At the limits
MCS AlexClimbMCS AlexClimb Mountaineering School
For many people, the capabilities of their own body are absolute Terra Incognita. It is clear that, having spent half your life sitting at an office desk, you may not recognize even your most basic abilities.
The comfort zone can become so narrow that any exit beyond the usual route from a car seat to an office chair is stress and a serious surviving test.
But you always want to believe that your body is still capable of something - and there is some truth in this! We really can do more than we think about ourselves. But how can we check it, and at the same time - not kill ourselves?
Using mountaineering as an example, I will try to understand one rather popular modern trend - under the idea of "unlimited range of human capabilities", people are pushed to perform actions that are potentially dangerous to their life and health.
Marathons, ultra trails, speed mountain ascents (skyrunning) are actively advertised as an element of a healthy lifestyle - which generally is wonderful. Anything is better than getting carried away with alcoholic o drug teleportation to a world without problems.
There is a small nuance: that professional levels of physical activity are presented as generally accessible. So the question arises: who needs this and why? For the organizers - it is clear, mass events are a form of good earnings. But for the participants?
For the majority of the people, all these super achievements are needed only as fun and alimentation for their vanity. In this format, such entertainment can become an extremely dangerous adventure, since it can bring a person close to the limit of his capabilities.
Not everyone understands that this limit is a zone of very high danger, and crossing it can lead to catastrophic consequences for health or even life.
Working as a guide in the mountains, I conditionally divide my clients into two categories. The first category is adequate. These are people with the correct motivation, sufficient experience in mountaineering or rock climbing, who realistically assess their physical limitations in relation to the chosen route, and are sufficiently prepared to reach the goal.
That clients need a guide for general logistics, safety, and increasing the likelihood of success during the ascent. Or, as often happens with busy people - in the absence of an adequate climbing partner or team. With such clients, everything usually goes comfortably and successfully.
The second category is "record holders". These are dreamers and fantasists who choose a mountain or route, like a child a toy in a shop: liked it - grab it. This is a dangerous category of clients - they have no understanding of the real complexity of the route or its danger, they do not sufficient preparation either - instead, there is faith in the limitlessness of their own capabilities.
Many of the "record holders" expect a miracle from their guide - that he will pave a smooth road to the summit of any complexity, disperse the clouds and turn a difficult and dangerous route into a fun walk.
Here is a quote from my real practice: "Why the wind is blowing - I paid my money not for that?!" - this is not a joke, but a real, rather unpleasant situation that occurred during one of my ascents of Mount Elbrus.
To understand how grave is the issue - it is well to know that with the category of "record holders" motivated to "go beyond their own capabilities" the mass accidents occur on the easies, from a professional point of view, mountaineering or even trekking routes.
Striving for exploring and expanding the range of your own capabilities is useful and interesting, this is the only way to personal progress and development.
However, you should separate the wheat from the chaff. Going beyond your usual comfort zone, fighting laziness and apathy is one thing. But an ill-considered, dangerous approach to the limit of your own physical capabilities is something completely different.
If the first approach gives us an incentive for life and pleasure from our own achievements, then the second is directly related to high risks to health and life.
And now, we have reached the most interesting part of my article - how to define the "safe zone" between "I'm lazy, of course, but I'll force myself" and "I'll achieve the result at any cost"?
The words "at any cost" is a red marker of high danger. With these words, people run marathons until they have a heart attack or climb mountains in completely inappropriate weather - without thinking about the consequences.
Before you start expanding your limits, you should think about the correct motivation. By the way, this method is ideal for many types of activities, not only in mountaineering.
If you have never run distances longer than 10 km in your life, you really need to run a marathon? Treat yourself with a new medal? Perhaps, using your willpower, you will run 42 km in 4+ hours, with unpredictable consequences for your knees.
Or - as another example - climbing Khan Tengri Peak after your first experience of "mountaineering" on Mount Elbrus - with a snowcat, lousy guides and a critical headache? - if you're lucky, then yes, probably you will climb Khan Tengri. But if something goes wrong, the consequences of such frivolity can be fatal.
To protect ourselves from a potentially dangerous approach to the limit of our capabilities, our body has two main safety mechanisms - laziness and pain.
Having learned to control the first, you should never neglect the second. We can overcome laziness using our willpower - this is already a personal achievement worthy of respect. But if we go further - move towards the goal overcoming pain, then the price of achieving the goal may be too high.
"At any cost" - in other words this approach is called heroism, and the only condition justifying heroism is counteracting an objective threat to our existence, for example, in war, where everything really is "at any cost".
Agree, no climb or run should go into this phase, and a sporting achievement obtained in this way is not a reason for pride, but a demonstration of stupidity.
Heroism as a motivation cannot be used for any civil or everyday purposes - be it in sports or in outdoor activities such as mountaineering.
Let me tell you my little secret: any mountain climb, any trail or running route (if you are physically prepared for it) is always a pleasure, but never pain. Therefore, any ideas to "run" to Mount Elbrus summit without acclimatization, to take part in a marathon or ultra-long trail without adequate athletics training are a dangerous adventure.
Any achievement is the result of consistent and painstaking work. The higher the goal, the longer and more boring should be the path to it.
Consistent training, motivation adjustment, step-by-step meticulous preparation - passing through all these stages, you can count on a reward in the form of a new achievement and consequent expansion of the limits of your capabilities.
But the desire to "jump over" several or all stages of preparation and grab the reward "for free" is a very risky path, which even in case of success, devaluates the result.
In the winter, we fed the cats in the village. The smell of boiled river fish brought to our house many of the furry and tailed representatives of the street cat community from all over the outskirts. Winter street cats are not your couch pussies. Everything in the street can society is arranged in an interesting way.
Around a pile of food, the cat community sat down in several circles. In the inner circle, the closest to the food, there were the mature, fat, battle-hardened cats. In the second circle there were average cats, they patiently waited until the "bosses" will fill their stomachs. There was enough food for everyone, since by their nature the cat bosses are not provided with pockets. The third circle were the losers, they were content with scraps, but they also did not went out hungry.
There was another, small fourth category - the scumbags. Scattering far from the borders of the third circle, they run like meteors under the noses of the bosses and grabbed the best pieces. Sometimes luck was with them. But once, a swing of a paw of a boss-cat impaled a scumbag on a long and sharp claw. The poor fellow, hooked in this way, screamed and writhed, but was beaten and torn mercilessly.
Moral: if you want to eat in peace while the others are waiting, it makes sense to train and grow strong in order to gradually move into the first circle. And those who want to grab it with a running start - they walk around in the winter cold with a bare butt and torn ear.
Author of text and photos - Alex Trubachev
Mountaineering and Rock Climbing Club and School MCS AlexClimb
MCS EDTI 2024