Note from the Editor

I am curious about the reaction to this Volume. It is an unusual compilation, mainly because these years have been unusual. On the one hand the pandemic changed the way we perceive the world, altered our relationships with people and with the activities we love. It was also a sneak peek at the way the planet is relating to us. This consciousness is heightened.

As we go to press, I read a news report about how Yvon Chouinard, founder of the gear and apparel brand Patagonia has given away his company to a specially designed Trust which will ensure that all profits are used to combat climate change. Over the years, one has read other reports of how Chouinard has advocated and contributed towards clean climbing, conservation and sustainable production practices. He hopes that this move “will influence a new brand of capitalism that doesn’t end up with a few rich people and a bunch of poor people”. Its always good to hear uplifting stories such as these, when one’s hope for the planet begins to fade…

Time for hard thinking and action.

When Heather and I talked about collaborating on this Volume, we discussed the theme that seemed so relevant—about how we can keep our connect with the mountains without going to them, either because we are forbidden by the pandemic or by our conscience which has begun to tell us to tread lightly on earth; travel less, consume less. Heather shared her beautiful paintings and collected a set of fine essays by wonderful writers, artists and poets. I am grateful for this collaboration as I really enjoyed it and learned a lot. And thank you, Aparna, for participating and contributing to our vision for this effort.

Essays on expanding imagination to substitute actual travel.

On the other hand, once the climbing season began, climbers thronged to big and small mountains, honing their skills, finding new challenges, creating new records—the result is a wonderful collection of reports in the Expedition & Exploration section. We are proud of Rohit Vartak and team that made an extraordinary line on the massive wall—Soshala in Kinnaur. There are reports on the spectacular first ascent of the south east ridge of Annapurna III, several hard climbs in the Karakoram and several achievements by Indian mountaineers on Manda, Bhrigu Parvat and an attempt on Ramjak. Divyesh, Anindya, Debashish and Peter report on more explorations that they are now well-known for, followed by an essay on one of the earliest explorers, the little-known Ghulam Rassul Galwan. So, it is an unusual Volume, with the first half discussing ways and means to imagine mountains and the second half proving that physically being in the mountains has captured popular imagination as never before.

Base camps on big mountains make mini cities and on smaller ones, they make villages.

Tom Livingstone made a significant climb of the north east pillar of the 6486 m Tengkangpoche but returned to an internet storm accusing him of having ‘stolen’ the summit from another climber who was planning on climbing it imminently. The merits of the argument have another place but Tom raises an important point. There is another trend that continues to grow, in the climbing world as in every other—that of social media, and how it has become an unfiltered medium, often without scrutiny or understanding, but really the most democratic platform to express one’s thoughts. In this manner, as Tom observes, “Nowadays, the role of the editor has been removed. Opinions can be shared by anyone with an online platform, to anyone.”

The possibilities of having no filter or editor.

As platforms for advertising increase and competition gets more intense, publications like The Himalaya Journal suffer. I would like to specially thank Tanil Kilachand and Shailesh Mahadevia for the work they do to collect advertisements for a non-commercial project like THJ. Paper and printing costs are encouraging us to increase our online presence but there is a significant number of readers of THJ who value holding a hard copy and adding it to their book shelf, a concept that may go obsolete very soon. It would be wonderful to hear your thoughts on this.

A future that brings the world’s libraries to a small device.

NANDINI PURANDARE

September 2022, Mumbai, India