EISPIRATEN

Never knew this was common practice but if Wikipedia says so it must be true!

Usually beer:

Hiker 1: Man that was an awesome climb! Wanna beer?

Hiker 2: No way! You packed beer up here?

Hiker 1: No, you did. (beer retrieval and hilarity ensue)

Classic scene from The Eiger Sanction.

Back in my late teens (when the drinking age was eighteen) three friends and I went on our first spring backpack trip of the year. Now, one of the three was a bit overweight; he loved to eat, and always carried an enormously heavy pack filled with plenty of extra canned goods. Yes, you heard it: Canned goods. Backpacking! He'd carried this extra food on every trip, ever since that notorious week-long saga two summers before, when the rations had been extremely light (we foolishly believed the freeze-dried food manufacturer when they claimed that these were meals for four - but obviously not four teenaged boys!); we were almost gnawing the lichen off rocks by the time we came out of the woods that trip! Anyway, he'd begun to finally get over his fears of starvation, and for Christmas he'd gotten a lot of newer, lighter gear, so he decided that he was going to pack it ultra-light from now on, and actually manage to keep up with our hiking pace this time. In fact, he claimed that his new gear was so expensive and lightweight that his pack would be even lighter than ours. And it was! We were so impressed that when he turned his back for a minute one of the others grabbed TWO six-packs of beer and buried them deep down in the bottom of his beautiful new pack. At this point, I probably should have said something, or put a stop to it, but I didn't. I wanted to see the look on his face when he picked that bad boy up. The three of us simply stood there and waited. He finished packing the last of his share of the food, and tied the top flap closed. So far so good. He picked it up and let out a mighty "Ooof!" as he shouldered the pack, cinching his hipbelt tight. "How can this thing be so heavy? It feels heavier than my OLD pack!" he grumbled. The three of us strained to avoid bursting out laughing, but before we knew it or could stop him, our trusty pack-mule started hiking away down the trail! The three of us looked at each other. Should we tell him? Of course we should. But then we thought about the joys of having two six packs of cold beer to help wash down the whiskey that one of us was carrying, and we wisely said nothing. Oh yes, we DID eventually tell him about it: When we got to camp! The three of us laughed uproariously when he unpacked his gear and discovered the beer. "I KNEW it was too heavy!" he shouted. But then he, too, thought about the joys of washing down all that whiskey, and his mood improved. Oh, yes, it was a lively night, thanks to all that excellent ultra-light gear of his...

jfr, that's a great story! ha ha ha!

We watch the Eiger Sanction at the start of every summer hiking season to get into training mode:

Want a beer?

You gonna call room service?

We got beer.

If you hauled beer up this rock, you're insane.

I may be insane, but I'm not stupid. I didn't carry it, you did it. It's in your pack.

Jesus Christ! I ought to throw you off this pillar. Besides, it's warm.

I'm sorry. I'd thought you'd draw the line at hauling ice.