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This is by no means an advertisement for who ever's website this is. I thought it was a good basic definition. I think when most people think about mountaineering they think about everest, where loads are ferried up to a certain point. From the information we have so far this is not the style these men were taking, due to the type of climb it was. The climb required fast and light.
I dunno what a good comparison would be? Maybe, the difference between driving out of town for the holidays with pretty much the bare minimum vs taking 2 wk vacation or road trip?
I think that is a good analogy carolyn. I am not an expert but what you said made sense to me.