Dutifully, although with slight trepidation, I arrived, with a rather more colourful jacket and top hat in place of the more traditional evening wear. Old friends began to arrive, many of whom were mountain people, all of whom I had shared tents, boats, climbs and adventures with. In a field we changed into our finery and our adventure began.

Assembly of a small pile of equipment began, with people producing pans and stoves, candles and table cloths, boxes and bags, cutlery and crockery, folding chairs, plywood sheets and scaffolding. It was quickly divided up and disappeared into rucksacks.

Leaving the road we set of on our path. Despite the heavy, awkward loads the equipment presented, there was a sense of amusement and good humour as we took the steep path up towards the top of Tryfan. As the path gave way to scrambling the pieces of scaffolding were passed hand to hand up the rock steps and the people followed. Two hours hard work and we were on the summit.

Once there, the miracle began. The scaffolding and plywood became a table, complete with cloth, candlesticks and cruet set. Some laid it for our feast while other set to cooking the meal. Dressed as if for a country house, we dined on soup and goulash, bread and biscuits, cheese and fruit, and wine and port and watched the sun slowly set over the Irish Sea.

More photos here

Is “Because it’s there” a good enough reason to do something? Do you want to do it to become wealthier, to be more secure, to learn something or just to get to the top?

Prepare

You need to work out what you resources you need, you need to work out a rough schedule as well. You also need to make sure you’re up to the task and have the right team around you.

Plan Your Route

A map isn’t a requirement if the terrain is easy and recognisable. The more complicated it is, and the more unknown it is, the more you need  to think about where you’re going.

Take Notice Of Paths

Paths are only there because people have done it before. You can use known good paths to your goal, you can use them as rough guides to the direction you should be heading or you can ignore them altogether. The only thing to remember is the well-trodden path is well-trodden for a reason. Is it the right reason?

Stop And Enjoy The View

Enjoy the journey. If you plough on to your summit, you can miss out on what you’ve achieved so far, and there’s nothing better for your motivation than to take stock of how much you’ve done. Take the time to resurvey your surroundings. Is there a better path from your current position that you didn’t spot until now? Are you on schedule?

The Summit

Take time to enjoy it while you are there. If it doesn’t feel satisfying, was it challenging enough?

Other Peaks

Once you’ve reached the summit you wanted, or even before you get there, are there any other peaks worth going to? You’ve already done most the hard work, so sometimes it’s only a minor detour to acheive something in addition to your original plan.

Shortcuts

There are no real shortcuts. The shortest routes are steeper, more dangerous and more difficult. The easier routes are longer, but safer.  You just have to work out how to balance the two.

The Journey Down

Even once you’ve achieved your goal of the summit, there’s still a lot of work to do to finish the job off properly. It’ll be easier than getting to the top, but it won’t be plain sailing.

Thanks to Brian Drought who wrote the first draft of this, Image from Totem staff

Steve House goes through the gear he and partner Vince Anderson used on their alpine-style first ascent of the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat in September, 2005.

Steve House: Clothing System for Nanga Parbat

Steve House: Gear Used on Nanga Parbat

There is no way in the world that moving some barrels and planks around on a patch of grass to cross a ‘river’ marked out with ropes can ever compare to building a pontoon to cross a real river.

You can climb an artificial climbing wall, lower to the ground and feel pleased with yourself but climb a real cliff and pull over the top and stand on a summit and the achievement will feel so much more tangible.

So while lessons can be learned with barrels and planks and in indoor climbing walls, more powerful lessons can be learnt out and about in the world. Real challenge brings real reward.

Not normally a believer in serendipity or fate, I broke open my fortune cookie in the Chinese restaurant last night to receive the following;

Maybe somebody out there heard my conversation on the mountain…

“The best climber is the one having the most fun.”

Alex Lowe, The American Alpine Journal

“While doing his national service in a Swedish infantry regiment, he trained for Alpine climbing expeditions by sleeping in a gravel pit. His tough, self-imposed programme included setting his alarm clock at random: if he woke at 3am he would walk 30km in full combat gear; if he woke at 6am, he would walk 60km. “I wanted to get used to living with the unexpected,” he said.”

The rest of the obituary further emphasises how dedicated this man was to both adventure and minimal impact techniques.

“Kropp aimed to tackle each expedition “in harmony with nature”, without support and leaving no trace of his passing. “It is important for me to leave nothing behind me on a mountain,” he said.”

You can read the rest of the obituary on the Telegraph website.

Photo from MountainZone.com.