Following a Legacy

Style. We’re not reckless cowboys out for disaster, but climbing light, clean, and fast is important to us. We’re visiting a region that, as a whole, has seen only a handful of footprints, with most peaks never even seeing an attempt. We think it’s our duty and obligation to leave the place as pristine as we find it, as both ambassadors of our respective nations and as human beings. We aren’t style evangelists, but hope to lead by example.

The largest sponsor of our expedition is W.L. Gore and the Shipton-Tilman grant program. The program brief states: “Eric Shipton and Bill Tilman are arguably the greatest adventurers of this past century. They believed in traveling in small, compact teams, unburdened by porters and excessive bulk surviving on the bare minimum required to achieve their goal…Applications are accepted from small, unencumbered teams of friends with daring and imaginative goals. The expedition team must plan to accomplish their feat in a self-propelled, environmentally sound and cost-effective way.”

Shipton and Tilman changed the game when it came to exploration of the greater ranges. Using small teams, they managed to explore regions where larger expeditions had failed. From Africa to the Himalaya to Patagonia, Shipton and Tilman were not only climbers, but also explorers (Side note: I highly recommend the compilation of Shipton’s writings, The Six Mountain Travel Books). ‘Exploratory mountaineering’ is how I often describe our trip. As much as we seek to climb aesthetic, technical lines, we also hope to explore the potential of the region for future expeditions, making accessible our findings to inspire other climbers. We are not at the top of the list for technical skill, but we have a drive to get out there and do big things. We thank our sponsors for recognizing this and giving us the opportunity.

As a lightweight, low budget expedition, we won’t have ornate base camp palaces, lines of porters, computers, or helicopter rides. We plan to get as close as we can in a truck, then on horseback, then ferrying loads on our own backs. We’ll climb in teams of two for efficiency, aiming for fast alpine-style ascents. Our two-man teams are a form of redundancy, increasing our safety margin. We will leave as little gear behind as humanly possible, hopefully none.

In the end, we hope our expedition honors the legacy of Shipton and Tilman while inspiring other climbers to get out there and shoot for their dreams.

Mike