Things Alpinism taught me
I recently took a 3 week course in Alpinism in Switzerland (bloody fucking expensive, to say the least), to get some skills in climbing and dealing with ice and snow. I expected to learn a few things along the way, but ended up learning more than what I anticipated (sign of a good trip). I though I’d make a list of my learning and share it with the rest of the world.
Alpinism is a broad term applied to a combination of classic mountaineering, rock climbing, walking, climbing, sliding over glaciers and icy terrain. Alpinism is also used to denote a more specific form of mountaineering that is short, quick and relies on smaller amounts of gear as opposed to the siege based, weeks to months long expeditions for climbing Himalayan/Asian mountains.
1. Less is more
Alpine climbing is all about being light and making quick climbs from an alpine hut situated high enough in a valley. Normally, climbers start very early in the day make up the slope and come back by mid-day/early afternoon.
The idea is to attempt climbing over frozen ice/snow before the heat of the sun in the summer melts it down, making it dangerous to cross glaciers or slip over melting ice on the rocks.
Climbers try their best to pack as light as possible. Nothing beyond the equipment required, a spare set of clothes and some snacks to eat and a bottle of water.
Backpacks are minimal, with nothing usually more than a small pocket to store some stuff, a place to stow away your ice axe and a couple of ties to hold some rope.
Alpine backpacks are the exact opposite of normal backpacks. Every zip is a weak point, a crack for water to seep in through. Every dangling clip, zip and rope is something that can catch on rock, mixup with your rope or has the potential to catch onto your axe when you need it the most.
My guide carried no toiletries beyond a single toothbrush and a tube of paste for the entire week. And an extra pair of thick socks in case the first gets too wet and uncomfortable.
Having fewer equipment frees your mind to focus on the now. You are less worried about losing your stuff in the huts or forgetting them on the way. There is more freedom, and less weight to carry. I cannot tell in words how much impact dropping 500 grams of weight off your backpack has over a 10 km , 8 hr, 1000m+ climb.
Some people are good at managing and taking care of their stuff. For others, every additional tool, clothing is a nightmare to manage. This can apply to all the stuff you buy as well. The more full your home is the more nightmarish it is to maintain. As a sloppy, forgetful person, I am always happy to not carry stuff. Ever since I dropped carrying my heavy DSLR on trip and simply using my phone to take photos, my trips have become a lot more pleasant and enjoyable.
It pays to have less.
2. The power of focus
I had a big problem focusing on things. Multi-tasking on the computer all day long has sapped my ability to focus on one and only thing at a moment. Not that I had a good amount of focus before, but whatever ability to concentrate on one task had let me for good and I struggled real hard on the way.
The first day of the first week was spent learning some basic knots and rope management techniques. One learns how to tie oneself with a rope that is then tied onto another person.
Mountaineering, atleast in its classic form is all about safety. And most of the safety comes from being tied to another person or persons, who can in the case of a fall, arrest your fall.
I found it extremely hard to focus and remember all the knots and the roping techniques required for climbing and spent quite a significant amount of time trying my best not to tie up myself in a knot. It wasn’t until the last week that I felt like I wasn’t doing too bad and could remember which knot to do when and how to deal with the rope comfortably.
Granted, new skills take time to learn and be familiar with, but when you are in a place as expensive as Switzerland, you can ill-afford to spend more time as every additional day is a very expensive lesson.
Sometimes in life you really wont have more than one opportunity to learn something and it is on you to make sure that you are ready to learn as much as you in that single opportunity.
3. The Human body and mind are capable of amazing feats
My guide for the second week, Mark was a 55 year old man from Northern England. Mark was about 6ft tall and weighted maybe around 90 kilos. When you meet him the first time, he probably wouldn’t strike as the kind of guy that can challenge an Ibex when it comes to agility, but then, I was never more surprised in my life when I saw him climb with the grace of an arboreal ape. Smooth, fluid, calculative and fast, Mark was climbing like he was hardly beyond 30 and had excellent strength and stamina.
I later came to know that he has a few first ascent (The first time , a particular route or a mountain is climbed and recorded) to his name and has been rock-climbing since his teens. His once spent an entire week rock-climbing the face of a mountain in Alaska, whilst living and sleeping suspended right on the face of the mountain (While this may look super cool in documentaries, brochures and Youtube videos, trust me, you will be shitting in your pants if you were to be transported to such a situation)
I am not one scared of heights or tough challenges, but on the first day of rock climbing, I nearly gave up in fear and exhaustion. By week 3, I was happily doing multi-pitch climbs up mountains over moderately tough grades.
We seriously have no idea of what we are capable of if we set our minds to it and get some adrenaline pumping in our systems. Most of modernity is wallowing in the laziness of an artificial environment waiting for a miracle to stir us out of our slumber.
4. You are not depressed
Seriously, you aren’t. You are just bored and aimless and probably have nothing worthwhile to do in your pathetic life.
5. Modern food is industrial goo
No, they didn’t teach me about food during the course, but one of my coursemates was a food technician from somewhere in Europe (data elided for privacy reasons) working for a company manufacturing potato starch. While not as bad as some ingredients, starch is practically doped in every type of mass manufactured food you can image, from candy to cheese. The yellow you see in cheese on your burger at the fast food joint ? Potato starch. The key to keep all of ingredients bound together in your candy ? potato starch.
Potato starch/protein is a low value item used to dope animal foodstock. The company also realized that Vegans are suckers who will pay a premium to have this industrial goo mixed into crap like Vegan meat and make more margins selling their goo to the Vegans than to farmers and livestock owners.
After having seen his videos how they smear all food in this goo, I have frankly lost appetite for food and look forward to living off air someday in the future.
6. There is too much noise around
News. Twitter. Your Instagram/Facebook feed. Cities. Your building. Too noisy.
We weren’t meant to be exposed to such noise (sound and information). The chirp of birds, stars in the night, slow pace of events. This is the normal. The modern world isn’t. Once in a while, it feels amazing to unplug and get out into the wild and feel the full force of nature. Makes you feel more human.