Most of us admire those strong souls whose internal code demands a certain purity of conduct -- those who strive to satisfy their own ideals, rather than seeking the world's admiration or hoping somehow to sell their accomplishments. We admire, for example, the craftsman who makes violins the way he believes they should be made, even though he knows he could make far more money selling mediocre instruments to purchasers who wouldn't know or care about the difference.
Ed Viesturs, the first American to climb all fourteen mountains higher than 8,000 meters -- climbing all fourteen without supplementary oxygen -- is such a purist. A graduate of the University of Washington and of the veterinarian school at WSU, and a resident of a Seattle suburb across the Sound, he first picked up his mountaineering skills on the slopes of Mount Rainier, where he eventually became a professional climbing guide.
Viesturs has just published K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain, co-authored with David Roberts, a professional outdoors writer. In his book, Viesturs tells the story of K2 climbing -- from the first 1902 Crowly attempt, through attempts by Americans and Germans in the 1930s, to the first successful climb by the Italians in 1954, and through later attempts, some successful and many tragic, up until the present. Viesturs examines each climb through the lens of his own experience gained climbing in the Himalayas and Karakorams, especially his own successful climb of K2 with Scott Fischer in 1992.
Although K2, in the Karakoram range on the Pakistan-China border, is second in altitude to Everest, it is second to none in difficulty. Viesturs observes that, over the decades, one person has died for every four who have reached K2's summit. (Eleven died within a 36 hour period in 2008.) Contrast that 1:4 figure with Everest, where the ratio is 1:191 and it becomes apparent why experienced climbers consider the climb of K2 a far greater accomplishment than that of Everest.
Statistics aside, simply reading the accounts of climbs over the years makes it obvious that -- even with great physical strength and endurance, psychological perserverance, and a goodly helping of good luck and favorable weather -- only the most technically skillful climbers can venture very far above base camp. Guides using fixed ropes now lead countless numbers of amateurs up Everest. The Everest climb still demands endurance and perserverance, but the fixed ropes eliminate much of the need for technical climbing ability and experience.
There are no permanent fixed ropes on K2.
And Viesturs shows little respect for those climbers who rely on temporary fixed ropes anchored by Sherpa or Hunza staff -- locals who, climbing largely without protection, risk their own lives by struggling up ahead of the "sahibs" in order to ease their way to the top. He has little patience with grandstanding and bragging, and even less with leaders who let others take the risks and do the work while they collect the glory. He dislikes the use of bottled oxygen. He is suspicious of climbers who take imprudent chances, knowing that they can rely on radios or cell phones to summon help when they find themselves in a jam. And he throws up his hands at the increasingly common reliance on helicopters to rescue climbers whose dreams of glory outstrip their skill and experience.
A mountain can be considered climbed only when the climber reaches the summit and returns safely to base camp. The climb down is as critical, and often more dangerous, than the climb up. To Viesturs, it is self-evident that the climber must rely on his own abilities to complete the climb in both directions. Among the climber's requisite set of skills is good judgment. The climber must sacrifice the summit and turn around, Viesturs insists, once he determines that weather conditions or his own physical condition and abilities will make continuing the climb an unreasonable risk to his own safety and that of his companions. Viesturs frankly admits he ignored his own rule and, despite the lateness of the day, failed to turn back during his successful climb of K2 in 1992. He nearly lost his life as a result. He vowed never to take foolish chances again, and stuck with that vow while bagging his 13 remaining over-8000 meter summits.
Ed Viesturs is opinionated, but his opinions demand nothing of other climbers that he doesn't demand of himself. His own accomplishments entitle him to his strong opinions.
Viesturs's ideals demand of climbers more preparation and experience than some climbers may care to demand of themselves. His judgments may, at times, seem harsh. But these same ideals also permit him to see a climb as more than just a physical challenge. He notes how climbers frequently trek the 40 miles to K2's base camp almost heedless of the scenic beauty through which they walk. By focusing only on the physical challenge that lies ahead, he feels, they miss a significant part of the overall climbing experience. He marvels at -- and to some degree envies --the hardy pioneers who made the earliest attempts on K2. Those parties trekked not 40 miles, but hundreds of miles, through roadless countryside. Their members saw themselves as explorers as well as climbers. On their way, they carried art supplies and painted landscapes, did surveying, studied fauna, and collected geological samples.
Readers of Viesturs's book are given exciting and humbling glimpses of what a human being is capable of doing -- the physical and mental extremes that a disciplined person can force himself to endure. Even if your idea of tough physical activity is a five-mile hike on a Forest Service trail, you will finish the book happy that people like Viesturs still exist -- climbers possessing not only physical skill and endurance, but also the education and sensitivity to convey to us lesser mortals some idea of the beauty and the challenge presented by high altitude mountaineering.
------------------------------1K2's death/success ratio is second only to that of Annapurna, which has an incredible 2:3 ratio.
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