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The Alpinist


Raja Clavata
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I'm sure others here will have seen it, maybe some will see it based on this post. 

For those that have, what is your take on it  - the specific story presented, the legacy and the future of the pursuit?

Personally, I am conflicted, I loosely qualify as both a Mountaineer and an Alpinist but at the extreme end of the sport I often find myself at a loss (hence maybe I'm not a "proper" one)...

Thanks in advance

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28 minutes ago, Raja Clavata said:

I'm sure others here will have seen it, maybe some will see it based on this post. 

For those that have, what is your take on it  - the specific story presented, the legacy and the future of the pursuit?

Personally, I am conflicted, I loosely qualify as both a Mountaineer and an Alpinist but at the extreme end of the sport I often find myself at a loss (hence maybe I'm not a "proper" one)...

Thanks in advance

Like you, I am ambivalent about it. I understand the draw, but I think there has to be limits. His free-spiritedness is fine for selfish ambition, but it masks his responsibilities to his girlfriend and his family. I'm sure they're all glad he died doing what he loved, but I bet given the choice, deep down they'd rather not have had to go through his death and the loss. Celebrating a life at a funeral is hardly the same as celebrating a life at a birthday, Christmas etc...

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19 hours ago, chrisjpainter said:

Like you, I am ambivalent about it. I understand the draw, but I think there has to be limits. His free-spiritedness is fine for selfish ambition, but it masks his responsibilities to his girlfriend and his family. I'm sure they're all glad he died doing what he loved, but I bet given the choice, deep down they'd rather not have had to go through his death and the loss. Celebrating a life at a funeral is hardly the same as celebrating a life at a birthday, Christmas etc...

Very well said 

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I watched it and was conflicted like you guys. In order to make a name for themselves they seem to push further and further in pursuit of new feats, whilst having little regard for their loved ones. Whilst I enjoy watching and read about their exploits the fact that they're at the whim of the mountain leaves too larger element to luck rather than judgement, especially when climbing with zero protection. Too often it ends in tragedy. 

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9 hours ago, shalfordninja33 said:

I watched it and was conflicted like you guys. In order to make a name for themselves they seem to push further and further in pursuit of new feats, whilst having little regard for their loved ones. Whilst I enjoy watching and read about their exploits the fact that they're at the whim of the mountain leaves too larger element to luck rather than judgement, especially when climbing with zero protection. Too often it ends in tragedy. 

Agreed. And the new feats seem to be getting more and more convoluted. Once upon a time it was just climbing something new that mattered. Now it's the first to climb without rope, or on a new route, in a new season, first solo, first without oxygen etc.. But the more complicated the 'first' becomes the more diluted the achievement, so it really does become just about ego, and ego doesn't tuck your kids up at night after you've been killed in a rock fall.

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15 hours ago, chrisjpainter said:

Agreed. And the new feats seem to be getting more and more convoluted. Once upon a time it was just climbing something new that mattered. Now it's the first to climb without rope, or on a new route, in a new season, first solo, first without oxygen etc.. But the more complicated the 'first' becomes the more diluted the achievement, so it really does become just about ego, and ego doesn't tuck your kids up at night after you've been killed in a rock fall.

Absolutely, another one I watched recently is 'The Last Mountain' where the mother and son are both climbers with the inevitable, tragic outcome. Seeing the Husband/Father and Daughter dealing with the aftermath is incredibly sad. 

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It's not the same bloke, but there was something shown on C4 a while back,  free climbing on stuff that would make spider man twinge,  everyone he looked up to was already dead, from climbing. We were nervous watching it wondering if they would show the program if he'd died?

The buzz of climbing and looking out or down is fantastic, makes you feel alive but there is no chance I'd go where these people do without ropes, I wouldn't be able to manage with ropes.

Unfortunately they are pushing things that bit too far.

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