Someone said:
"I'm still a traditional climber. So for me climbing must contain three elements: difficulty, danger and, most important, exposure. Exposure means there is no possibility for outside help.
Exposure increases the higher up you are, the more remote your location, and the greater the difficulties encountered higher up.
Steve House and Vince Anderson's ascent of Nanga Parbat is so important because they were by themselves with absolute exposure. If they had made one mistake, they would have had no chance to be saved. I think only a few climbers understand how and why exposure is the most important ingredient."
I have been increasingly befuddled by the attempt to CHANGE the concept of traditional mountaineering to one that involves maximal safety and certainty.
I certainly have no problem with those who want to pursue their outdoor activities with the maximum backups. Where I have a problem is where those same people advocate that all others must do it their way, or be blots on the universe, subject to all kinds of criticism.
Clearly, there is a range of safety backups that a person can pursue, from a crowd of porters, to nothing. Once can also stick to trails, or supertrails like the JMT. One can have all gear carried, by stock or humans. Nothing is wrong with any of that.
But there is nothing wrong with performing without a net, either.
"On a mountain you are on your own, in a world of anarchy, with a chance to experience what it was like a hundred thousand years ago when humans were wild animals and not dependent on the social world."
Perhaps it comes down to our changed perception of safety, and what that should be. Objectively, we live in the safest society in America that has ever existed, and yet, there is a widespread perception that we all are unsafe. How odd.
"Our instincts as humans are slowly dimming the less time we spend in wild nature: rainstorms, cold, whiteouts, loose rocks, adventure. Climbing is an important and sacred opportunity for us to exist in situations that we faced a hundred thousand years ago. The animalistic side of human beings. Our instincts are an important element of our intelligence."
