Author Archives: Cosmin Andron

Am avut ocazia, acum mai mulți ani, să țin în mână macheta acestei cărți, în limba franceză, pe atunci numită Memento. Între timp volumul a suferit mai multe modificări și de conținut și de prezentare iar în 2020 este tradus pentru prima data și în limba română. Motorul din spatele acestui proiect a fost și este Fundația Petzl care are ca misiune, pe lângă dimensiunea de conservare a patrimoniului prin încurajarea unei practici a alpinismului și speologiei într-un mod judicios, informarea publicului amator și astfel reducerea accidentelor și incidentelor montane.

Read more

ice

Photo (c) C. Pogacean O acuza adusa cuplului ghid-client des intalnita pe diverse forumuri romanesti de discutii este cea ca cel din urma ar „merge ca oaia pe urmele ghidului.” Ca ghidul isi asuma riscurile pentru client, client care nu este parte din procesul decizional. Ca o astfel de ascensiune este lipsita de risc, si prin implicatie de aventura, si ca un eventual accident survine din incompetenta ghidului. Nu am sa adresez relatia ghid-client in acest articol ci mai degraba as dori sa discut despre riscul in activitatile montane (escalada, alpinism, schi, expeditii) deoarece viziunea simplista din paragraful anterior denota o lipsa de intelegere a acestui subiect. In limba romana a mai scris un articol pe aceasta tema Marian Anghel insa abordarea mea va fi din alta perspectiva. Photo (c) C. Pogacean Ce este riscul? Termenul de risc este folosit in mod liberal in vorbirea curenta cu putina grija pentru…

Read more

Cosmin Andron

Transylvania Mountain Festival Podcast · Cosmin Andron – Philosophy, Climbing & Mountain Guiding

In a debate with a fellow guide about the current state of mountaineering, Cosmin Andron struggles to answer the question, What is climbing for? From the Carpathian Mountains of Romania to the Western Garhwal of India, the Romanian alpinist recalls false starts, unplanned walls—and the intense, indescribable feeling that lures him on.

Read more

Este din nou vara si din nou sezon in Alpi; este din nou sezon de Mont Blanc, Matterhorn, Grossglockner si alte varfuri accesibile majoritatii montaniarzilor din Romania si nu numai. Din nou cabanele si traseele se umplu cu turisti independenti si cu grupuri organizate conduse de ghizi si de “ghizi”.   Un comunicat … Recent Asociatia Ghizilor Montani din Romania (AGMR) a (re)publicat un comunicat ce facea referinta la unele aspecte legale ale muncii ghidului montan in special in Alpi. In calitate de (inca) vice-presedinte al AGMR, de ghid montan UIAGM si de responsabil in cadrul UIAGM-IFMGA-IVBV cu proiectul de educatie a ghizilor montani internationali in Europa de est imi asum mesajul transmis de acest comunicat si postat recent in social media.   A fost dificil, in plan personal, sa ma intalnesc cu prieteni, amici, oameni de munte pe care ii cunosc (ghizi, instructori sau montaniarzi) care ghideaza cau conduc…

Read more

Words: Cosmin Andron Photography: Cristina Pogacean, Jonathan Parker, Cosmin Andron     Ladakh 2017   We arrived in Delhi mid-August, hopeful and with loads of luggage. Cristina and Nasim (her partner) were aiming for H17 in the Zanskar valley, an unclimbed granite monolith. I was to join them as logistical support but I also had plans of my own: last year, during our T16 expedition, I noticed, on a side valley, a stunning mixed couloir that I wanted to attempt once the girls were up on their wall and if conditions were allowing.   A day later we were in Leh where we spent half a week running after supplies, getting the luggage overland from Delhi (thank you Jaggi, Prerna and Gopal) trying to organise transport (with the help of our Ladakhi friends) and getting ready for departure. When Nasim arrived in Leh we were ready and we set off…

Read more

Some discussion erupted on youtube about this video. I’d like to point out a few things here, on my website: first of all the series is aimed at the general public and it has to condense in 3 minutes practical information easy to absorb by audience with little technical knowledge. The contentious point was my saying “factor 1 falls are normal”.  Probably saying “fall factors of 1 or less” would have been better and then “fall factor 2 or more” etc  “BUT the general public operates with two concepts: Fall 1 factor and fall 2 factor. It was clearer and easier to point out the “good” one as opposed to the “bad” one by using the two already familiar concepts. The accompanying point, however, is linked and it states that when falling (in a normal sport climbing scenario for example) we are always closer to factor 1 fall than we…

Read more

La inceputul acestui an (15-16 ianuarie 2017) am fost invitat sa tin o prezentare avand ca tema programul EEMGA – IFMGA si problematica profesiei de ghid montan in Romania. Strict pe acest subiect al ghidului montan au fost doua prezentari: a mea, in calitate de project manager al UIAGM-IFMGA-IVBV pentru acest program, si s-a referit atat la cadrul general din Romania cat si la scopul EEMGA si prezentarea Feliciei Enache, in calitate de presedinte a Asociatiei Ghizilor Montani din Romania, referitoare la cadrul general existent si specific Romaniei. Detaliile acestui forum le gasiti aici. Punctele principale ale prezentarii mele sunt aici, in PDF: Prezentare EEMGA la FTM Busteni 16-01-2017 Cosmin Andron   Un background al EEMGA in aceste doua postari din 2016: aici partea I si aici partea a II-a.

Well, how much can one talk about a “lid” without sounding silly… Not much, I can assure you. However, what I discovered, is that it is inversely proportional to the amount of time one spends choosing a good one. I started climbing in a time and culture where helmets were used only for motorbiking and were slowly transitioning from the road to the rock. The major impact I noticed then was an acute stiffening and possible long term strengthening of the neck muscles so I promptly gave up on wearing a helmet. Lucky there was, at the time, no other major impact… I got converted again, in the late ’90s, to the plastic bowl with a brim. It was much lighter and still ugly as hell. What I remember most about my helmet then was the habit in vogue at the time to stash in the mesh the survival blanket and a dry pack…

Read more

Two years ago GoalZero expanded its ambassador’s programme to the East and I was presented by Absolut Explorer with a nice selection of gear to use and abuse. Up until then I either assumed that expeditions will mean long periods of disconnect or that at best an eclectic combination of devices and solutions (not all of them compatible) will manage somehow to keep alive a phone or an e-book Reader while camped in a tent up on a mountain. Partnering up with GoalZero changed that dramatically. In 2010 it was the first time I used, on an expedition in Alaska, a solar panel with a battery. The aim was to power up a sat-phone and a PDA so I can communicate back to Romania. A fairly light setup, it was also light on offering… Car lighter connectivity and low output battery it meant that I could charge only one device at a…

Read more

10/48