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This month Alastair goes back to
the future...
'Ahhhhhhhhhhhhggggggggggggg!!'
We leap for a cliff face as the whole gully rips away
from under our feet. Cheeks pressed flat against the slab
for cover, we watch anxiously as what seems to be a
mountain's worth of rubble collapse in a spectacular
landslide. The smell is explosive and then comes the dusty
waft from the falling rocks.
Attempting an unclimbed 5600m peak in China's remote
south-west gave me a good idea of what the pioneers of the
outdoors have been up against for generations gone by.
Having no prior knowledge of a mountain, no weather forecast
and no cable car to ease the approach ... Exploring
uncharted rock was a stark contrast to the week's training
in the Alps we'd taken in preparation for our
mini-expedition.
For most of us, venturing into the mountains or onto rock
means taking full advantage of what our predecessors have
already learned. Soaking up information from guidebooks and
chatting to people with relevant experience is standard
preparation. Stocking up with every modern gismo from heated
jackets to altimeters that dispense power gel are also
benefits now enjoyed in our established and developed
sport.
...what colour lycra
you should wear
Organised rescue services, GPS, specialised training
facilities and expert knowledge are all part of the modern
scene. Accurate forecasts and a plethora of writing on
anything from which order to tick the Seven Summits to what
colour lycra you should wear as to complement the ever
changing seasonal vegetation remove the guesswork from those
big decisions. It's not easy to imagine how they used to
manage a hundred, fifty or even as little as twenty years
ago.
Of course, every generation seems to look back on the
previous one with the same respectful awe. How many times
have you heard the immortal words, 'I don't know how they
used to do it!' exclaimed at a crag, or climbing gym,
mountain hut or polar-crossing igloo? And, strange though it
seems, our successors will be just the same. 'My God, they
navigated using only GPS back then. And those
primitive carbon fibre ice tools... How did they
manage?'
Even harder to imagine, is what luxuries the next
generation will enjoy. How on earth can things advance even
further?
The Global Route
Accurately Broadcast unit (GRAB)
Here's one idea. Instead guidebooks, activists will all
have a Global Route Accurately Broadcast unit (GRAB). This
will chat languidly via satellite to a central system, which
has all the world's documented climbs, bike rides, rivers
and mountains on disk. Or rather on everybody else's disks,
to avoid a corporate monopoly.
All the climber's computer will need is the route
directory software installed (Microscrot Routefinder Express
version 16.1b). Rather than logging on for a sketchy route
description, you'll get a full recorded animation of the
route, so you can rather usefully witness how the moves are
done, rather than just reading about where a particular
climb goes.
Other features will include early warning systems for
rockfall, avalanche (!) - 'Warning - stay exactly where you
are' - and naturally, being caught out in bad weather will
become a thing of the past. Navigation through glaciers will
also be far more sophisticated; all crevasses and
bergshrunds accurately mapped out and the current condition
of snow bridges will be depicted graphically on the
hands-free GRAB unit.
Going home in an
ambulance...
And it get better (or maybe worse). Programme in details
like height, weight and climbing ability and the mini-movie
will show the moves of a given route accordingly. So if
you're a weak, 17-stone novice on a hard climb, the GRAB
unit will play a movie of you falling off six times before
going home in an ambulance...
Either way the future generation will look back at how we
do things now with the same gob-smacked surprise that we
presently look back at the hobnails and tweeds of
yesteryear. "Corrr, imagine when they used to do this with
just a line drawing and a paragraph of words" they'll
say.
Turning the wheel of time further still the day will come
when an outdoor enthusiast can select any climb from around
the world and by wearing special gloves, shoes and goggles
will be able to experience a particular cliff or mountain,
river or bike ride virtually. You won't even have to leave
your home! Then they in turn will look back in awe at the
generation who used the GRAB handsets to watch a route
before climbing it.
The post-future irony for the 'outdoors' could be the
statement. "Gawd, just think when they actually used to do
it!"
© Alastair Lee is a climber,
photographer and performer he's currently working on his
next show Made in China. Check out www.posingproductions.com.
The Lee Side appears monthly in On The Hill magazine, our
off line print partners - ideal for reading at those times
when your monitor's out of reach. Alastair will be appearing
at the BMC Festival of Climbing in early December. See web
site.
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