Are Guided Everest Expeditions Shortcuts to the Top?

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment

Last month, the Journal of Consumer Research, according to Science Daily, examined guided clients that pay US$50,000 or more to climb Mount Everest.  The study’s findings said that guided clients do not have the “communitarian spirit” that usually defines “transformative experiences.” 

The scientists that conducted the study also found that the clients’ individual goals created competition among clients and surpassed any camaraderie that might develop organically from the struggle.  To use Charles Houston’s phrase, the guided clients do not become part of the brotherhood of the rope.  But to elude to Science Daily’s provocative take on the study, it seems paying to climb Everest errs on selfishness rather than nobility. 

The study focused on commercial expeditions to Everest and ignored other popular guided ascents, like those up Mont Blanc, Mount Rainier, Denali, Aconcagua, or others.  It also did not recognize the different ways of approaching Everest, and all but one seems to sidestep one of Malcolm Gladwell’s key concepts in Blink: the 10,000 hours of experience necessary to become an expert. 

Approaching Everest, or any major ,  can be done by being a mountain bum and climbing at the drop of a hat, which requires a means of income that can support it and the willingness for a lower quality of life in other areas.  It can also be approached as a sponsored climber, by making climbing a full-time profession and taking new risks.  The 10,000 hours can also be achieved through becoming a guide or teacher of climbing.  The last way requires proficiency at some level of less than 10,000 hours: the guided client. 

Regardless of the Journal’s findings, it really is a brilliant arrangement.  For someone like you or me, working a professional career you feel committed to (willingly or not) and not willing or able to pursue your mountaineering goal through one of the three other methods, paying a guide service to give you the chance is a breakthrough!  However, short-cutting the 10,000 hours does have the drawback where in some cases the paying client is an expert climber, in many cases the client is not the same caliber as the guides or other independent alpinists on the mountain.  Reading Into Thin Air by Krakauer makes that evident. 

I certainly do not consider climbing Everest or any peak selfish.  Frivolous might be a better word.  And the lack of camaraderie on Everest?  Well, they were not seeking bonding friendship, but rather the top.  That does however make me wonder: If the paying client was simply seeking to try for the top (carefully avoiding summit fever!) would he or she return from the attempt more satisfied than going for the top and failing?  Would he or she have grown closer to the other alpinists?  I may never know…

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The Sought-After First Winter Ascent in the Karakoram Achieved

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On February 2, 2011 (Groundhog Day in the states) Simone Moro, of Italy, Denis Urubko of Kazakhstan and Cory Richards of Canada have completed the first winter ascent of 8,000er in the Korakoram Range in Pakistan.  According to Alpinist Newswire and several other sources, they made the climb to Gasherbrum II (26,361 ft./8,035 m.) in a three-day push from basecamp.

Until now, all the 8,000ers that have been sended in winter were accomplished by Polish expeditions.  No one had been able to reach the top of any of Pakistan’s Karakoram 8,000ers in winter.  The fortune of the Moro-Urubko-Richards team no doubt gained a lot from Moro’s previous experience when climbing on the Pole’s other successful expeditions, including up Shishapangma (26,289 ft./8,013 m.) in 2005.

The Poles, lead by Artur Hajzer, continue to work their way up Broad Peak even now.  According to Himalman Ie, the route is still advancing and one alpinist needs medical attention due to lung issues.  Despite slow progress, I am optimistic about the Polish Broad Peak expedition.

A third stab at a Karakoram 8,000er winter ascent is also underway on Gasherbrum I (26,509 ft./8,080 m.) lead by Canadian alpinist Louis Rousseau.  Rouseau’s group appears to be facing the most adversity going into his climb.  Their team is smaller than planned, which could have been a financial set back as well.  Nonetheless, they are in the Karakoram and moving forward.  This attempt, if successful, might have the makings for the story we retell again and again.

In general, these attempts and ascents are signs that the Himalayas are in the second or third phase of mountaineering.  The first phase is always about first ascents of the peak, usually by the easiest and most direct route.  The second phase is usually climbing the mountian by more challenging routes and claiming an early ascent (like the second, third or fourth ascent of the peak).  The third phase involves stunt climbs (please forgive the term), where the climbers will send the mountian in a particular style, in winter, including a ski descent or base jump, for example.  I have just begun thinking about the evolution and trends in the natural flow of exploring so I might amend this in the future.

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Ice Climbing the Adirondacks

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment

If you were in the northeast during Martin Luther King Day weekend (unlike me) you could have dropped into Keene, New York in the Adirondack’s High Peaks Region for the International Mountainfest. It’s a great celebration of winter and the mountains that has been around for fifteen years, thanks to it’s hosts The Mountaineer, an outfitter in Keene Valley (just down the road) and Rock and River Guides, where the event is always held.

At the event the whole family or your friends can stay at the Rock and River Guides’ Inn or at one of Keene Valley’s B&Bs, and enjoy the ice climbing skills course or go snowshoeing if the climbing is too intimidating.  There really is something for everyone except those longing for the beach (and why would you in such a better environment?)

