Slow is smooth, smooth equals fast is the title of this blog. In climbing and mountaineering there is prestige in speed. Perhaps even an association with speed and competence…

This is a blog about the culture of speed in the training, assessment and practice of mountain professionals. It is always there, sometimes pervasive and certainly entrenched in the culture of our sector. I say this certain in the fact that I have, and continue to contribute to that culture. Why? The “need for speed” is arguably an integral part of alpinism. It is associated with having the skills, equipment and tactics to climb steep alpine north faces and big wall rock routes.

Early in my instructing career I had experienced my colleagues effortlessly pulling away from me while short roping on a graded scramble. What I was watching was a competent expert performance which could have easily be summarised as speed. What I was actually seeing was a slow and deliberate performance. It was smooth and smooth equalled fast.

defn: speed noun 1. the rate at which someone or something moves or operates or is able to move or operate. 2. each of the possible gear ratios of a bicycle or motor vehicle. verb 1. move quickly.

It won’t take you long to see references of speed in the mountains. Whether it is estimated times for approaches, or related to the speed records or fastest known times (FKT’s). Some of these you can choose to engage with, some are pervasive. Our time in the mountains can also be richer for the challenge of moving fluidly against the clock, sometimes challenge is a choice.

Baked in Speed

Look elsewhere and speed is baked into culture of mountaineering as a mantra. Open an Alpine Club guidebook and you will find target “guidebook times” for most routes. In Chamonix I can remember being asked not about my experience of climbing the North Face of Les Droites, but simply, was it done in “guidebook time”. [Spoiler – it wasn’t]. For climbers of my generation keen to cut their teeth in the alps, the bible was ‘Extreme Alpinism: Climbing light, fast and high’ by Mark Twight. Looking at this book now it certainly embraces speed, but as an outcome based on tactics and self determination rather than as a performance indicator alone.

With the baked in “need for speed” comes other risks. In a recent Human Factors seminar session an instructor shared a post-it with a simple statement during conversations around task management. In the context of the mountains we are really talking about a teaching or guiding days work. The instructor described feeling “pushed to use inappropriate techniques to speed up”. The context of the situation described is unknown to us, and the instructor anonymous. But perception or otherwise, the comment was there for us all to see.

I was uncomfortable. Why? Because it didn’t require much imagination to see that sometimes there are unintended consequences of the need for speed. Perhaps you have felt compelled to speed up when working with a colleague? Or felt the pressure of a party behind? This instructor certainly felt the pressure to perform and potentially even cut corners to do so.

Slow is smooth – Slowness has value

This blog, ‘slow is smooth, smooth equals fast’ is partly inspired by another excellent post by Alex Pollitt, a Search and Rescue helicopter pilot and Crew Resource Management trainer. It is clear that many parallels can be drawn between different sectors, given the value the human race places on speed. Alex’s blog can be found here at https://competentaviators.com/2022/05/08/the-need-for-speed-how-slowness-has-a-value-all-of-its-own/

This engaging read has one consistent thread. The simple message that slowness has a value all of its own.

Slow is smooth, smooth equals fast

The value of slowness of action certainly resonates with me. But it also presents a problem. Speed is so baked into the culture of mountaineering that we associate it with competence. Correspondingly, it could be said that we associate slowness with incompetence. If there is one aim of this blog it is to reflect on speed. Let’s face it, speed is important. There are plenty of times where a day needs to be delivered with a keen eye on the clock.

Frequently in the mountains “flow” or “pace” is important to complete the day within a reasonable time scale. But often a few seconds taken to pause especially at key transition points won’t matter. In fact the time spent to generate options or consider them fully is probably well spent, even if they are considered marginal gains.

To achieve slowness is hard! We will come back to that later. Perhaps we should consider some different perspectives on speed:

Speed as a Target

Speed as a target. Ask any mountain professional preparing for an assessment and they will probably describe being focused on their “short roping” performance. Moving well over broken terrain with a small section of rope between either one or two clients becomes an obsession. No only an obsession but a target or marker for a good performance.

This is unsurprising, as the rope (and movement) is a visual representation of a guiding contract. “You look after me” and in turn “I can look after you”. But where speed or flow is the outcome, it is a smooth expert performance that aids that process. One of my colleagues, Mountain Guide John Orr summed this up well to a cohort of guides starting training recently. “Actually what people need is to look beyond the rope“.

The techniques that equal speed are actually those of route finding, reading the terrain, judgement, decision making, drip fed communication, tone of voice and physical feedback from the rope.

Speed as an Attitude

Speed as an attitude. Hazardous attitudes can increase the risk associated with poor decisions. Safer attitudes can be fostered by community of practice and complying with generally accepted norms. Speed for speeds sake could be considered to be macho or egocentric. Professionals who display these attitudes have the potential to cut corners to prove that they are good and even to impress others.

A more subtle attitude is speeding up by being impulsive. Needing to act i.e. “I must do something now”, sometimes means that people will do something, or anything immediately. Professionals who display these types of attitudes don’t take the time to think about what they do. As a result they may not select the best (or safer) course of action.

Speed as a Competency

Speed as a competency. We have already described that speed is often associated with competency. Correspondingly slowness or careful action can in some cases to be a sign of hesitancy or even incompetency. There is value in disassociating speed and competency. This might relate to physical performance or cognitive performance. For example, people who make decisions quickly are often considered to be more experienced.

Remember slowness has value. Slow is smooth, smooth equals fast.

Speed as a way of Thinking

Speed as a way of thinking. We have already considered speed of thought or decision making as a competency. Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow argues for fast effortless decisions versus the slow thinking mode of deliberate logical analysis. The second option, known as system 2 requires more effort. To think and act slowly is hard. We also need both fast and slow thinking, it is not the case of one producing better outputs than another.

Switching between these systems takes effort, particularly in an emergency or pressured situation where you experience a startle or freeze response. The Japanese technique of ‘shisa kanko’ potentially has value here to slow things down by pointing at important indicators and verbally calling out their status. This pointing and calling requires co-ordination between the users brain, eyes, hands, mouth and ears. This co-ordinated effort of action and reaction requires the user to be present and engaged. In short, the verbal and tactile senses will enhance the visual.

Speed as a Commodity

Speed or more accurately time is sometimes described as a commodity in guides training. Time and speed have value in alpinism. The analogy used is that you can “use it wisely” or “loose it”. But by treating time as a commodity you can bank it, investing when you can in order to withdrawn it later. You can then use it when it has the greatest value.

For example gearing up early and quickly at the base of a climb, allows you to save time. Banking that time early in the day, allows you to spend that time wisely putting in an extra piece of protection. Or taking extra time on a difficult section. A more frequent attitude is to take things easy only to act impulsively when under pressure later.

Perhaps we should be saying slow is smooth, smooth is fast enough…

Slow is smooth – A summary…

• Whether we like it for not – speed is baked in to what we do.
• Slowness has value (Pollitt A., 2022).
• Language is important, perhaps we should encourage use of the terms “flow” or “pace”.
• Speed can be a target, attitude, competency, a way of thinking or even a commodity.
• Reflect, what is speed to you?

If you liked this article you may wish to read Exotic Behaviour: Cultural norms and the wild west. Check out this seasons CPD offering under Assured Training including Human Factors Fundamentals (HF-F) and *new* Mountain CRM – Human Factors for Instructors.