If you follow climbing, you鈥檙e aware of the tragedy of Alex Lowe. The 40-year-old Montana climber was a star of his generation, alternately referred to as a mutant and 鈥渢he secret weapon鈥� by his climbing partners and those up on his r茅sum茅. And then, just like that, in October 1999, he died in an avalanche on the south face of 26,335-foot Shishapangma, along with cameraman David Bridges. Lowe鈥檚 death shook the climbing world and made national news. He left behind a wife, Jennifer, and three young boys鈥擬ax, 10, Sam, 7, and Isaac, 3鈥攊n Bozeman.

Alpinism is brutally efficient at converting sturdy, tight-knit families into grieving widows and traumatized children, but what happened next raised the story to the level of myth. Within a year, Conrad Anker鈥擫owe鈥檚 feral and boisterous climbing partner, who narrowly survived the deadly avalanche鈥攎oved in with Jennifer. They married, and Anker helped raise the three boys as if they were his own. It appeared to be the stuff of tabloids: Did Alex and Conrad have some kind of death pact? Were Conrad and Jennifer lovers before the accident? Could Conrad even be domesticated? Somehow, though, it all worked.

That story has been told countless times, in magazines, movies, and books鈥攊ncluding Jennifer Lowe-Anker鈥檚 2009 memoir 鈥攁nd now comes the documentary , directed by Alex and Jennifer鈥檚 eldest son, Max. It and begins streaming on Disney+ on February 4. In the film, Max, now 33, trains his camera on the Lowe-Ankers, and we watch as the key transformational event in the family鈥檚 history gets processed in a way that suggests it had been left largely unresolved for the past two decades. 鈥淚 definitely feel conflicted bringing everything back up to the surface for all of you guys,鈥� Max tells his brother Sam early in the film. There鈥檚 enough baggage here to bow a yak, and watching them unpack it makes for raw viewing.

The film is beautifully put together, leaning on a vast trove of discovered footage, home movies, and expedition video shot in the heyday of professional adventuring, when really fit (mostly) guys were able to make a living solely by getting atop the world鈥檚 hardest climbs. In the vintage footage, athletes wear fleece vests and Capilene headbands. Anker isn鈥檛 yet the wizened dean of the North Face but instead plays second fiddle to Lowe.

In the early years after the tragedy, Anker acknowledges, he was racked with survivor鈥檚 guilt and needed an outlet for his pain. 鈥淚t was love,鈥� he says. Alex would haunt both Conrad and Jennifer. 鈥淚 had dreams that Alex came back and was like, 鈥榃hat the hell, Conrad鈥檚 just here?鈥� 鈥� she says. But if Anker had any doubts about his decision to become a family man, he doesn鈥檛 show it.

Anker, now 59, never did scale back his climbing ambitions: he has since become a living legend in the mountains, in no small part simply by surviving when so many great alpinists failed to return. The film doesn鈥檛 mention his many close calls over the years, and it downplays how he has continued to push the envelope, most notably by leading not one but two grueling expeditions up the Shark鈥檚 Fin of Meru, in northern India, in 2008 and 2011. In 2016, Anker suffered a heart attack at 20,000 feet on Nepal鈥檚 Lunag Ri. (David Lama, the brilliant young Austrian alpinist who was Anker鈥檚 partner, mentee, and rescuer on that ascent, died in the mountains three years later, along with two other talented North Face climbers: Jess Roskelley and Hansj枚rg Auer.)

More complicated is Anker鈥檚 relationship with Max, who at the time of Alex鈥檚 death was the only son old enough to have formed a lasting bond with him. In the months before his death, Alex took Max up the Grand Teton for the first time and asked him whether he thought it was the right call to attempt the ski descent of Shishapangma, the expedition that ultimately took his life. 鈥淚 told him that I understood that he had to,鈥� Max recalls.

One of the film鈥檚 revelations is that Max wasn鈥檛 always so keen to think of Anker as his dad; he was the only member of the family who didn鈥檛 change his last name to Lowe-Anker. To the outside world, Anker鈥檚 devotion to the family appeared to be an act of love rooted in a mix of benevolence, grief, and guilt. But to a young Max missing his father, Anker rotating into the family home wasn鈥檛 necessarily cause for celebration. Part of Max鈥檚 journey in the film is coming to terms with the gift that Anker would become in his life.

At one point, Max says to his mom, 鈥淚n the wake of something so crushing, I can鈥檛 imagine coming out of it so quickly in the way that you did.鈥� In truth, young children have little sense of how daunting it can be to raise three boys as a single mother. Some of the film鈥檚 most tender moments come when Jennifer lets Max in on the stuff mothers tend to keep from their children. 鈥淚鈥檓 not going to let the painful end 鈥� be the end of me opening my heart,鈥� she tells him.

