Summer 2010 - The Alpine Club of Canada

Wabi-sabi for alpinists
by Frank Pianka
In the West, our concepts of beauty
and perfection are largely rooted in
the Greek ideals upon which we’ve
built most of our culture. Expressed in
architectural stone or in a mathematical
formula, beauty and perfection are
wrapped in a comforting sense of permanence,
but in the East, there is the Zen
aesthetic of Wabi-sabi, which celebrates
the transient nature of all things. The
challenge of figuring out the real meaning
of the characters wabi and sabi can take
us to some interesting, oddly familiar
places.
For example: the first time you use
your new ropes, your partner chops one
with his ice axe; you no longer use the leg
loop on your harness to back up a rappel;
you can’t get your butt up that favourite
route anymore; your friend is no longer
your friend. Wabi-sabi recognizes three
realities: that nothing is finished, nothing
is perfect, and nothing lasts.
In some Japanese art, imperfections
and signs of wear and tear are not
shunned but celebrated in acceptance
of these tenets—the archetypal tea cup,
aged, bearing a small crack, its rim not
quite a perfect circle. Wabi points to
impermanence or imperfection and sabi
to the grace that comes with age, when an
object’s life and its impermanence show
in its patina and wear, or in visible signs
of caring repair—satisfying solace for
all aging climbers! (Sabi is related to the
Japanese word for rust.)
It may be a philosophical stretch, but
this view may provide a framework for
managing our climbing experiences. You
may have a harness you’ve been using for
the last 10 years. It’s comfortable, familiar,
and proudly shows the wear marks of
someone who’s been on more than a few
routes. You love that harness for all those
reasons, for its wabi-sabi. Maybe it’s time
to move it to the display wall. Maybe it’s
no longer a harness but an “objet d’art”.
The same goes for any other piece of
gear that you’ve come to really like, but
especially ropes. Rarely do you have a
backup for your rope and none of your
gear is going to last forever anyway,
right Better to replace it a year early
than one second too late. What about
techniques like building an anchor Are
you finished learning everything there is
to know about anchors Are your anchors
perfect Recognize that techniques
change. That’s not to say there’s no
place for using a body belay in climbing
today. But if you know you are never
finished learning, your growing skill set
will help you move comfortably across
the climber’s continuum of challenge.
You’re less likely to experience paralysis
by analysis, but recognize that even your
high-level expertise will not last forever.
Consider your climbing partners. Are
you finished building your relationships
Are they perfect Will they last If all
this sounds like reason for despair, note
that wabi-sabi celebrates its tenets. Just
knowing that you aren’t finished anything
and it won’t be perfect can bring a little
serenity—particularly comforting when
working on house repair projects during
the off-season!
But, should you still be striving for
perfection Is that the goal—to forget
the Middle Way and at least try to get
things perfect After all, for us in the
West, “anything worth doing is worth
doing well”, right Ernest Rutherford
was an experimental physicist best
remembered for his gold-foil experiment
and subsequent discovery of the atomic
nucleus. Legend has it that using just the
junk laying around the lab, he was able
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WARNING: “Art” - Not suitable for climbing.
photo by Mike Pianka.
to cobble together apparatus to run some
famously significant experiments. He
had a sign in the lab that read, “Anything
worth doing is worth doing well…
enough for the purpose at hand. It is
surely foolish and probably even wrong to
do it any better.”
If Ernest was around today, I’m
not sure he’d see the sense in climbing
anything, but I think he’d have the least
difficulty understanding the Middle Way
of efficient alpine climbing.
Frank Pianka, a retired Physics
teacher, is the Thunder Bay Section representative
and a member of the ACC Safety
Committee.
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Heritage Club milestones
Every year, the Alpine Club of Canada celebrates those members
who have been with the Club for 25, 35 and 50 years. The Club
recognizes these members with a special lapel pin, with the 25- and
35-year members receiving an attractive certificate and the 50-year members
receiving a handsome wall plaque.
In 2010, 15 members reached the 25-year milestone, 18 members reached
the 35-year milestone and six members reached their 50-year milestone.
Congratulations to everyone, and especially to all of those named below—
you are in very esteemed company!
50 years
Isabelle MacPherson, Toronto, Ontario
Tim Mason, Calgary, Alberta
James Gardner, Victoria, British Columbia
Edouard Potworowski, Mont-Royal, Québec
Peter Spear, Calgary, Alberta
Carol Stevenson, Alliston, Ontario
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10 Alpine Club of Canada Gazette Summer 2010