MOST CLIMBERS WON’T HAVE HEARD OF THE 1984 AUSTRALIAN ASCENT OF Mt EVEREST, THOUGH MOST CLIMBERS SHOULD.
OBSCURE AT THE TIME DUE TO IT’S INHERENT NATURE, AND NOW WELL BURIED UNDER THE PILE-ON OF NOISE, HYPE, ARGUMENT, AND HISTORICAL BAGGAGE THAT Mt EVEREST ENTAILS, THE ASCENT OF OF THE WHITE LIMBO ROUTE ON EVEREST’S NORTH SIDE BY AN AUSTRALIAN TEAM IS A HIGH POINT OF 8000m CLIMBING THAT SHOWS JUST WHAT COULD BE DONE IN SPITE OF A TIDE OF COMMERCIALISM THAT SWEPT AGAINST IT.
.
THE 80s WAS THE CRITICAL ERA FOR 8000m CLIMBING. WHILST COMMERCIALISM WAS BALLOONING, AT THE SAME TIME THE LIGHTEST, FASTEST, AND MOST VANGUARD ASCENTS WERE TAKING PLACE AS THE BLOSSOMING OF AN IDEAL. THE TIME WAS THE BATON CHANGE BETWEEN THE GREAT ASCENTS OF THE PAST THAT HAD ACCUMULATED ENOUGH DATA, AND THE DISMISSING OF THAT DATA FOR THE LOW HANGING FRUIT OF INDUSTRIAL PROFIT.
WITHIN THE DECADE BEFORE EVEREST HAD BEEN CLIMBED ‘THE HARD WAY’ BY THE BRITS, PERHAPS A FIINAL HURRAH FOR OLD SCHOOL ASCENTS WHERE AN ELITE TEAM WITH HUNDREDS OF STAFF WENT UP THE SW RIDGE AND ENDURED MUCH THAT BECAME CLIMBING LORE, TO PUT SCOTT AND HASTON ON TOP AND THEN KEEP THEM THERE IN THE OPEN OVERNIGHT TO PROVE SOMETHING IMPOSSIBLE BY ANY RATIONAL MEANS. THE LAST PIECE IN THE PUZZLE OF WHAT A HUMAN MIGHT WITHSTAND WAS IN PLACE, USHERING IN A TIME OF ASCENTS SO INNOVATIVE MOST HAVE NEVER BEEN REPEATED, FROM CLIMBING NIGHT NAKED TO GLISSADING DOWN, AND IN AMONGST ALL THIS, QUIETLY AMONG THE SUPERSTARS, A BUNCH OF AUSTRALIANS NABBED THE LIMELIGHT.
.
THE URBAN MYTH GOES THAT UPON BEING ASKED HOW A BUNCH OF CLIMBERS FROM A COUNTRY WITHOUT REAL MOUNTAINS PULLED IT ALL OFF, ONE OF THE TEAM MEMBERS, REPLIED THAT THEY HAD NO ONE TO TELL THEM THEY COULDN’T.
THIS IS A NICE STORY, THAT WENT MILES TO BUILD THE LEGEND OF AUSTRALIAN MAVERICK CHARACTER, AND GAVE AN EXCUSE TO THE EUROPEANS, AMERICANS AND JAPANESE WHO NEEDED TO FIT IT INTO THEIR BLINDSPOTS. BUT IT’S NO MORE THAN A TALE, A MEDIA BITE FROM A BYGONE AGE, BECAUSE THE REALITY WAS THEY WERE ALL SEASONED HIGH ALTITUDE CLIMBERS WHO DID IT BY INTEGRITY NOT BY LUCK.
.
TO THIS DAY, WHITE LIMBO IS THE ONLY ALPINE FIRST ASCENT OF A SIGNIFICANT ROUTE ON EVEREST, AND ONLY A HANDFUL ON ANY OTHER 8000m PEAK. READ THAT AGAIN. ALMOST ALL OTHER ROUTES WENT UP BY A SEIGE OR LARGE SCALE EXPEDITION STYLE, USUALLY WITH INDUSTRIAL LOGISTICS, AND THOUGH SOME INCLUDED ALPINE STYLE CLIMBING FOR PART OF THE ROUTE, NEARLY NONE DID IT THE ENTIRE WAY, AND ONLY VERY FEW HAVE HAVE DONE IT AGAIN SINCE.
FURTHERMORE, THE WHITE LIMBO ASCENT WAS WELL DOCUMENTED, WITH ALL ON THE TEAM BEING COMPETANT WRITERS, AND ONE – LINCOLN HALL, THE BOOKS AUTHOR – BEING A PROFESSIONAL JOURNALIST. BEYOND THIS, THE ENTIRE THING WAS FILMED, BY A COMMERCIAL TV STATION NO LESS, WITH NO COMPROMISING OF ALPINE ETHICS IN A DOUBLE MIDDLE FINGER TO THE WHOLE INDUSTRIAL CLIMBING WORLD. WERE THE “NO ONE TOLD US WE COULDN’T” QUOTE TO BE TRUE, IT SAID MORE ABOUT THIS ELEMENT THAN ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE CLIMBERS HISTORY.
.
