Meru Page #7

---

a choice... in the matter.

Renan actually decided to go to Meru...

and bought a plane ticket

and didn't even tell me.

It was kind of a slap in the face, but...

the bigger concern was his safety.

[Jimmy]

He knew the heat that we were taking...

and he knew that

we had to trust him to let him go.

And that's what we did. We trusted him.

[ Krakauer] Maybe that's way

over the heads of most people...

that kind of risk

and that kind of expression of trust.

But when Conrad was a young buck,

and Mugs was teaching him...

they'd be at a really sketchy pitch-

dangerous, you can't afford to fall.

Mugs would be like, Okay, Conrad,

we all know that I can lead this.

Now let's see if you can lead it.

Are you ready?

So many decades later, it was Conrad...

saying to Jimmy, Renan, Okay,

you guys had a rough spring.

But you can do this.

I trust you, and we're gonna do this.

[Chattering ]

[Chanting ]

[Jimmy]

The entire hike in was intense.

There's no doubt that I had

a heavy heart going into it.

It felt just like so much...

pressure.

You know, it felt a little bit like we

were heading to the gallows. You know?

[ Renan ]

Fifteen feet, Conrad!

[ Equipment Clinking ]

[ Shouting, indistinct ]

[Conrad ]

The old geek ripped.

- Is that what sent ya?

- Yeah.

I just heard the ping

and then the f***ing gear rattling.

Cha-ching, cha-ching.

Oh, it was a good-

Of all the places to fall though-

Ah, it's dreamy.

[Jimmy]

That was a good place to fall.

It must have been, like,

five pounds on you, huh, Renan, like-

[ Renan ] Yeah. Well, I got lifted

off the triangle ledge.

[ Fabric Flapping ]

[Wind Howling ]

- [ Rustling ]

- [ Grunting ]

Oh! F***!

[Jimmy]

Oh, man.

[ Renan ]

Survival mode.

It's broke.

We're Himalayan big-wall climbing,

and we broke our portaledge.

- That's more straight.

- Yeah.

- [ Jimmy] Whew.

- [ Conrad ] Athletic tape...

two eye screws, and-

and we're back in business.

Whew.

[ Man]

One night of magic rush

The start a simple touch

One night to push and scream

And then relief J"

Ten days of perfect tunes

J" The colors red and blue J

We had a promise made

J" We were in love J"

J To call for hands of above JV"

[Jimmy]

That there is called space hauling.

This route's pretty steep.

That's why all the sh*t's

hanging off in space. [Chuckling ]

[ Muttering ]

[ Chuckles ] I just had to film

what we're eating right now.

Conrad wants us to eat

yesterday's leftovers.

Oh, it looks great.

[Conrad ] We have one choice

on the menu, and it is couscous.

[ Jimmy] Tomorrow,

what are we having for dinner?

Couscous.

- [ Jimmy, Laughing ] And the next day?

- Couscous.

[Jimmy ] What did we have for dinner

four days ago?

- Couscous.

- [Jimmy] Sweet.

[Conrad ]

This looks really good, I think.

I'm sure that, uh Happy and Leroy, my two

dogs, would just love this.

They'd be like, Yeah!

We're not his dogs.

Mmm.

Mmm, couscous.

[YawnS I

Whew.

[Jimmy] I was watching Renan,

and he seemed confused and slow.

I thought it might have been the altitude.

I'm not sure what's going on.

[ Metal Clinks ]

[ Renan's Voice ]

Something was really wrong.

I literally just turned

my face away and cried.

[Jimmy ] When we finally

got the portaledge built and got inside...

that's when Renan really fell apart.

He just collapsed.

H' [ Man Vocalizing]

J2!' [ Vocalizing Continues ]

[Jimmy]

He tried to say something to me...

and it was just complete gibberish.

You know, you could see the alarm

in his eyes that, like...

however hard he was trying to speak...

it wasn't happening.

J2!' [ Vocalizing Continues ]

lt'd been a year and a half earlier that,

uh, my father had suffered a stroke...

and I'd seen what it does.

[ Exhales Deeply]

You know, we're making calculations

in our head, and we're like...

Well, we can't go down right now.

We'll make a mistake.

We're way too wasted.

[Conrad ] it was a moment of, uh,

anxiety. it was moment of unknown.

It was a moment of acceptance that we

might not make it up the route.

Acceptance that- of Renan's health...

that where he was,

there was nothing we could do about it.

[Wind Whistling ]

[ Fabric Flapping ]

[ Renan ]

The next morning, the sun was shining.

I felt a little bit better...

but I still couldn't really talk.

All that I could think about is,

I don't want to go down.

If we go down,

then I'll never forgive myself.

I still just felt strongly that I had to

contribute to the team and not let us down.

It was my turn to lead.

Those guys didn't want me to go,

but I looked up at Jimmy...

nodded, and it was understood

that I was going for it.

They were monitoring me very closely.

[ Equipment Clinking ]

From somewhere,

I started to feel this momentum...

and climbing started to feel good.

I couldn't believe I finished my leads.

It was this huge breakthrough for me.

Jimmy and Conrad were still

really worried about me...

and they carried most of my weight.

Meru- it's relentless. Every time.

[ Renan's Voice ] We still don't know

what happened that day.

We just smoked a cigarette

together and talked about it...

and decided to keep going.

After seven days of climbing,

we were just getting to the hard part.

The wall got super steep and overhanging.

[Conrad ] This is pitch 20.

Jimmy's getting after it.

It's the House of Cards,

the start of the Indian Ocean Wall.

[ Renan ]

I knew he was scared.

We all knew any mistake on this

pitch could be catastrophic.

[ Jimmy]

Wow, that's- it looks longer...

than it did last night.

[ Laughing ]

In the House of Cards pitch,

they called it that because...

it's these immense blocks of granite.

If you pull one of 'em too hard,

this whole thing's gonna come down...

like a house of cards, only each card

weighs, you know, 10,000 pounds...

and those sharp edges

is gonna just floss 'em all off the wall.

See these giant blocks?

They are moving under my weight.

[ Hollow Knocking ]

Those are the sounds

you don't like to hear.

[ Metal Clinking ]

[ Renan ] it was really intense.

He was up there for six hours...

and it was exhausting for all of us.

They're on a sloping hill, and when you

hit 'em, you watch both of 'em going.

- Yeah, and everything here, I mean-

- That would just chop everything.

And then we'd- we'd be f***ed.

[Wind Whistling ]

- [ Fabric Flapping ]

- Well, it's our summit-bid evening.

And it's dumping.

[ Sighs ]

[ Murmurs]

- [Conrad ] More suffering.

- [Jimmy] it's been dumping...

- for...

- since 3:
30.

Five, six hours now.

[ Fabric Flapping ]

[ Jimmy]

How's it lookin' out there, Renan?

Well, despite the, uh...

heavy winds and getting battered...

in the ledge for the last four hours...

there's stars...

so we're goin' for it.

[ Equipment Jingling ]

It's probably negative 2O out.

I can't feel my feet.

But at least it's windy.

[ Exhales Sharply]

Just waitin' for the sun.

[ Exhaling ]

Oh, man, I can't f***ing think straight.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes