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The Doug In Climber 1914 Robinson George as Visionary Mallory, later to become famous for an offhand definition of why

appeared feeling artist. people climb, of He insays superiority the wrote Climber's that an "aover article day Club other well entitled Journal. spent sportsmen, in 'The In the anhe Mountaineer attempt Alps asserts is like tothat assome justify Artist', thegreat his climber's climber which symphony," is an expected and justifies to produce the lack works of of anyart tangible which others production may see - for - by artists saying are that generally "artists, in this sense, are not distinguished by the power of expressing emotion, but the mountaineers power of feeling are all thatartistic... emotional experience because they outcultivate of which emotional Art is made... experience for its own sake." While fully justifying the elevated regard we have for climbing a s an activity, Mallory's assertion leaves no room for distinguishing the creator o f results side a route of a which from mountain, an are admirer then accessible on ofpublic it. to Mountaineering view. the view A route andcan is an thus produce the artistic admiration tangible statement artistic or criticism on the other climbers. Just as the line of a route determines its aesthetics, the manne of r in which it was climbed constitutes its style. A climb has the qualities of a wo of rk artist forceful But art just and is. and as its We aesthetic Mallory recognize creator did is lines, those not responsible go climbers and far respect enough for whothem its areascribing in direction especially for theirartistic and gift. gifted stylefunctions at just creating as an to th e act of creating outstanding new climbs, so I think he uses the word 'artist' too broadly when he means it to include an aesthetic response as well as an aestheti c than creation. aggressive For this andresponse, creative,which I would is use essentially the wordpassive visionary. and Not receptive visionary rather in t usual sense of idle and unrealizable dreaming, of building castles in the air, b he rather moods, ut intensity, forms, supernatural in seeing penetrating or and otherworldly; the motions. objects themBeing further, and it amounts actions a visionary seeing of bringing to ordinary their in this marvels experience sense fresh and involves vision mysteries, with tonothing greater the their familia r things of the world. I use the word visionary very simply, taking its origins fr 'vision', to mean seeing, always to great degrees of intensity, but never beyond om the boundaries of the real and physically present. To take a familiar example, i t quality would bein hard theto way look theat artist Van Gogh's sees the Starry world. Night He has without not painted seeing anything the visionary that i s not in the original scene, yet others would have trouble recognizing what he has depicted, and the difference likes in the intensity of his perception, hear of t visionarytoo he Climbers experience. have their He'Starry is painting Nights'. fromConsider a higherthe state following, of consciousness. from an account moment by Allen and Steck, was completely of the Hummingbird lost in the Ridge silent climb appraisal on Mt. Logan: of the"I beautiful turned for sensuous a simplicity of windblown snow." The beauty of that moment, the form and motion of that the blowing the climber snow was lost such in a powerful it. It is impression, said to bewas only soawonderfully moment, yetsufficient, by virtue o f second total absorption example comes he is from lost the inaccount it and of thethe winds seventh of eternity day's climbing blow though on the it.eight A Chouinard individual dWith ay first the more ascent, relates crystal receptive under in inthe the trying 1966 senses granite conditions, American westood now appreciated Alpine out of inEl Journal: bold Capitan's everything relief.Muir The around Wall.us. varied Yvon shapes Each of tiny the clouds bugs that never were ceased all over to attract the walls, our attention. so tiny they Forwere the barely first time noticeable. we noticed Whi belaying, I stared at one for fifteen minutes, watching him move and admiring hi le s brilliant How couldred onecolor. ever be bored with so many good things to see and feel? This unit y with our joyous surrounding, this ultra-penetrating perception gave us a feeling of Incontentment these passages thatthe we qualities had not had that formake years. up the climber's visionary experience granite, are apparent; snow the ofoverwhelming the climber's beauty experience, of the a most sense ordinary of theobjects slowing-down clouds, of time feeling substance, even to of thethese the point supreme feelings of disappearing, sufficiency are strong and of enough the a "feeling present. to intrude of And contentment" while delicate forcefully an to in oceanic inthe midd of le apprehension Chouinard's dangerous words circumstances and drive begin for toachievement. and give remain us anthere, idea of temporarily the originsuperseding of these experiences even a s What well made as