Rock and River Guides are open year round and offer ice climbing and general mountaineering skills in the winter and rock skills and fly fishing in the summer.  The 16th Annual Mountainfest will likely be held on Martin Luther King Day weekend in 2012 as well.

The event is worth attending and it would be a great introduction to climbing in the High Peaks.  In fact, the guru of Adirondack climbing and the author of the bible on the subject, Don Mellor, is attending.  So go, climb (or start!) and explore the Adirondacks from the ice walls:

THE INTRODUCTION
Pitchoff Mountain — great for top roping near the Cascade Lakes (between Lake Placid, NY and Keene, NY on Route 73)

FOR PRACTICE
Chapel Pond — solid for practicing leads some good raps (south of Keene Valley on Route 73)

THE CHALLENGE
Poke-O-Moonshine Cliff — a well known wall near Lake Champlain that is enjoyable when it’s full and thick and a brilliant challenge when it’s ice lines are few and far between in an unusual season, as Vermont alpinist Matt McCormick described (east of Keene Valley and Giant Mountain; about 3 miles south of exit 33 on Route 9)

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Denali Solo in January Not to Be

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment

Polar explorer and new mountaineer Lonnie Dupre was attempting to pull off a first for the darkest and possibly hardest month of the year on Denali (20,320 ft./6,194 m.).  Only two alpinists have ever stood on Denali’s summit in the month of January (if my memory serves correctly).  Still, no one has done it alone during that month and Dupre could not change that. 

At least not this time.

Based on his previous accomplishments and what he endured to attain 17,200 ft. (5,243 m.), including several days in snow caves, high winds and even an earthquake, Dupre probably has it in him to try again. 

Even if he does not return, he tried and so far he is nearly back down (if he is not down already) to his base camp alive and in one piece. 

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Who’s Your Mountain Guide?

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment

I used to treat mountain guides like many people treat ski instructors; once they showed you the rudimentary basics, you were on your own to figure out the slopes all the way to double diamond.

Part of that approach is appealing to me (in mountaineering).  Many great climbers from the past learned to climb virtually on their own and then improved through their own tenacity for climbing.  The idea of approaching a mountain on your own, just you and it, was part of the romantic wilderness experience.  It also has the potential for greatness or a great fall, separating the bold as either brilliant or foolish.

Among non-climbers, mountain guides are often thought of in terms of the client-guide relationship described in Krakauer’s book of the 1996 Everest disaster, Into Thin Air.  In that relationship, the guide was similar to a shepherd, herding the wealthy (or semi-wealthy) clients to get to the summit.  I’d like to debunk that stereotype.

Now that I climb much, much less than I dreamed I would at this point in my life, I value guides differently than when Rock and River Guides in the Adirondacks taught me years ago.  For me today, mountain guides are still teaching me, reminding me of things I have forgotten or pointing out how to do things better.  This is especially true as gear continues to change and improve.  For instance, there are some better belay devices out there today than the ATC I initially learned to use.

Guides are also the guardians of the future of the sport.  Depsite that the Outdoor Foundation reports that climbing has declined with new entrants in the past four years (I suspect because of the economic downturn, which began in late 2006 with the delinquency and foreclosure crisis), the refinement of climbing depends on the knowledge of mountain skills and the quality of the instructors.  Even people (especially young people) are not flocking to the sport as they did several years ago, those that are sending ought to continue and develop their skills until other priorities (God forbid!) take over.  For me, I rely on guides to give me the pointers before I venture out again.

They’re value is appreciated even more so when things go wrong for hikers and climbers alike.  It is often a mountain guide that comes to the rescue.  In these events, the mountain guides expertise is appreciated even more and respected more than simply a recreational skiing instructor.

As an old issue of Climbing said, they have all the responsibility of a surgeon, despite a plumbers wage.   In that, they are part of the working class, at least in teh United States and Canada.  After a rescue (or hopefully you think so without one) they should be recognized as professionals.

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Walk and Relieve the Stress

/ Andrew Szalay / Leave a comment

If you’re living in Colorado or Washington you might disagree, but from my position here in Peaklessburg, I think the Mountaineering Council of Scotland in Big Issues Scotland has it right: “[T]he hills are alive with the sound of over-stressed, under-funded, debt-burdened solace-seekers, tramping towards tranquility amid the peaks and valleys.” 

The council believes that more people in Scotland and the U.K. need to get out more and walk to relieve the pressures of daily life.  The organization is also promoting an election agenda for the candidates to support more maintained trails in the north country. 

While I am uncertain whether more trails are a solution to stress (and the limited wilderness there) I wholeheartedly agree that walking and hiking does a world of good in for workers and professionals today.  We are inundated with information and asked to make decisions quickly and frequently.  These things build tension even when you don’t notice. 

Simplifying things on the trail so that your priorities are realigned is refreshing.  Thinking more about packing enough food and water and bringing a good rain jacket or wind breaker will be like a change of scenery on a much longer vacation.  Then add the walk itself and you’re set! 

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