Tag: K2

‘Into Thin Air,’ By Jon Krakauer

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn mountains, writing

“The 1996 Mount Everest disaster occurred on 10–11 May 1996 when eight climbers caught in a blizzard died on Mount Everest while attempting to descend from the summit. Over the entire season, 12 people died trying to reach the summit, making it the deadliest season on Mount Everest at the time and the third deadliest after the 22 fatalities resulting from avalanches caused by the April 2015 Nepal earthquake and the 16 fatalities of the 2014 Mount Everest avalanche. The 1996 disaster received widespread publicity and raised questions about the commercialization of Everest.” Wikipedia

In 2023, 17 climbers died on Mt. Everest, eleven died in 2019, and eight died in 1996. Jon Krakauer wrote the book about the 1996 season, his first time on the mountain as a successful climber and a reporter.

“Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster is a 1997 bestselling nonfiction book written by Jon Krakauer. It details Krakauer’s experience in the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, in which eight climbers were killed and several others were stranded by a storm. Krakauer’s expedition was led by guide Rob Hall. Other groups were trying to summit on the same day, including one led by Scott Fischer, whose guiding agency, Mountain Madness, was perceived as a competitor to Hall’s agency, Adventure Consultants.” – Wikipedia

“Despite being nearly 800 feet shorter than Mount Everest, K2 is a more deadly mountain. Mountaineer Jake Meyer told Insider several critical factors contribute to making K2 so dangerous. On K2, mountaineers face constant 45-degree-angle climbs, no matter the route they take, he said.” Wikipedia.

Krakauer had criticisms the book, but I believe in it was as accurate as he could make it though climbers who did not come off too good slammed the book.

–Malcolm

George didn’t want Everest named after him

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn mountains, writing

Most of us are aware that in 2015, the Department of the Interior finally recognized “Denali” as the official name for the mountain formerly called Mount McKinley. Alaska had been calling the Peak “Denali” for forty years already. Perhaps someday the world will officially recognize the Nepalese name “Sagarmatha” as the correct name for Mount Everest (shown here).

While Sir. George Everest (4 July 1790 – 1 December 1866) had more to do with Sagarmatha (Goddess of the Sky) than President McKinley had to do with Denali (as a surveyor working on the connection between Northern India and Nepal), he never saw the mountain, said the word “Everest” would be difficult for people living in the area to pronounce, and didn’t believe the mountain should carry his name.

According to Wikipedia, “In 1865, the Royal Geographical Society renamed Peak XV – at the time only recently identified as the world’s highest peak – to Mount Everest in his honour. Andrew Scott Waugh, his protégé and successor as surveyor general, had been responsible for putting his name forward in 1856. Everest’s name was used as a compromise due to the difficulty of choosing between multiple local names for the mountain.

K2 in the Karakoram range, while not quite as tall as Everest, is a more difficult climb and, as such, is often called the “Savage Mountain.” Estimates are that one person dies for every four who summit the mountain. It used to be referred to as “Godwin-Austen after the English surveyor. None of the possible local names seems to stand out, but “Masherbrum” or “Chogori” might one day be considered as more appropriate.

I dearly love mountains and once thought I’d climb Sagarmatha and Chogori. The names of these peaks belong to those who live there. On recent visits to Glacier National Park in Montana where I did some climbing years ago, I was happy to see more and more native names (as rendered in English) being used. Mt. Wilbur, across the lake from Many Glacier Hotel, is finally being called “Heavy Shield,” for example.

Over time, we will (I hope) drift away from names imposed on mountains, lakes, and other geographic features from the outside instead of “naming local.”

–Malcolm

If I’d Been a Career 8000-meter Peak Mountain Climber, I’d probably be Dead by Now

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn mountains

I started reading accounts of mountain ascents and attempted ascents when I was in junior high because my father, who climbed mountains in college as I did later, had most of the classic accounts. My target peak was K2, the second-highest mountain in the world, and considered more difficult than Everest. The fatality rate on that peak is about 25%.

In fact, like the successful American climber Ed Viesturs, I wanted to summit all fourteen of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks without supplemental oxygen. There have been many bad years on these mountains in the Himalayas and Karakoram ranges, so why go there?

I have no answer, really, because I never made it to any summits higher than Colorado’s 14,0000-foot peaks, some of which my father climbed years before.

