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My heroes were a mixture of cowboys, philosophers, musicians, sportmen, academics, explorers, scientists; just any who was doing something exciting. Some of their skills I couldn't understand and some I knew I didn't have the ability or patience to acquire. But they all had one thing in common. They were all people who had not forgotten their childhood dreams and were living life for all it was worth. I was not alone. Gary Ball ~ (1953 - 1993)
An Introduction about my trip reports. by Wilfred Tok B.C. I see mountaineering as an essentially personal activity, a kind of intimacy between myself and the mountains. It is also a very powerful metaphor in defining success in the challenges that we face in our daily life. I personally hope that this activity could be easily shared by people who are complete stranger or knew very little about it. Unfortunately, to know what Alpine mountaineering is like you have to do it yourself. Seeing the sea of cloud beneath your feet and the sunrise from the mountain always makes me wonder how nearly everyone survives without it. Words and pictures can never compensate for that loss. It will never change your perception of life in the way that being there inevitably would. Most of the text is about good days, when routes were done and something was achieved. Of course, there were many other days spent hoping the weather would improve. Alpine mountaineering seems at time to be more about waiting than about climbing. During my stay in the Alps, I have encountered more of the missed opportunities and misjudgment than of achievement. In my trip reports, there is not much I could usefully say about days spent reading, writing, dreaming, cooking, eating, drinking, washing clothes, or travelling from one area to another. Although these and other mundane activities make up a large part of the time spent in the Alps, I have largely skipped all of them. Most of the pictures shown in the trip reports are simply what I happen to have seen as I have climbed. I have chose not to capture more image but concentrate on the climb itself for those routes that are much bigger, much serious and technically much harder. On these route's the pictures that are important to me are in my mind. The trip report is a personal account that reflects my own impressions, opinions and feelings that arises from my personal experience. In no way these articles are comparable or even near to those mountain literatures wrote by climbers of great characters with years of experiences. Nevertheless, i hope you would enjoy reading them.
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