Always wondered how granola types like this fund these expeditions. Are they privately funded by wealthy individuals or funded personally by working jobs in the off-season? Or family money?
> Rousseau ... guides climbers in Utah and beyond.
> Cornell ... summers around the rock-climbing hub of Yosemite National Park, working at a restaurant (owned by Anker, a mentor) to help fund his pursuits. He lives in a 2003 Freightliner van, with 320,000 miles, [down by the river].
> Marvell ... has a few sponsorship deals and also his own welding business ... climbing up and rappelling down oil platforms, timing repair work with the tides.
Per gram, ultralight climbing gear is pretty expensive. But you can only carry so many grams with you. And yes, plane tickets to Tibet are $1600. Food isn't that expensive. And yes, they had some porters and pack animals to help them walk rations to base camp at 15,000 feet. A lot of people probably spend more on golfing than these guys spent on this epic.
There's a huge difference between the cost of an 'expedition' like this and the cost of adventure tourism. If you're not paying for dozens of people to carry oxygen bottles and dry clothes and tents and warm meals it doesn't cost anything to go outside. And if you structure your life around spending more time climbing/surfing/hiking, it doesn't seem like such an impossibility to not clock in for a few months.
In some cases unfortunately it does. The local governments of the Himalayas sell quite expensive permits to climb the high summits. This one was probably free, but give it some time and popularity and you will need a expensive permit for doing this as well.
[0] http://marcleclerc.blogspot.com/2012/07/dreaded-first-blog-p...
I am inspired by people who sacrifice to achieve big goals - although if the goal is important enough, perhaps you don't feel the "sacrifice."
It's not _that_ expensive of a hobby. Maybe $5k of gear a piece plus travel expenses for a minimal expedition like this.
It is also expensive in life terms - local guides often do dangerous work making this possible.
He'd get a trip all organized, then it will be aborted mid-climb due to weather or other issues, and he'd have to start all over again and take a few years until he can try again.
It's also just a good read if you're interested in the topic.
There is a whole spectrum of what it means to be a "professional"
OTOH, I’ve known people that live in a trailer and had a Harley-Davidson motorcycle that was worth more than the trailer. So one doesn’t have to reach terribly far to find someone that is living their priorities. Just because you aren’t willing to work odd jobs and live in a van to finance your badminton career doesn’t mean others aren’t.
I know this firsthand, as a friend of mine is such a climber, and my language-services business has provided native-English revision of his and his peers’ sponsorship applications for some years now. In between expeditions, it is a constant hustle for money.
however one of their perks is the "Live your dream" grant where they fund amateur climbers to go on their dream trip once a year. it's application based but I've known people who've gone to the Karakorum on it.