
TIBET IS FOR CLIMBERS WHO ARE EXCITED BY NEW TERRAIN. EVEN THE MORE POPULAR AREAS DON’T SEE ANYTHING COMPARED TO THE CROWDED VALLEYS ELSEWHERE, AND EVERY YEAR WE LEAD & ORGANIZE EXPEDITIONS FROM TWO WEEKS TO THREE MONTHS DURATION FOR EVERYTHING FROM BIG WALLS AND ICE CLIMBING TO TRAINING PEAKS AND SERIOUS FIRST ASCENTS WITH THE POSSIBILITY FOR NEW CLIMBING STYLES OPENING UP WITH ASCENTS THOUGHT IMPOSSIBLE TEN AGO.
CLIMBERS WHO LIKE TIBET TEND TO COME IN TWO TYPES
THE APPRENTICE
THESE ARE CLIMBERS WHO HAVE DONE THEIR TIME IN THE ALPS, ALASKA OR THE SUBCONTINENT AND NOW WANT TO STEP INTO THE NEXT LEVEL. THEY HAVE BUILT LOTS OF EXPERIENCE ON LOWER OR LESS REMOTE PEAKS, AND NOW WANT TO START WORKING ON HIMALAYAN CLIMBING THE WAY IT USED TO BE – EXPLORATORY & HIGH. THIS TYPE LIKES THE IDEA OF FIRST ASCENTS DOWN UNDOCUMENTED VALLEYS, CROSSING HIGH PLATEAU, THE FULL PROCESS OF DOING SOMETHING THAT’S NOT QUITE FIGURED OUT YET & REDISCOVERING THE SATISFACTION OF TAKING ON AN ENTIRE EXPEDITION.
FOR MANY LIKE THIS, TIBET IS WHERE THINGS KICK INTO GEAR, A PLACE TO REALLY BEGIN THINKING ABOUT HARD ASCENTS AT ALTITUDE AND HONING THE BASELINE EXPEDITION SKILLS THAT SERIOUS TRIPS ARE MADE OF. IF SERIOUS ASCENTS TO 8000m ARE ON THE CARDS, TIBET IS THE PLACE TO BRIDGE THE GAP FROM WHAT YOU’VE DONE BEFORE.
THE NEW GENERATION
ALMOST THE OPPOSITE OF THE APPRENTICE-TYPES, THIS IS THE GENERATION DEFINED NOT BY AGE BUT BY POTENTIAL WHO ARE SKIPPING THE TRADITIONAL TIMELINE OF ALPINE PROGRESS AND GOING STRAIGHT INTO REAL EXPEDITIONS. CHANGES IN ACCESS & RESOURCES MEANS THAT INSTEAD OF WORKING YOUR WAY UP THROUGH 1000m INCREMENTS FROM THE ALPS TO THE HIGH KARAKORUM, IT’S NOW POSSIBLE TO JUMP STRAIGHT IN AT GENUINE 5000m ASCENTS. THIS SORT OF CLIMBER CUTS THEIR TEETH ON PEAKS HIGH ENOUGH TO REQUIRE FULL EXPEDITION PREPARATION, BUT LOW ENOUGH TO GENERATE A HIGH RATIO OF CLIMBING DAYS TO LEARN THE WAY IT WORKS.
IMPOSSIBLE 20 YEARS AGO, THERE ARE CLIMBERS NOW DOING SEVERAL TRIPS A YEAR TO 5000 & 6000m PEAKS, SOMETIMES EVEN FIRST ASCENTS, WHO WILL REDEFINE WHAT THE FUTURE OF 8000m CLIMBING IS. COMBINING THE NEW ELEMENTS OF ACCESS, EQUIPMENT & PREPARATION 6000m FIRST ASCENTS ARE BEING DONE IN UNDER 3 WEEKS, SOMETIMES MORE IN A SINGLE TRIP, BY CLIMBERS WHO SKIPPED THE YEARS IN THE ALPS TO MAKE THE HIMALAYA & KARAKORUM THEIR NEW NORMAL.