their their character. sense more hereceptive? begins by It referring seems integrally to "the more connected receptive witsenses." what the y Climbing characteristics experiences. were Climbing doing, tends requires andto that of induce the intense itclimbing was visionary concentration. their process seventh experiences. prepare day I know ofits We uninterrupted of should practitioners no other explore activity concentration. which for these in which I can so easily lose all the hours of an afternoon without a trace. Or a regret. I have had storms creep up on me as if I have been asleep, yet I knew the whole ti I was in the grip of an intense concentration, focused first on a few square fee me t of rock, and then on a few feet more, I have gone off across camp to boulder and work returned I amto jealous find the of how steweasily burned. concentration Sometimes incoms the in lowlands climbing. whenThis it is concentrati hard to may be intense, but it is not the same as the intensity of the visionary periods on ; it But isthe a prerequisite concentration intensity. is not continuous. It is often intermittent and sporadic, sometimes cyclic and rhythmic. After facing the successive few square feet of ro for ais ck time while, a break thein end the ofconcentration, the rope is reached a gap,and a small it ischance time to tobelay. relax.The Thebelay climbe r changes from an aggressive and productive stance to a passive and receptive one, from doer to observer, and in fact from artist to visionary. The climbing day go on through the climb-belay-climb-belay cycle by a regular series of concentratio es and relaxations. ns limbs go to the rock It is and ofmuscles one of contract, these relaxations then thethat willChouinard contractsspeaks. also. And when and which the belay has been stance, concentrating tied in to on a scrub moves, oak, expands the muscles and takes relax in the and world the will again, also, and exist. cannot ignored. the world ByTo shut isclimb contrast, out newthe and with the world, bright. intense disadvantage which Itconcentration is then freshly of never thecreated, usual ceases is tolow-level being shut for out it familiar really activity the world, hadis and ceased is which, that thusit to wh it reappears, will be as a fresh experience, strange and wonderful in its newnes en s. These belay relaxations are not total; the climb is not over, pitches lie ahead , even the crux; days more may be needed to be through. We notice that as the cycl e even of intense consumes contraction the dailytakes routine, over, the and relaxations as this cycle on belay becomes yield themore daily frequent routine, or occurred intense visionary near the end experiences. of the climb; It ishe nohad accident been building that Chouinard's up to them experiences for six days . The summit, capping off the cycling and giving a final release from the tension contractions, of look into the literature should offer reveals the climber this to some be so. of his Themost summit intense is also moments, a release and fro a

relaxation m configurations still the sensory the descent at desert the of climb's rock to ofworry the we foot. climb; go about, to Sitting the from another visual the oncontraction starkness richness a log changing ofof concentrating the will from summit. to klittershoes beBut followed onthereinto is by clarity, boots, and distance, looking union, over the oneness. Valley,There we are issuffused carryover with from oceanic one climb feelings to the ofnext , from one day on the hot white walls to the next, however, punctuated by wine dar k evenings in Camp 4. Once a pathway has been tried it becomes more familiar and i s easier to follow the second time, more so on subsequent trips. The threshold has been lowered. Practice is as useful to the climber's visionary faculty as to his although "borrowed crack technique. he and was projected." speaking It also about applies It will will outside apply and in not ofthe climbing. vision, climber's the Inexperience John in life Harlin's general, can be words, in his flat, ground and lowland hours. But it is the climbing that has taught him to be visionary. for mountains periods also hesitation without a visionary The Nor period be does from virtually pausing is the Lest and of always pitch activity, alteration these doubt, weinstantaneous, reach get to at cycles pitch you on. too hand, however, of feel self-important varies or consciousness always even at we as, once widely. remember ready take pulling the days about to have Ifup warmth that nudge you to to consciously on run the sometimes of be uslarge. a ainto hold sun incredible complete through after awareness. preparing cycle A small course, a beauty your through moment's change ourselves shirt oflucid it the may can andb e profound. The gulf between looking without seeing and looking with real vision i s at times of such a low order that we may be continually shifting back and forth daily life. Further heightening of the visionary faculty consists of more deeply in perceiving what is already there. Vision is intense seeing. Vision is seeing wha t is more deeply