WHITE LIMBO, LIKE EXTREME ALPINISM, IS AN ASTOUNDING AND INTIMATE INSIGHT INTO WHAT TIER 1 ALPINISM LOOKS LIKE, AND THE IMAGES AND ACCOUNTS PROVIDE MORE DETAILS THAN ANY INSTRUCTION EVER WILL. THE HUGE BASE OF THE PYRAMID THAT THE FINAL ASCENT RISES FROM IS SHOWN FROM THE TEAMS PREVIOUS TRIPS TO THE PILES OF GEAR IN SYDNEY AND THE JOURNEY INTO WHAT WAS THEN CLOSED TIBET, THAT THE DEPTH TO THE CLIMBING IS NOT ISOLATED AS A STUNT, BUT IS A CULMINATION OF A PROCESS.
.
WHITE LIMBO IS A RELIC OF A TIME THAT WON’T COME AGAIN, WHEN LADS SET OFF TO CLIMB BIG MOUNTAINS WITH EQUIPMENT THAT SEEMS LUDICROUSLY PRIMITIVE, TRUNDLING THROUGH WILDERNESS ON TRUCKS WITHOUT ROADS, EATING STRICT VEGETARIAN DIETS, AND NOT POSING FOR INSTAGRAM. TIM McCARTNEY-SNAPE’S COTTON SHIRT HAND PAINTED WITH SOME HIPPY MOTIF SAYS IT ALL, AS DOES THE NAMING OF THE ROUTE WHITE LIMBO AFTER SOME BLAND AUSTRALIAN PUB ROCK SONG THEY ALL LIKED. THIS WAS NOT PUNK CLIMBING BECAUSE IT WASN’T ABOUT ANGER, FEROCITY, ANTIESTABLISHMENTARIANISM OR A SUB-CULTURE, IT WAS PUNK CLIMBING BECAUSE THESE GUYS SEEMED UNAWARE OF THE MOVEMENT AND SIMPLY STITCHED TOGETHER IDEALS MORE PUNK THAN ANYTHING JELLO BIAFRA COULD COME UP WITH.
.
WHITE LIMBO IS WHAT ALL GOOD BOOKS ARE, REGARDLESS OF BEING ABOUT CLIMBING OR NOT, A TALE THAT IS EPIC NOT IN THE RED BULL SENSE BUT IN THAT OF THE ILIAD.
WHILST A BEAUTIFUL ASCENT AND AN IMPORTANT ONE, THEIR FAIR SHARE OF THINGS WENT WRONG FROM AVALANCHES SWEEPING AWAY VITAL GEAR TO ANDY HENDERSON LOOSING HIS FINGERS, AND ALL THE THINGS THAT WOULD THESE DAYS STOP AN ASCENT ON EVEREST’S POPULOUS SOUTH SIDE, LET ALONE THE NORTH IN THE 80s THAT WAS AS REMOTE AS THE MOON. THE HARROWING ASCENTS WATCHED HELPLESSLY FROM AFAR ARE THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES, BUT NEVER CLOUD THE STORY WITH HYPERBOLE OR DRAMA.
THE DEFT HAND OF A JOURNALISTS IS APPARENT IN THE TELLING, WHERE NO PRIMADONNA OR CELEBRITY CHARACTER EXCEEDS THE OTHERS, AND THE EARTHY, AWKWARD, AND SIMPLY YOUTHFUL NATURES OF THE CLIMBERS IS ALLOWED TO PRESENT. GEOFF BARTRAM SHOWS AS THE INTERNATIONAL PROFESSIONAL, GEOFF MORTIMER THE BRILLIANT QUIET ACHEIVER, ANDY HENDERSON THE QUINTESSENTIAL HIGH ALPINIST, McCARTNEY-SNAPE THE PHILOSOPHICAL VISIONARY, AND IN A SORT OF ‘LOW KEY GONZO’ THE AUTHOR PROJECTS A QUIET EYE WITH LITTLE INTRUSION DESPITE BEING BOTH A DRIVING FORCE IN THE CLIMBING AND CONCEPT COMBINED.
.
TO BACK IT ALL UP THE DOCUMENTARY EXISTS, SO THE CONTENTS OF THE BOOK CAN BE VERIFIED AND BOLSTERED. A MASTERPIECE OF COMMERCIAL STATION PRODUCTION AND TIME CAPSULE OF AUSTRALIA AT THE TIME, IT HAS AN AUTHENTICITY THE HOMOGENIZING OF NETFLIX OR JIMMY CHIN WILL NEVER KNOW.
WHAT WE READ AND SEE IS AN ACCOUNT SO FAR FROM THE JADED, SLICK, OVER-PRODUCED, AND MANIPULATED FARE THAT CLIMBING ACCOUNTS CAME TO BE, WHERE THINGS WERE THERE TO IMPRESS SPONSORS AND GEAR COMPANIES, AND AN AUDIENCE THAT HAS CONNED ITSELF INTO THINKING IT HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH WHAT IT’S WATCHING. WHITE LIMBO IS WRITTEN AS JOURNALISM, FOR A TIME WHEN THERE WAS NO MOUNTAINEERING SHELF IN THE BOOKSHOP, AS A DOCUMENT OF HUMAN ENDEAVOUR.
.
READ IT AND WATCH IT, BECAUSE FOR THOSE WHO CLIMB IT IS AN INSIGHT IMPOSSIBLE TO RECREATE, AND GIVES AN INKLING TOWARDS HOW THINGS IN THE REMAINING HIGH ALTIUDE WILDERNESSES WORK. THIS IS SOMETHING LIKE WHAT THE CHINA SIDE OF THE KARAKORAM IS LIKE THESE DAYS, AND SHOWS A STYLE THAT CAN WORK, AND IS THE ANTIDOTE TO THE SHITFIGHT THAT HIGH ALTITUDE CLIMBING HAS BECOME.
