Adventurous travel: virgin peaks
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Emotional challenges
Normand's conquest of K2 was his highest (it's second only to Everest) and most emotionally challenging. K2's slopes are littered with the remains of previous, nameless climbers, bodies broken by 3,000-meter falls. It was a long time before he could sleep without seeing those bodies, Normand says. But instead of letting his emotions get the best of him, he tried to focus on his present situation. The specter of death never stopped him from setting his sights on one summit after another. "There are more people who die in traffic accidents than mountain climbing," Normand rationalized. "You may see a dead body in a motorbike accident but that won't stop you from walking in traffic."
Dangerous occasions
Normand was ascending an icy mountain with friends when the snow beneath him gave way. "My two other friends ahead of me walked on the snow all right, but when it came to my turn the snow decided it had had enough and dropped me into a hole." Normand slipped several meters into a snow-covered crack and was left dangling. Only the rope tied to his waist saved him from falling down the mountain cliff.
Even if climbing gear saves you from a plummet, Normand pointed out that you could be badly injured in the fall. Every climb requires a risk analysis. "You can invest a lot in climbing, but not your life," he says. "Also if I had a wife and children widow I wouldn't do that. Not so much because I think I would get killed but the mental stress is too high."
Climbing with respect
Jose Narosky said, "In war, there are no unwounded soldiers." Indeed, Normand has countless wounds in his ankles, lower leg, back and fingers, all suffered on the "battlefield" he loves so dear. His leg is full of steel pins from a broken bone. His middle toe is deformed by frostbite. A fall left his back bent.
"People like to say they've conquered the mountain if they manage to get to the top, which doesn't sound right to me," Normand said. "You are not conquering the mountain, it just so happens that the mountain allowed you to climb it." This understanding keeps him mindful of his belief that climbing to the summit is a privilege.
However, some people take that privilege for granted in Norman's eyes. At the foot of some mountains, empty bottles, plastic bags, oxygen bottles and food packages pollute the natural landscape, and this upsets him. Whenever he and his friends conclude a climbing trip, they pick up as much garbage as they can and dispose of it all when they return to the city.
"A decade ago, Chinese people had little opportunity to climb these moun-tains in their own region, and now when the opportunity comes it seems they are throwing it away!" Normand estimates that if people don't show their respect to the mountains, such pristine hiking opportunities will be gone within five years.
You too can climb mountains…
But first you need to be in good form. Fitness is important. Normand suggests new climbers start getting fit by taking the stairs instead of the elevator, going to the gym three times a week, walking 30 minutes every day or just walking a little further and faster every weekend.
The good thing about mountaineering, Normand reminds, is that you are in competition with no one and need only be held to your own standards. "So if you are in the right kind of shape to do it the way you want, you're already set," he said.
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