It鈥檚 in that same spirit that the film answers a puzzling question I鈥檝e always had about the Lowe-Anker saga: Why would Jennifer throw in her lot for a second time with the alpha-male type that had let her down so decisively before? The answer arrives when the family is forced to directly confront Alex鈥檚 ghost. In 2016, the bodies of Lowe and Bridges finally emerged from the glacier they鈥檇 been trapped in. As they lay Lowe to rest, it becomes clear that Jennifer is the force keeping the family together, with a rare amalgam of purpose and intuition. When the men don鈥檛 know what to do, they look to her to guide them. And in that way, Jennifer has brought not just three boys to adulthood but four.

The post 鈥楾orn鈥� Is a Wrenching Look at the Long Shadow of Alex Lowe appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Mathews Vxr 31.5 Bow ($1,199)

The Vxr offers exceptional stability, with an extra-long riser and top-to-bottom balance. It鈥檚 dead quiet, damp on release, and lets you easily ratchet the draw weight between 50 and 75 pounds without sacrificing efficiency.

Klymit Traverse Double Hammock ($90)

Catch a quick 颅post-hunt nap with the Traverse Double. It鈥檚 made of a single piece of 75-denier polyester that resists stretching, and it sets up easily with the included straps and carabiners.

5.11 AMP10 Pack ($140)

At 20 liters, the AMP10 is pleasingly slim and just big enough to carry an extra layer, your field-dressing kit, lunch, and water. The company鈥檚 external mounting system leaves plenty of room for items like a GPS.

Benchmade Saddle Mountain Knife ($250)

This full-tang knife has a durable 颅4.2-inch CPM-S90V steel blade that鈥檚 best for skinning, but the point is nimble enough to make fine cuts, too.

Sitka Mountain Optics Harness ($149)

When you need to drop your pack for that final stalk, this light harness holds your binos, rangefinder, Windicator, and a snack.

Sitka Kelvin Lite Down Jacket ($349)

With blended 颅900-fill goose down and PrimaLoft Gold insulation sealed into a superquiet shell, the Kelvin Lite is a versatile piece. It performed on crisp camp nights and during long hours glassing ridgelines.

Streamlight Enduro Pro USB Headlamp ($65)

When you need the right amount of light, the 200-lumen, 颅water-resistant Enduro Pro provides, with USB recharging and three power settings in both spot and flood modes.

M2S All Terrain Ultra HT Electric Fat Bike ($3,299)

The aluminum Ultra HT鈥檚 Bafang motor packs enough torque (max 1,500 watts) to stop and start on climbs, even while the optional cargo rack ($79) is fully loaded. The 26-by-4.5-inch tires gobble up difficult terrain.

Kuiu Pro Merino 200 Zip-T Hoodie ($129)

Kuiu鈥檚 merino-polyester hoodie works solo for September elk chases or layered up for winter waterfowl hunts. It dries fast and cuts down on odor in the field.

The post The Best Hunting Gear of 2021 appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

The coronavirus disease鈥攐fficially known as COVID-19鈥攊s hitting Europe and the Middle East and has made landfall in the U.S. with more than 100 cases. Like a lot of you, we鈥檝e followed the outbreak with a mix of dread and fascination, and with frequent refreshes to the published by Johns Hopkins. The good news is that activities in the mountains鈥攚here people can remain at a safe distance from each other鈥攚ill probably continue to be safe. But everything from yoga to the Olympics could get dicey.

Coronaviruses might听live for up to nine days on countertops.

Nobody knows yet just how long the COVID-19 virus can remain viable on surfaces, but other coronaviruses鈥攁 category of virus that can cause illnesses ranging from common colds to deadly diseases like SARS and MERS鈥攃an stick around for . That means you鈥檒l want to be careful about what you touch (looking at you, iPhone and airplane tray table). One of the most common forms of transmission is to get virus particles on your hands and then rub your eyes, mouth, or nose. Fortunately, SARS and MERS can both be (62 percent alcohol or more) or hydrogen peroxide, so possibly the new coronavirus can, too. In hospitals, technicians also use more powerful to disinfect听sensitive areas, although it鈥檚听 and best used by gloved professionals.听

The most effective protocol is to for 20 seconds or so. The foaming and rubbing action is important as it听works viral particles out of the folds of your skin. Then apply an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. It takes alcohol 15 to 20 seconds to break down the lipid envelope that surrounds the virus听proteins. Luckily, enveloped viruses are the easiest to destroy with alcohol. And while some have pointed out that ethanol may be more destructive to viruses than rubbing alcohol, it鈥檚 also more dehydrating to your skin, so use hand sanitizer.

