Conrad's Thought Provoker

The article I read over lunch today was about one of America’s most experienced mountaineers, Conrad Anker. He and Alex Lowe, his best friend and climbing partner for over 15 years, were climbing in the Himalayas in the late 1990's when an avalanche ripped down the mountain and took Alex with it, never to be seen again. Alex left three young children and a wife behind.

That portion of the story was sad, but the following section was thought provoking. Here's why...

While grieving and dealing with the loss of his dearest friend, Conrad spent a lot of time with Alex's widow Jenny who was also obviously dealing with the tragedy. Conrad felt a sense of responsibility for the family as the closest friend, and provided some comfort and care for them, visiting on a regular basis, and giving birthday and Christmas presents to the young children. The long story short—Conrad cultures a romance for Jenny and marries her after a year or two.

It was very thought provoking (at least to me). For one thing, who would you rather have taking care of your surviving spouse? Who would you rather have taking care of your surviving children? Few people understand you, your desires and ambitions, your priorities, or your values like your closest friend. Both the friend and the spouse are struck with the same loneliness, sorrow, and tremendous void. Would it be too weird? Does it heighten the awkwardness if the living spouse met you (the dead one) and your best friend at the same time, hence making a conscientious choice to become romantically involved with just one of the two. Is it worrisome that the person might have had an interest in the living spouse all along?

Your thoughts?

In this case, I believe Alex and Jenny were friends before Conrad came along.

(This is a significant shortening of a complex story. The exact number of years might be slightly different; I approximated, based on my understanding of the story. The complete article is: “The Climber Comes Down to Earth,” by Daniel Duane. It was originally published in Outside Magazine in May 2001. The book that I am reading contains a collection of articles from Outside Magazine and is entitled Outside 25—Classic Tales and New Voices from the Frontiers of Adventure.)

True Summits - Book Review

True Summits is a journalistic overview of Annapurna’s first ascent in 1950 by the French expedition led by Maurice Herzog. For nearly half a century Herzog’s chronicle of the climb Annapurna was the authoritative summary and is often heralded as the finest mountaineering narrative ever penned.

Annapurna was the first of the world’s 14 peaks over 8,000 meters to be climbed. Located deep in the Himalayan Mountains, it was climbed in a style radical to the day, but with traumatic results.

Within the last 10 years, however, a controversy has arisen when other members of the expedition voiced their version of how the story unfolded. David Roberts compares the different journals, diaries, interviews, and personal letters of the climbers to develop a more definitive description of what really happened.

According to Roberts, the Herzog version is inaccurate. Herzog’s main goal has been to glorify himself and over the last half-century has achieved just that, capitalizing on his success in the mountains to catapult himself into political celebrity. Roberts explains how the true story of Annapurna stayed muddled for so long and makes major headway into putting it into the correct perspective.

This book is an intriguing look into the culture of the highest peaks as well as the selfish ambitions of the lowest men.