Adventures without a cause
Dressing up an expedition as a charitable act is just plain wrong
The next time some would-be adventurer tells me he’s doing an expedition to raise money for a cause, I’m finally going to say what I’ve been choking back for years: “You’re not going on your trip for charity, you’re going because you want to. Stop pretending to save the world and just go.”
Some kind of fundamental dissonance kicks in when hedonistic adventure gets slathered with pretend altruism. A typical fundraising pitch might go something like this (details changed to protect the guilty): “My goal is to raise money for charity X by becoming the Youngest Saskatchewanian Woman ever to climb Mount Everest.” Right off the bat this hits Level 3 on the B.S. scale, which measures an expedition by the number of words used to qualify the potential achievement. (“Youngest Saskatchewanian Woman” makes three.) So let’s rephrase that proposal: “My goal is to go on an expensive guided expedition to accomplish something that’s been done many times before, so it will be easier to raise funds if I also appear to be making the world a better place.”
Not to pick on Everest, but the world’s highest mountain does seem to bring out the B.S. in people. In 2007, the Dutch adventurer Wim “Iceman” Hoff tried to summit Everest in shorts. A foot injury forced him to turn back at 7,300 metres, but at least Hoff understood the game he was playing. “Edmund Hillary’s ascent of Mount Everest was a testament to human achievement,” he said before his attempt. “My climb of Mount Everest in my shorts will be a monument to the frivolous, decadent nature of modern society.”
And this is perhaps the crux of the problem: Stacking causes on top of adventure is like dressing up porn and calling it art. When we wrap a naked woman in a feather boa, all we’re really trying to do is assuage the viewer’s guilt about liking porn. It’s much the same with adventure. There’s no pot of gold on any summit, and no scientific knowledge that will advance our understanding of the world. We go because we like going or we’re masochistic or whatever, and to dress it up as a charitable act is missing the point.
Let’s face it, most charity adventurers could probably raise more money if they just sat at home and canvassed their family and friends by telephone. Yet more and more expeditions are funded by soliciting cash “for the cause,” then donating whatever’s left after the trip has been paid for. There are even websites that help you to travel the world in the name of the charity of your choice. On one of these, which claims to organize more than 100 expeditions a year, you can sign up for, say, an “extreme” trip to the North Pole, which rates a “good chance” of attracting corporate sponsorship. On that trip, if you meet a fundraising target of $50,000, a portion of your expenses is paid, with the rest of the money going to charity. This amounts to a savings of $12,500 on what would otherwise be a $45,000 trip.
I do think there are ways to combine adventure and philanthropy, and over the years I have occasionally done it myself. But as best-selling author Greg Mortenson learned when his global reputation went into the trash, mixing charity work with personal expenses is just wrong, even if the practice is now widespread. Not one penny from—or for—any charity has ever gone into my expedition funds. If what you are doing is truly unique or wild and will get press and inspire people, then using that press and inspiration to bring attention to a cause can be a good thing. I also think doing something simple and overtly painful to raise money, like walking endless circles on a track as my cancer-survivor friends do, or climbing laps on a cliff, has integrity. But pimping a charity to support a personal adventure goal is just weak.
I’m not ashamed to admit that when I go climbing, I’m going because I love it. With today’s constant email access and multiple calendars scheduling our entire lives into “productive” time, what we need is less guilt and more pure, for-the-hell-of-it adventure. It’s worth it on its own terms. No feather boa required.
This article was originally published on May 15, 2012
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livingvertical
May. 26, 2012
8:59 pm
I am a bit conflicted on this because I have had the very same reaction that you (Will) are writing about--and I have also been on the other end of the stick when I began a climbing marathon for a cause that is very near and dear to me and dealt with outright hostility from some people. On the other hand, no one seems to mind the fact that pro climbers such as yourself sell your image and the image of your adventure lifestyle to companies such as Redbull which has no connection to the wilderness itself--and in some cases has run afoul of the ethical puritans. Are you climbing for adventure? Are you climbing for a paycheck? How many amazing adventures would go down every year if pro climbers didnt take up a "cause" (in this case, selling "stuff" for a vested corporate interest). That's something that ought to be considered right along side the self serving charity events--because at the end of the day, there is an image being sold and there is a certain amount of purism that must go by the wayside.
mikeschauch
May. 26, 2012
12:15 pm
Hi Will. Thanks for sharing your thoughts here. First off, I want to express my respect for your adventure driven attitude and pushing the limits of what is possible (especially with your recent film tackling Helmcken Falls with Tim Emmett!). Regarding the frustration you raise about charity climbing in this article, I feel compelled to comment, as we run an organization which supports people from around the world to get out and push themselves, while also raising funds for the charities and causes that matter most to them. I hear you regarding your point about staying true to the adventure – going out and climbing for what it is. However, having interviewed hundreds of charity climbers from around the world for hundreds of different causes, and having also run our own charity climbs, I would like to add some observations to the points you raise: First, I would not say that adventure is always 100% “hedonistic”. Whether it’s a local in a third world country who scraped together what little he had to climb an unknown peak to raise enough money to build a school in his community; or a woman with breast cancer step outside of her comfort zone to hike Machu Picchu as a challenge to inspire others dealing with similar diseases; or local youths who organized a rock climbing day at the local gym to raise funds for Japan relief after the devastating earthquake; or war veterans – amputees and mentally scared alike, climbing Kilimanjaro to help rebuild their own abilities and the inspire others to do the same; or the average Joe who simply wants to go out and climb something for his community because that is his dream – I’ve seen thousands of people inspired to go out of their comfort zone and push themselves, not for themselves, but for people and causes other than themselves. Having spent most of my life in the outdoors, and climbing for the last 15 years, the mountains have played a huge role for me in forming the person I am today. One day I realized that there are many, many kids who do not have access to the outdoors like I did when I was growing up – in some cases because of where they live, in other cases because of physical or mental disabilities. So, the best way I could think about helping some of these kids gain outdoor exposure, was to combine my love of the outdoors with raising funds for a local charity that runs outdoor ‘adventure therapy’ programs for youth. Was the adventure purely for self? Perhaps very briefly at the beginning as we conceptualized the climb. However, the more we embarked on the journey, the stronger we grew together as a team, and having seen the tears and the smiles on the kids’ faces who we were raising funds for, the more I realized the mountain we climbed was not a physical one – we were helping each other climb our own ‘mountains’, which was only possible because we all climbed for something bigger than ourselves. Upon our return, we realized that a flood of emails had come in from strangers not only wanting to support the cause, but also expressing their inspiration – how the story of our fundraising climb had inspired them to go out and take positive action in their own lives. One woman said it inspired her to just get outside and walk again once a day. We were inspired by the kids, and others became inspired through us – not only to act, but also to give (so it actually was much easier to fundraise while climbing a big mountain than it was while sitting on my couch). Is there a “true” or “real” reason to why we climb or ought to climb? I don’t think it’s as simple as yes – or at least I don’t think we can discount or judge someone else’s dream just because it may not fit with our dream. If people want to challenge themselves, and push their own boundaries while supporting the people or causes they love (which in many cases is their source of inspiration to go out and do the climb to begin with), I say all the power to them, even if it is Everest, Mt. Kilimanjaro, or the local back yard hill. After all, as Alex Lowe said, “the best climber is the one having the most fun.” If we involve our communities and the ones we love in what otherwise would be a “hedonistic” activity, we may indeed find that we all somehow become better people along the way. Thanks for reading, and here’s to the many more adventures to come. Mike, Climb For Change (www.climbforchange.com)
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