Meru Page #3

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And my friend Doug said,

Hey, we think Mugs has died.

I remember exactly on the interstate where

Doug had that conversation.

I was like, Oh, f***!

Because I always thought that

sh*t like that's gonna happen.

But it's not gonna happen to Mugs.

He was the best.

[ Renan ] Climbing with your mentor

is a dangerous thing sometimes...

because you give them all of your trust.

I gave them everything, and...

there was a constant battle

in my mind every day.

I'd be freezing,

shivering uncontrollably...

But I definitely didn't want

to be the guy that said...

Oh, I'm cold. I want to go down.

[Renan]

Loose,eh?

[ Renan's Voice] it must have been negative

2O when the sun went around the corner.

It's debilitating trying to climb

in those kind of temperatures.

[ Renan ]

it's all about climbing the cracks.

I don't see any here.

[ Chuckles ]

[ Renan's Voice ] We'd hit these totally

blank sections of rock.

And I was sure there wasn't

anywhere else to go.

But then Jimmy or Conrad

would launch into the void.

[ Krakauer ] You know, this is steep,

modern A4 E-climbing.

It's using tools. You're a craftsman...

tapping and pounding and tweaking.

And he's like this cabinetmaker...

chiseling away at this cabinet

out of walnut or something.

Except, you know, if you hit that chisel

one more time and you're a cabinetmaker...

maybe you split it and

you ruin this cabinet- bummer.

If on an A4 pitch, you,

like, split the cabinet, you die.

Yeah, I'll tent right there.

Uh, you wanna be here? Where you wanna be?

I don't care. I'm right on this edge.

I'll sit here for now.

I got some hot bevies.

[Jimmy's Voice] it's hard to overstate

what kind of condition we were in.

Barely.

[ Sighs ]

We're literally down to eating a couple

spoonfuls of granola in the morning...

and sharing a couple slices

of salami during the day...

with couple pieces of cheese.

I mean, we're definitely

on pretty limited rations at this point.

- [Conrad ] Roasty.

- [ Renan Chuckles]

For climbers over a stove

on a half-emptyjug of propane...

there's nothing finer

than roasting the rind.

It becomes quite tasty.

[ Jimmy] 'Cause basically eating

everything that you have left.

Super efficient.

Next week, we'll be eating our boots.

[ Chuckles ]

[ Metal Clinking ]

[ Krakauer ] You know, Conrad talks a lot

about how to keep the risk manageable.

Talks about there's acceptable risk

and unacceptable risk.

But he always keeps it on the acceptable

side by leaving this margin.

Om, shanti.

[ Krakauer Continues] But... you know,

he had tried this climb before...

failed, and even

if he didn't admit it to himself...

to succeed, he was gonna have to throw

that conservative stuff out the window...

and take mega-risk on this.

But, you know,

if they want to stay alive...

they cannot f*** up at all.

And he talked about,

lfl die, I've really let down my family.

I cannot make any mistakes.

That's not good to be thinkin'

when you're that far out there.

He is thinkin', Man, I cannot die now...

because then I've blown it

for my wife and kids.

Jenni has no idea.

She has no f***ing idea

what he is really doin' out there.

[ Sighs ]

[Jimmy Sighs 1

F***.

We're all just kind of frayed.

Sixteen days up here,

just givin' it everything we have.

It's been really slow.

And, uh, we're running

out of fuel actually.

Um, and food. And cigarettes and papers.

But tomorrow is kind of the decider.

If we, uh...

don't get up and around

this big, steep headwall...

we're gonna have to

pull the cord, but, uh...

we got one last push tomorrow.

[ Chuckles ]

Jimmy's strength is that

he's very rational and accepting...

and real in what we can do.

When we first met,

I realized right away...

there was a mentorship

that was going to blossom.

I also immediately sensed that

he was driven and determined.

- And I never really knew why.

- [ Shutter Clicking ]

[ Shutter Clicks ]

My parents called me Xiao-pang.

It means Little Chub.

[Jimmy's Voice ] My parents had to escape

from China during the Communist Revolution.

They both went through a lot.

They came to the United States

to make a new life.

And I think they had

really high expectations for me.

My dad was a hard-ass.

In the wintertime, we would get cords of

wood to heat the house.

And he'd put it in the back

of this huge yard we had...

and make me drag it back

on a sled in thigh-deep snow.

He was really about being tough.

Mountain climbing,

it wasn't a career to them.

My mom used to call me all the time...

and lament about the fact

her son was this homeless man...

who wandered around

and camped and didn't have a home.

[ Sizzling ]

But when I went through

a difficult divorce...

and called Jimmy, crying, upset...

his first words were, Come stay with me.

So, we just moved into his bachelor pad.

Two kids, all their markers

and Legos. [Chuckles]

Yeah.

And he just took us right in.

[ Krakauer ] You know, he's another one of

these extremely accomplished climbers.

You don't appreciate

how good a climber he is...

because

you get distracted by the art...

which is probably the way he likes it.

And taking pictures makes

the climbing Way harder.

He was filming this Everest

expedition, and his morn got really sick.

And he found out about it and had to leave

so he could see her before she died.

[Jimmy] My mom had made me promise

fairly early on, she was like...

lf you're gonna make this your life,

you need to promise me one thing.

You have to promise me that

you will not die before me.

And when I was on climbs

and on expeditions...

I would get to a certain point,

and I would say, Okay.

How close am I willing to go to

potentially break that promise?

So, after my mom died...

when the climbing

started to get into that place...

I remember a moment being like,

Well, I can go for it right now.

[ Equipment Jingling ]

[ Renan ]

Conrad's up there. Can't find good gear.

Our hands and feet are all frost-numb.

Nice, Rad.

Good move.

[ Hammering ]

We're probably at about 20,500 feet.

Just short of the ridge.

It's f***ing Arctic.

Today's our summit bid.

[ Renan ]

Bring it in.

- [Conrad ] Whoo!

- [ Renan ] Yeah, Rad!

[ Pebbles Rattle]

Nice!

[ Krakauer] The game in climbing is cut

that line as fine as you can.

But you don't want to take stupid risk.

If you die taking a stupid risk,

not only are you dead...

but you've embarrassed yourself

and you've disgraced yourself.

You're not supposed to take risk lightly.

You're supposed to show

that you're so good and so controlled...

you can take it right to that line

and go no further.

[ Chuckles ]

[Jimmy] it's been a super long morning.

Started at 2:
00.

Probably another 500 feet to the summit.

[Jimmy's Voice ]

We're gunning for the summit ridgeline...

and Conrad's burrowing through

this overhanging cornice.

Renan is in the line of fire.

Snow and ice falling 150 feet...

just slamming Renan.

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