Meru Page #4

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[ Renan ] All the shrapnel and

the ice that he was kicking down...

was going directly onto me-

like, constant deluge.

And I could really feel

that I was losing my fingers and toes.

I started just screaming...

and yelling and crying.

That was my absolute last breaking point.

I even said something when I got up there,

like, My feet aren't doing so well.

They didn't even acknowledge what I said.

They were talking about

spending the night there.

[Jimmy] Conrad and I are having

a conversation like...

ls there a spot to bivy? ls there a spot

for us to spend the night?

Trying to sleep perched

on this tiny little corner...

at 20,000 feet without sleeping bags...

and risk fingers and toes.

[Jimmy]

What if we push on? Should we push on?

If you go for it

and you spend the night out...

there's a probability

that's higher than you want...

that you... aren't gonna come back.

Just shy of the summit.

It's 4:
00, and we're at 17 days.

- We're f***in' roasted.

- Started out this morning at midnight.

If we go today and attempt to the summit,

that means we're gonna be out tonight...

and an unplanned bivouac at 20,000 feet

in really cold climate...

without proper protection

and without sufficient food...

just doesn't make any sense.

[ Exhales]

[ Grunts I

[ Renan ]

it's over.

A hundred meters short of the summit.

We just don't have

the safety margin to make it.

It's not easy turning around. But-

F***, this thing was an ass-kicker.

Maybe it just wasn't meant to be climbed.

But I'm not coming back.

[ Exhales]

I mean, that's just so-

[ Exhales]

[ Jimmy

Fitting?]

- The center of the universe is-

- Unattainable.

H' [ Man Vocalizing]

[ Renan's Voice ] When we finally made

the decision to go down...

it was a relief.

Uh, it was also heartbreaking.

J2!' [ Vocalizing Continues ]

Our feet are... hammered

and we're just emaciated.

[ Renan ]

When we got down off the mountain...

our condition was this combination

of frostbite and trench foot.

Trench foot is what you get...

when your feet and your hands are in

this wet, damp condition...

for a long period of time,

and they start to rot.

I came back in a wheelchair.

I couldn't really walk for a few weeks.

All of us gave it our best.

We pushed our limits.

Uh, there was something left undone.

But... I was possessed.

I wasn't even down, and I was like...

Okay, do I come back in

pre-monsoon, post-monsoon?

When are we gonna do it,

and what do we gotta do better this time?

[Wind Whooshing ]

[Jimmy] After 2008, Renan and I ended up

on a bunch of different shoots together.

We went all over the world.

We were in Chad, Africa.

We were in Borneo.

We worked on a ton of jobs together.

We knew that there were a number of teams

who attempted the Shark's Fin after us.

And then this great Slovenian

climber named Silvo Karo...

called Conrad to ask for beta-

ask for information on the route.

And so we gave him our total support.

We weren't being possessive of the climb.

We weren't- it wasn't-

We don't own that mountain.

We were like,

Here it is. Here's what we learned.

And, Finish the story

of the Shark's Fin.

Because then we don't

have to go back. it's done.

[Jimmy]

And we kind of assumed Silvo would get it.

And then I got a call

from Conrad, you know.

And all he said was, He didn't get it.

At that point we're like,

Okay. Gears turning. We're going back.

[ Chuckles ] They say the best Alpinists

are the ones with the worst memory.

[ Birds Tweeting ]

[ Jimmy] About six months before

we were supposed to head to Meru...

on our second attempt...

Renan and I were out shooting

a commercial project in Jackson Hole.

It's not too steep up here.

The summit's probably right here.

[Jimmy's Voice] I had gotten a call from

Jeremy Jones and Xavier de Le Rue...

two of the best big-mountain

snowboarders in the world.

In here, is this the steepest part?

[Jimmy's Voice] it was a big job,

and I asked Renan to film on it...

even though he wasn't a great skier.

This line, below this

is, like, thousands of cliffs.

I'm stoked. Those are the first turns

I've ever made with Jeremy and Xav.

- Bodes well.

- [ Chuckles ]

That was awesome.

[Jimmy ] We were headed down together

when I saw Renan catch an edge.

And he spun out of control

and disappeared over a cliff.

Oh. Oh!

I got down to him,

and there was blood all around his head.

- [ Chattering ]

- [ Man 1 I got it.

He'd smashed his skull,

and you could see into his head.

I thought he was gonna die... in my arms.

- [ Monitors Beeping ]

- I felt responsible.

[ Man ] He has an open, depressed

skull fracture with pneumocephali...

which is air inside the skull.

And... he has a C2 teardrop fracture

and lateral mass fracture...

as well as a C6 spinous process fracture.

[ Monitor Beeping ]

We came out, okay?

[ Murmuring ]

He's gonna be immobilized for a long time.

They're gonna take him to surgery.

Any sort of, like,

significant risks during the surgery?

Absolutely.

So they tell us we can see him

and they roll him out, and he just looked-

I- I mean, I recognized him, but-

I mean, he looked so beat down.

So when I found you,

you were... face down... in a pile.

You essentially had, like,

a triangle about that big-

about that big where I could

see your skull.

[Jimmy's Voice ] Renan had landed on

his head and severely fractured his skull.

He broke two vertebrae in his neck.

He severed one of his vertebral arteries.

And basically cut off

half the blood flow to his brain.

I asked, I said,

Well, what are we talkin' about here?

They were like, 90% of people with any

one of these injuries will never walk again.

His head injury-

They were saying, you know-

it was within a millimeter

of him being a vegetable.

- Here we are-

- [ Conrad's Voice] I got a call from Jimmy.

He said, There's been

a really severe accident.

And I drove down right away.

We had this moment where it was...

You're gonna be fine. Things are good.

And we got up and we got the walker...

and we walked from east to west

on the linoleum floor.

[ Chuckles ]

- Recovery mode.

- Yeah.

Let's go somewhere quick,

so we can get ourjob done.

Yep.

- September.

- Exactly.

[ Conrad's Voice ] At the time,

he was like, I want to go to Meru.

But I didn't want to be like,

Dude, you're hooped. I mean, come on.

You don't have the heart to tell

someone something's impossible.

You're not gonna stuff 'em

right at that moment and say...

Dude, what are you talkin' about?

You're never goin' back to Meru.

You're never goin' climbing.

You just don't say those kind of things.

[ Monitor Beeping ]

We'll see how it-

see how it does at altitude at some point.

[ Raspberry I

[Wind Whooshing ]

[Jimmy]

Once I knew Renan was stable...

I headed back to Jackson

to try and finish the job.

[ Jeremy]

As far as Jimmy coming back...

no one would have said anything

if Jimmy said, I'm not going to do it.

Um, I'm done

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