new heights of brilliance! among the many things it’s left me thinking about are the exotic combinations of ‘Smoking, drinking, climbing, fighting, motorbiking’ which actually could kill you at once: motorbiking blind drunk, fighting on a mountain, etc. etc…
Excellent essay. I’m a blue-collar former mountaineer, so Don Whillans was a sort of hero of mine. I’d say Don viewed his climbing trips as holidays. The trades in the UK in the 50s and 60s were grueling.
Any chance to get out of dreary Britain and to sunny France or Switzerland or even farther afield, Patagonia, was a chance to glimpse another world. There weren’t many plumbers in those days on familiar terms with products of the public schools. There’s a famous anecdote of a BOAC captain in the 60s who, upon being greeted by a mechanic, responded with “People like you don’t speak to people like me.”
Whillans would have scraped for his pints, so to have lakes of stout and forests of cigarettes on an expedition would have been very like heaven to him.
My climbing partner in the 80s and 90s was a teacher of physics. At the time, carb-loading was the accepted way to prepare for activities requiring high endurance. He’d shake his head at me for grilling a big old steak over a campfire and having a few beers before we headed up a trail, but I wasn’t going to spend my precious vacation eating spaghetti and drinking Gatorade. Thankfully, I never got into smoking cigarettes.
Climbing to me was about enjoying life in a heightened way and the rest went with it. Now, we have a sudden warm spell here, so I’m off to get a few miles on my motorcycle.
Thanks for a really thoughtful essay, and Happy New Year to you!
new heights of brilliance! among the many things it’s left me thinking about are the exotic combinations of ‘Smoking, drinking, climbing, fighting, motorbiking’ which actually could kill you at once: motorbiking blind drunk, fighting on a mountain, etc. etc…
haha thanks paul - this made me chuckle…
Excellent essay. I’m a blue-collar former mountaineer, so Don Whillans was a sort of hero of mine. I’d say Don viewed his climbing trips as holidays. The trades in the UK in the 50s and 60s were grueling.
Any chance to get out of dreary Britain and to sunny France or Switzerland or even farther afield, Patagonia, was a chance to glimpse another world. There weren’t many plumbers in those days on familiar terms with products of the public schools. There’s a famous anecdote of a BOAC captain in the 60s who, upon being greeted by a mechanic, responded with “People like you don’t speak to people like me.”
Whillans would have scraped for his pints, so to have lakes of stout and forests of cigarettes on an expedition would have been very like heaven to him.
My climbing partner in the 80s and 90s was a teacher of physics. At the time, carb-loading was the accepted way to prepare for activities requiring high endurance. He’d shake his head at me for grilling a big old steak over a campfire and having a few beers before we headed up a trail, but I wasn’t going to spend my precious vacation eating spaghetti and drinking Gatorade. Thankfully, I never got into smoking cigarettes.
Climbing to me was about enjoying life in a heightened way and the rest went with it. Now, we have a sudden warm spell here, so I’m off to get a few miles on my motorcycle.
Thanks for a really thoughtful essay, and Happy New Year to you!