interfused, and following this process leads to a sense of ecolog It iswith y. starting tree an not intuitive thefrom goiter generalizations rather part way thanup a the scientific fortrunk, trees,from ecology; rocks, theair, it is rocks but John as rather Chouinard Muir's from kind, saw that them , air memories supremely whichof blew sufficient snow clean fields andon aloof, hot the upDana blazing off the eastern Plateau awayand their desert miles perfect of and Tuolumne light, treetops carries and lingering from as that it alternation with thousands pours These aover visionary biochemical of the of years rim hope changes of basis. by and the prophets fear in Valley These the spoken and climber's physiological onmystics, itsin of way mind climbing tomechanisms and the have fordescribes Pacific. a few physiological have centuries an been emotional used basis. by climbers. for state The level There and are adrenalin two complementary breakdown mechanisms products,operating the firstindependently: keyed by exertion, carbon the dioxide second apprehension. by building up its During CO2 level the active (oxygen part debt) of and the releasing climb the adrenalin body is working in anticipation hard, difficult or dangerous moves, so that by the time the climber moves into belay a of t unneeded the end of adrenalin. the pitchOxygen he hasdebt established manifests anitself oxygenon debt theand cellular a supply level of as nowlactic effect administering acid, aon cellular the CO2, mind. poison, and Visionary this which phenomenon activity may possibly can be begins beto induced the explain agent experimentally thatplace the has aof visionary by singing an d long-winded chanting in the medieval Church as well as breath-control exercises Eastern religions. Adrenalin, carried to all parts of the body through the blood of stream, is an unstable compound and if unused, soon begins to break down. Some o f which the visionary closely resemble experience; thein psychedelic fact, theydrugs, are naturally and may help occurring someday body tochemicals shed light on the action of these mind-expanding agents. So we see that the activity of the climbing, coupled with its anxiety, produces a chemical climate in the body that may vitamin visionary is conducive begin deficiency to figure experiences. to visionary tends in Such Chouinard's to experience. prepare a vitamin example: the There deficiency body, isapparently diet. one will Either other result long-range simple by weakening in a starvation decreased factor it, for that or leve l of nicotinic acid, a member of the B-vitamin complex and a known anti-psychedeli c rations pathways Perception' counterpart agent, There is thus at to an several nourishing the and in interesting the visionary 'Heaven points neighboring the and relationship in state, visionary Hell.' his subculture account. see experience. Aldous between For of Huxley's psychedelic a further the Chouinard climber-visionary twodiscussion essays, drug comments users. 'The of on and These physical Doors the hisdrugs low of are becoming increasingly common and many young people will come to climbing fro m a visionary vantage point unique in its history. These drugs have been through a series of erroneous names, based on false models of their action: psychotomimet for a supposed ability to produce a model psychosis, and hallucinogen , when th ic e present drugs hallucination are names providing was thought means simplyto people 'mind with be a the manifesting,' window central into reality the which visionary of isthe at least experience. experience. neutral. Their They These com e away knowing that there is a place where the objects of ordinary sensations remi them of many nd previous set of spontaneous observations. or 'peak' But this experiences is the end. and There thus confirm is no going or place backato the heightened reality, to the supreme sufficiency of the present moment. The window has I am been notshut in the andleast cannot prepared even beto found say that without drug recourse users take to the up climbing drug. in order to search for the window. It couldn't occur to them. Anyone unused to discipline d sweat. parallels physical But activity between when the would the two visionary have trouble cultures result overlap, imagining of his and climbing athat young itclimber produced discipline begins anything andto his find but former drug-induced ly clear path ofvisionary discipline life, leading he is toon the the window. threshold It consists of control. of the There sensory is now deser a intensityof t, relaxation. thinking ofthe This concentrated peculiar path is form not effort, unique thatand the torhythmical climbing,of elements cycling of the course, path of assume contraction but here inwe climbing. and are I call it the Holy Slow Road because, although time consuming and painful, it is a n unaided way to the visionary state; by following it the climber will find himsel f better prepared to appreciate the visionary in himself, and by returning gradual and with eyes open to ordinary waking consciousness he now knows where the windo ly w lies, how it