Himalayan climbing today

Himalayan climbing has changed. The world's top climbers are always finding new and more difficult ways to reach summits. Expeditions are also getting smaller. The idea of having crowds of climbers with hundreds of Nepali porters to help them is less popular. Apart from the expense of such huge expeditions, many climbers prefer to tackle a mountain quietly with just a few friends for company. For them a small expedition is much more of a real adventure.

Small expeditions mean different tactics. Instead of setting up lots of camps up the mountain, climbers travel fast and light, pitching small tents or digging caves in the snow as they go. This is called Alpine-style mountaineering because it is how people climb the much smaller and lower peaks of the European Alps.

The real difficulty lies in the weight each climber has to carry. Because there are no camps where food and equipment has been left beforehand, they have to carry everything they need with them. These days, special man-made cloth is used for featherweight tents and climbing cloths. Nourishing food can be reduced t a lightweight powder which needs only to be cooked up with hot water. Even climbing boots are made from plastic, so they are lighter and more waterproof than old-fashioned leather ones. All these things help today's Himalayan climber.
Everest itself continues to attract many climbers in both large and small expeditions. Whatever kind of expedition goes into the Himalayas –large or small- there is always danger. So why do people risk their lives and cause themselves so much hardship? Every climber has his own reason. Edmund Hillary was once asked why he climbed Everest.
'Because it was there', he replied.
Perhaps the real reason for climbing mountains is simple. Maybe Hillary and all mountaineers before and after him are just looking for true adventure. In the mountains of the Himalayas and in all the other great ranges of the world, there is plenty of adventure to be found. But no matter how difficult the obstacles may seem and however many people say 'it can't be don', many climbers  have shown that nothing is impossible if we are determined enough to succeed.