I remember my mom's library when I was a little girl and how she loved adventure books. I was looking forward to summer vacation so I could read as many books as I could. That feeling of learning from the unknown seemed so incredible to me and years later I felt it when I started going to the mountains in 2016.
I was lucky enough to go to the mountains with a company that promoted sports in a responsible way and shared a different vision with me than the commercial one.
I clearly remember one of my first outings, where I heard the words: planning, risk management, organization, team (cordada), leadership, cooperation. At the time I thought it was a lot like the skills needed to execute a project. But I'll talk about that in depth later. First, it is important to know about the sport and I am usually asked, what does a mountaineer do? Is he the one who climbs? If I get out of the car to walk over 5,000 meters above sea level, is it mountaineering?
As in many sports, there is not much diffusion yet, so let's see some differences, which I adapted from Live the Mountain portal, among its categories: hiking, trekking, high mountain and exploration.
Hiking
- Usually on marked and approved mountain paths.
- They are generally low or medium intensity level trails, which can last about a day.
- The trails are not that technical, so you don't require specialized gear to ride them.
trekking
- Usually on unsigned or marked paths or trails. On mid-mountain routes or approaching high mountains.
- They are generally routes of 1 or more days, camping, bivouacing or spending the night in shelters.
- It requires greater knowledge of mountaineering such as first aid, use of a map and compass, orientation, bivouac and even survival.
- Medium to high difficulty, requiring good physical condition and experience in the participants.
- It requires specialized equipment and your knowledge to use it as ropes, anchors, descenders, etc.
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High mountain
- It is carried out in mountains located above 4,000 meters above sea level and in Europe in mountains above 2,000-2,500 meters above sea level.
- High or very high difficulty.
- They are usually one day or even several days.
- Requires equipment such as: Crampons, ice ax, thermal clothing, snow boots, rope, anchors plus all trekking equipment
Exploration
- It is done in medium and high mountain terrain never before done or without route records.
- High or very high difficulty.
- They are usually one day or even several days.
- It requires knowledge of orientation, survival, use of vertical equipment and general mountain knowledge.
- Equipment: Crampons, ice ax, thermal clothing, snow boots, rope, anchors, map, compass, GPS, camping equipment.
Finally, one of the best mountaineers in history, Lionel Terray, defines mountaineering as:
“It is a game, a sport that is played in a majestic setting, giving the human being a sense of beauty and greatness. It also brings an adventure to the encounter with nature, to the encounter with simple elements that the human being has carried within him since his origins and that a few need to recover in this age of machinery and materialism. It also grants the pleasure of owning oneself. Of course, all this may seem very selfish, but if some find their happiness in this way, why stop them?
What sport do you play?. Tell me in the comments.
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