is unlocked, and he carries some of the experience back with him. T Holy Slow Road assures that the climber's soul, tempered by the very experiences he visionary much that visionary have activity made activity him while a visionary, without still remaining has been balanced accompanying refined personality so and that active he can growth (the handle being result the his of dropou too an essentially unproductive stance). The climbing which has prepared him to be a t, however, looking. discipline. visionary A potential ahas Experiencing momentous pitfall also prepared change. is a seeing permanent the Itthe climber is change stillto 'discipline' ashandle in close perception ofas his the seeing visions. may take Holy instead Slow This years Road isin of of not, mere the iro nwilled tradition of the Protestant ethic, and that will not work. The climbs wil l provide all the necessary rigor of discipline without having to add to it. And a s the visionary faculty comes closer to the surface, what is needed is not an effo of discipline but an effort of relaxation, a submission of self to the wonderful rt , Chris supportive, I first Fredricks. began andto sufficient Sensing consider a similarity world.ideasof these inexperience, the summer or of else 1965 a insimilar Yosemite approach with experience, we sat many nights talking together at the edge of the climbers' cam to p become and spent interested some of in ourZen days Buddhism, testing and our as words he told in kinesthetic me of thissunshine. Oriental religion Chris hadI

outward was amazed reality that as I had I saw never them before without heard anyof pushing such aor system straining. that fit We never, the facts that ofI remember, mentioned the visionary experience as such, yet its substance was rare far from ly mind suchour that reflections. it is impossible We entered now for into meone to say of those what thoughts find parallel came from states which of us. We began of Eastern practices; to consider the even some movements aspects of the climbing belayer as taking Westernin equivalents slack, theof regula r footfall of walking through the woods, even the rhythmic movements of climbing o n easy or familiar ground' all approach the function meditation and breath-control . liberating aspirations, integrated mixture little explored Both the children of timeless laborious the universe. joy the individual and in other moments and serenity, the WeGarden visionary by watched from showing and and of wondered his the parts walking Eden, the concept visionary self ofdown pointing, at climbing the of suspension to self, be surface from only nodding, seemed climbs the a small in one each of well we and by ordinary often part other laughing. suited intimidating of felt with consciousne toWe a subtle like itshis while the visionary ss remembering such times faculty of being was truly operating. happyIt and occurred at peace; to all us that thatthere couldwas be said no of them later was that they had been and that they had been truly fine; the usua l remember details of only memory thatwere we talked gone. and Thisthat applies we came alsoto tounderstand most of our things. conversations. I believeIit was in these conversations that the first seeds of the climber as visionary were planted. William Blake has spoken of the visionary experience by saying, "If the doors o f Stumbling privileged perceptionupon visionary werethe cleansed cleansed position everything doors, vis-a-vis the would climber the appear universe. wonders to man He how as finds it came he is, theinfinite." into that answer in the activity of his climbing and the chemistry of his mind and he begins to see that techniques. climbing. dehydration, he is practicing HeChouinard's was tempered striving, a special the vision by application sensory technical was desert, no accident. of some difficulties, weariness, very It was ancient pain, the thegradual result apprehension, mind-opening of days loss of self. of is a system. You need only copy the ingredients to commit yourself to them. They It lead to the door. It is not necessary to attain to Chouinard's technical level few can do - only to his degree of commitment. It is not essential that one clim b personal feather El Capitan edge limit, to-be each to a do visionary; man climbs his own that I unique never are questionable have, edge yet and I go try for on in me. to mythe Thus climbing visionary. we all towalk push For the my al l still the precision elusive.with You do which notthe onevisionary day become state a visionary can be placed and ever andafter described, remainit one. is is a state that It spontaneously inone gratuitous flows inmoment. and outOddly, of, gaining it is not it through consciously directed worked effort for,or but different air, come suspending as the plane. almost time Itaccidental is inat its its turn, product own whimof forever momentary effort momentarily in oranother lingering eternal, direction suspended as, stepping andin onthe a out the of Ascent last1969 rappel you turn and behold the rich green wonder of the forest.

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