Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
proach to climbing in his own words: 'The wall was the ambition, the style became
the obsession.' It comes from the second paragraph of his book
Shisha Pangma
and it is worth quoting a bit more from that paragraph to understand the context:
'On its southern flanks this largely unknown, elusive, barely pronounceable
mountain of uncertain altitude boasts a huge, spectacular, visually formidable
(and consequently tantalisingly attractive) mountain wall over two and a half kilo-
metres high and twice as broad - an unclimbed, unvisited alpine playground. To
climb it became an ambition, but not just to climb it, we had to make the ascent
with style, as light, as fast, as uncluttered as we dared, free from umbilical cords
and logistics. With none of the traditional trappings of a Himalayan climb.'
Alex was very aware of the dangers that came with ambition. But style could
counter this, a combination of lightweight tactics and mental commitment.
Through the speed gained going lightweight, high-altitude climbing became safer.
In many cases, this was true. A combination of style and ambition saw some stun-
ning successes on the world's highest mountains, and one of the first was Shisha
Pangma.
1. The hut was set up largely through the efforts of Dennis Gray at the BMC and a small army of volunteers who had followed and admired Alex.
Located in Onich, it is an excellent base for climbing in either Glen Coe or Ben Nevis.
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