Listen to wisdom.

[Raindawg]

For those of you who didn't listen to Reinhold Messner's recent short comments, here are a few choice quotes from someone who has been dismissed as an "old man" because he ain't 22 and clipping some "rad bolts":

 

Reinhold Messner:

"So, I would say to young people if you like to go in to make experiences, strong personal experiences, go where nobody else is going. Don’t leave any tracks—your footprints, but the snow will, the wind will destroy them. And so wilderness is there forever."

 

"Preservation is quite easy if each one is going where the others are not going, and leaving nothing. We are free to go everywhere, but we are not free to destroy the places where we make our experiences."

 

RE: bolts on Cerro Torre: "Somebody put in these bolts. And he didn’t ask anybody. And if tomorrow, a young climber is pulling them all out, I will clap."

Diddo for Mt. Garfield and a hundred other places.

 

Here's the link again if you care to listen to the whole thing.

http://inclined.americanalpineclub.org/2012/02/reinhold-messner-at-outdoor-retailer/

 

And consider this....written from a not-so-distant time ago but still relevant:

 

http://upwardtrail.multiply.com/journal/item/1/The_Murder_of_the_Impossible

 

Yup....I've heard Messner, Doug Scott and a bunch of others dismissed as being "old" and "out of touch" because they're older than many here and don't agree with the contemporary masses, especially when it comes to leaving bolts and other permanent reminders of your passing by. Well the fact is, when it comes to pushing the boundaries, they DID IT, and most of you DIDN'T or HAVEN'T or possibly WON'T. You should sit at their feet and take notes!

 

 

 

[ivan]

[pink]

 

 

[Maine-iac]

Raindawg, you read the book Mountains of My Life by Walter Bonatti? You might enjoy it. I am a few chapters into it and so far it seems to be quite similar to your Messner quotes.