Meru Page #2

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And you gotta go slow

for that kind of climbing.

Maybe you'll only do 200 feet in a day.

Maybe it's gonna take you six or seven

days to do that top 1,500 feet.

And if it's gonna take you that long, if

you're going slow, you need a portaledge.

You need food and water and fuel.

Pretty soon, that's, like,

200 pounds of stuff.

You need a big wall rack,

5O pounds of iron.

So you gotta get that 200 pounds of crap

up the first 4,000 feet.

And none of the previous climbers-

and Conrad, his first time-

they couldn't believe that.

- They're not gonna climb that way.

- [ Groans]

Humpin' loads. Feel the altitude a bit.

[ Krakauer] But Conrad after that first

time said, Huh.

Here's the deal.

I see this, this epiphany.

You gotta do this big wall style

and get your stuff up there.

[ Footsteps In Snow]

- [ Metal Clinking ]

- [ Murmurs]

- [Jimmy] Man, how's it going?

- it's goin'-

Nighttime ops. Out climbing.

Luckily, the screws are solid.

Now, why do we do this stuff?

The view. The view.

I think it's 2:
00 in the morning.

We went for the ghetto bivy...

on the shoulder instead

of setting up the ledge.

It's a lot easier. We got some Korean-

[Jimmy] Tell us the reason why- the real

reason why we didn't set up anything.

- [ Both Chuckle]

- 'Cause we're worked a little bit maybe.

Could be worse. The sky could be, like,

unloading on us right now.

Look what's happening over here.

That's Conrad lying in the snow.

And here's my really pathetic bivy.

[ Shivering ]

Oh, grim.

You know it's grim when you're- Yeah.

- When you bivy directly on the snow.

- [Jimmy] Yeah.

And it's snowing out a little bit too.

[Jimmy Chuckles ]

H' [ Vocalizing]

[ Breathes Heavily]

[ Sighs ]

Very first light.

Goin' since... 2:OO-ish.

[ Sighs ]

[Wind Whooshing ]

Pretty much made

a bunch of mistakes already today.

Takin' me to school...

Yet again.

But, we're makin' good progress...

haulin' 200-pound loads...

up a 3,000-foot snow filter...

at 16,000 feet.

[ Sighs ]

See that system comm' tn here

pretty soon.

[Jimmy] Conrad and I have been through

some tough expeditions together...

all around the world.

We were on K7 in Pakistan.

We skied Denali, and

we've been on Everest together.

[ Shutter Clicks ]

Conrad's reputation

among climbers is flawless.

The irony is he became world famous

for finding Mallory's body...

during an Everest climb...

instead of for his difficult

first ascents around the world.

Most of my generation of climbers grew up

following his expeditions.

Back then I'd never imagined

I'd actually get to climb with him.

So it's hard to believe this will be

almost seven years as climbing partners.

- [ Chuckles ]

- [Jimmy] it got a little snowy.

[Conrad ]

Yup.

- But we're committed to going up.

- Yeah.

It's only gonna be snowy for a little bit.

Then it's gonna be nice.

Right?

[ Chuckles ]

Meanwhile we look out

into inside of a Ping-Pong ball.

[ Snow Landing ]

[Wind Whooshing ]

[ Jimmy's Voice ]

A storm came...

and we fought to build

our hanging portaledge camp.

[Jimmy]

Whoo! Nice work!

[Jimmy's Voice ] Which is basically

a hanging cot with a tent over it.

- [Wind Whooshing ]

- [Tent Flapping ]

- Holy Jesus.

- Okay, good.

Ooh.

[ Rumbling 1

[Jimmy's Voice ] Then we start hearing

the avalanches coming off on the side...

ripping out next to you.

[ Snow Rumbling ]

[ Chuckling, Sighs ]

[ Hissing I

[ Renan ]

Whoa.

[ Hissing I

- [Zips ]

- [Wind Whistling ]

[Jimmy]

Look, it's snowing outside.

[Wind Whooshing ]

[Conrad ]

Living in a portaledge, and it's snowing.

- I kind of feel like Christmas somehow.

- [Jimmy Chuckles ]

[ Conrad ] This is what

we want for Christmas- a snowstorm and...

- to sit here in the-

- [Jimmy] On the Shark's Fin?

- [Conrad ] Yeah.

- [ Jimmy] All soaking wet. Awesome.

[Wind Blowing ]

[Jimmy ] And so, we're there for a day.

Then we're there for two days.

Then we're there for three days.

And basically, we're stuck on

the portaledge for four days.

[ Renan ] It was...

one of the biggest storms I'd ever seen.

It was four days in the storm...

and we had only seven days of food total.

So, we ended up, you know,

depleting a lot of our food supply.

We had essentially lost half our food.

And 90% of the mountain

was still above us.

It's Samsara- the bivy of suffering.

[ Renan's Voice ]

I thought, Okay, it's over.

We've had a good run at it.

Cold. Where's the sun we had

the last couple days?

We're up here freezing.

[ Renan's Voice ]

This is too much for me.

I'm in over my head.

And I'm glad to have the experience...

but I'm also glad that

we're going down tomorrow.

[Jimmy]

The storm clears finally.

And you know, in my head,

I'm like, Okay, you know...

now it's time to move. Storm's over.

So when we started gearing up

that day and getting ready to climb...

you know, there was some confusion,

I think, for Renan, that we were going-

uh, you know,

that we were going up as opposed to down.

- [ Renan, indistinct]

- Okay.

[ Murmuring ]

[ Renan ] They just started racking up

to continue up the mountain.

I didn't know why or how-

what they were thinking.

And especially Conrad.

I'd never seen him so... motivated...

about a climb.

[Conrad ]

Climbing's a really dangerous sport.

And a good partner will

push you to the summit...

but at the same time, keep you aware of

the risks that are involved with it.

[ Renan ]

Belaying out of the portaledge...

[ Conrad ] That 100% trust in your partner

is pretty special.

I think Renan was shocked...

because he hadn't ever really

had anything at that extent.

And Jimmy and I, we'd been through that.

We're pushing on through it, and it's that

understanding of lt's not that bad.

And that's where a mentor comes in.

Climbing is this weird craft, you know,

passed down from generation to generation.

The way you learn is you have a mentor.

Conrad learned at the feet of Mugs Stump.

Conrad was this young phenom, and Mugs was

one of the great climbers in the world.

[ Conrad ] Mugs was great.

He took me under his wing.

He was the sensei,

and I was the grasshopper.

He pushed me.

He had taken what was unshapen

and given shape to it.

Still, to this day,

a very important part of my life.

[ Krakauer] So Conrad,

he'd found the perfect mentor.

And Mugs would take him into his van

and lift the prayer flag...

and there's his special goal,

which is this peak called Meru.

And Conrad was like, Ooh.

And Mugs tried it twice-

I think in '86 and '88.

Failed both times,

for all kinds of reasons.

But to Mugs, this didn't deter him.

This was- He is the cosmic climber...

and this is all part of the cosmic plan,

and he was gonna go back.

And I'm sure Conrad-

That made a huge impression on him.

So then, 1992, two years

after I met Conrad...

uh, Mugs died on Denali,

guiding a bootleg client.

[Wind Blowing ]

[Conrad ] I was working in Salt Lake

and went climbing.

And, uh, we were driving back.

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