FLIGHT MODE: DISCONNECT TO RECONNECT

“Social media has gained a lot of influence in recent years. According to some, it is becoming the most important tool to measure our way of mountaineering. It happens that the climb itself is secondary to the content to be produced and the Its potential success “

The journey that Fabian Buhl makes together with La Sportiva in the video “Flight Mode” starts from a sincere and unassailable reflection. A journey that this time does not aim to talk about achievements, records, or new routes, but asks the observer to stop and reflect and, if necessary, to take a step back.

German, born in 1990, Fabian is undoubtedly one of the most versatile and eclectic mountaineers currently active on the world scene, among the few capable of embodying the main characteristics of contemporary mountaineering in his own activity: athletic performance, critical thinking, respect for traditions, research, and the ability to combine different disciplines and knowledge.

It must also be said that those who know Fabian well know that the farsightedness of his vision and his technical skills are proportional to the depth of his soul and the acuteness of his reflections.

After a past as a boulderer and sport climber at the highest levels, Fabian has shifted all his interests towards the 360-degree knowledge of the mountain: from long multipitch routes to ice waterfalls, from solo climbing of large mountains to paragliding, a sport that in the video serves as a metaphor to talk about the detachment required to reconnect to oneself and to the mountain.

More specifically, how can our attachment to life online and the need to always be connected influence the way we approach and interpret mountaineering? As the spokesperson for an awareness and a countertrend humanity, in which there is no need to show the best version of oneself or even less to follow the deceptive mechanism of self-celebration, Fabian tells us that in his opinion these two worlds should not coexist. The reasons are quite simple: the "unknown" space decreases, the exploration times are shortened, and the dangers, consequently, increase.

Flight Mode tells of a life outside the pressures and mechanisms typical of the social network, reiterating the importance of a return to the connection with ourselves before that with others, of respecting the times dictated by the natural world and not by the virtual one.  When asked "if there is a solution to this problem", Fabian replies that "if it exists, it is born and ends in the conscious freedom and personal awareness of each of us to pursue their own vision for themselves, and not for others". Because every now and then we will all have to try to disconnect, remember that the mountain is not made of "content opp", hashtags and photo catching likes but of history, patience, respect and ... connection. Just another kind of connection.

Photos: Matteo Pavana