I did have an opportunity to trek in to the Base Camp at Everest, but the money fell thought at the last minute.

You have to push yourself on these climbs and know when to trust your instincts when everything about the mountain is against you, especially above the so-called “Death Zone” at 26,000 feet, above which the atmosphere isn’t conducive to long-term survival.

Perhaps pushing oneself is the rationale behind climbing. It was for me because truth be told, one doesn’t have a lot of time for the view. It amazes me, though, how the dreams of a high school student can be just as vital now as they were then. Do you have dreams like that? Things you wanted to do and mourn not doing?

Malcolm

High-altitude dreams

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn mountains, writing2 Comments
K2 – second-highest mountain

When I was in middle school, I decided I wanted to climb mountains. I was influenced by the fact my father climbed mountains in Colorado while he was in college (something I would do later when I was in college). I was also influenced by the books in our house about early mountaineers’ attempts in the Himalayas (including Mt. Everest) and the Karakoram (including K2) mountain ranges. I never knew for sure whether my father had these books because climbing quests made exciting reading or because he often hoped to climb those peaks himself.

Then, in 1953, when newspapers told the story of the first successful climb of Mt. Everest by Edmund Hillary (New Zealand) and Tenzing Norgay (Nepal), I was sold on the idea that such climbs were possible. K2, which is more difficult, was successfully climbed by an Italian expedition a year later. The family applauded my 14,000-foot peak climbs in Colorado but thought my notions of climbing Everest and K2 were insane. “So what?” I asked.

One of the larger family arguments occurred when I wanted to sign up with a trekking tour group to hike to the Mt. Everest base camp. I admit it was a bit costly (it’s more expensive now!) In part, nobody believed that once I visited the base camp for several weeks I wouldn’t ultimately push for an actual climb later. I probably would have.

For non-climbers, the statistics don’t look good: 14.1% of those who attempt Mt. Everest die on the mountain; 22.9% of those who attempt K2 never come back. But I look on the bright side: more people came back than don’t. Plus, I always said, one isn’t going to die on the mountain unless his/her number is up. If your number’s up, you’ll die some other way–like falling off a stepladder while changing a lightbulb. The family and I didn’t come to a meeting of the minds about the dangers.

Among other things, they weren’t excited about the fact that most of those who die on 8000-meter peaks are still there, impossible to recover. That didn’t excite me either, but it never changed my high-altitude dreams. My family can rest easy now. People my age are no longer allowed to climb Mt. Everest. So now I grieve what might have been and allow the characters in my novels to see the top of the world, a vision that changes everyone who makes a round trip.

—Malcolm

I include high-altitude dreams in my novels “Mountain Song” and “At Sea.”

Pushing the Envelope

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn challenge
Wikipedia Photo

The oldest person to reach the summit of Mt. Everest was 80. The oldest person to reach the summit of K2, a more difficult climb than Everest, was 65. The oldest woman to reach the summit of K2, Vanessa O’Brien in 2017, was 52. Since I wish I’d climbed these mountains, these accomplishments convince me that we will accomplish the so-called impossible by refusing to believe it’s impossible.

There’s always a risk. A lot of people have died on Everest and K2. A lot of people have lost their life’s savings trying to accomplish other tasks. As a writer, I’m inspired when I read about writers a lot older than me who are still sitting at their computers writing new novels and news stories.

Most of the time, I don’t think of what we want to do as pushing the envelope. I think we’re still doing what we always wanted to do. Maybe a bestselling novel will come out of it and maybe it won’t. Yet, as Yoda said, there is no “try.” We simply do, one step after another to the summit of the mountain and one word after another to the conclusion of another book.

Later, if we succeed, people can say “s/he pushed the envelope.”

But while we’re doing it, we’re simply doing it: writing another novel. pushing our limits on another hike, building another house like Jimmy Carter, or one way or another, still singing and still living rather than sitting in an easy chair watching TV.

When I read AARP Magazine, I salute the people who are keeping active and following their dreams. Young people tend to discount the elderly, and I’m here to say that “A lot of elderly people are doing more than young people.”

Why stop doing what you love?

—Malcolm

Thank you to those of you who picked up a free copy of one of my novels during this year’s Black Friday giveaway.