It鈥檚 much deadlier than the flu and has the potential to kill millions of people.

Everyone from to the has made the point that the flu is currently a greater threat to public health than COVID-19. But the phrasing here is key. In a typical flu season,听 from the flu. And COVID-19 is just getting started; by the time of this article鈥檚 publication, it had already killed worldwide. But COVID-19 has the world on edge because of what it could do. Experts think it has the potential to infect an enormous percent of the global population鈥攕ome say as many of 鈥攁nd cause enormous social and economic disruption.听

What makes COVID-19 so scary? Well, it鈥檚 highly transmissible: one infected person is likely to give the virus to . There are a few reasons for this. One, because COVID-19 is new, no one in the world has any immunity. Two, most鈥攔oughly 鈥攐f the cases are mild or even asymptomatic, which means that those people with few symptoms can walk around infecting others rather than spending a couple of weeks laid up in bed. Three, the incubation period is relatively long: people can harbor the virus for two weeks or so before getting sick.听

So how deadly is it to individuals?听鈥淕lobally, about 3.4 percent of reported COVID-19 cases have died,鈥� said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organization鈥檚 director,听. That鈥檚 still much higher than the flu (0.1 percent) but lower than .听

Lastly, and frighteningly, it appears that you can get reinfected. Unlike the flu, whose victims build up immunity to a specific strain after their illness, of people recovering from COVID-19 and then getting it again.

Fun things might be canceled.

For now, things like Mount Everest season, the Summer Olympics, and your favorite yoga class are still a go. But Olympic organizers are understandably worried. Dick Pound, a senior member of the International Olympic Committee last week that the IOC could afford to wait until May to make a decision about whether to move听forward with the Games. The听question they鈥檙e asking themselves: 鈥淚s this under sufficient control that we can be confident about going to Tokyo or not?鈥� And if the virus is not under control, according to Pound, 鈥測ou鈥檙e probably looking at a cancellation.鈥澨�

Meanwhile, Everest expedition leader Adrian Ballinger, a fixture on the mountain for the past decade, tells us he鈥檚 altered his team鈥檚 plans to fly into Kathmandu and avoid major Chinese cities. The season kicks off around April 8, when groups begin flying into Nepal鈥檚 capital city. 鈥淥f course it鈥檚 still an unknown,鈥� said听Ballinger, 鈥渂ut the Chinese have hit all deadlines so far, and we have sent full payment for our permits.鈥� Nepal has, to date, of coronavirus;听however, if the disease were to spread there, it could听quickly overwhelm the small nation鈥檚 health care resources.听

But when it comes to public crowds and normal human interaction, things may get sketchy听when the disease starts to spread in the U.S. If the fallout in places like听, Spain, and Austria are any indicator, professional sports events could be听, large gatherings and festivals could be canceled, and .

Yes, you should stock up, but maybe not on what you鈥檙e thinking about.

In Hong Kong, coronavirus fears sparked a run on toilet paper, causing supermarket fights and even an . In all seriousness, experts say the are prudent amounts of any prescription medication you might need, as well as a small supply of dry goods like rice, beans, oats, and canned food that won鈥檛 go bad and that you鈥檒l eat regardless. This is less about fears that supplies will run out听and more about (or worse, if you yourself are sick).

Surgical masks probably don鈥檛 help.

While most of East Asia听is outfitted in doctor鈥檚 masks these days, that鈥檚 more a听 than a medical necessity鈥攎ask-wearing 鈥渇osters a sense of a fate shared, mutual obligation, and civic duty,鈥� anthropologist Christos Lynteris wrote recently . The World Health Organization says unless you鈥檙e a doctor鈥攐r you鈥檙e sick yourself. The best defense is washing your hands. If you do have to go into a high-risk situation (say, visiting a hospital during an outbreak), the mask to get is not the paper kind听but an , which can filter out at least 95 percent of tiny particles. Even then you need to be sure the mask fits snugly against clean-shaven skin鈥攕orry, 鈥攁nd that no air seeps in around the edges.

Get ready for 鈥渟ocial distancing.鈥�

Places from to to are already implementing what public health experts call 鈥渟ocial distancing,鈥� which basically means discouraging people from hanging out in groups. This can be anything from canceling school to forbidding social gatherings (the Chinese megacity of Guangzhou has ). Should coronavirus hit the U.S. hard, employers will likely call for work-from-home arrangements. But鈥攆air warning鈥攖hat means actually doing your job. Young bank trainees in Hong Kong were recently听 in the local press for getting caught hiking when they were supposed to be working from home.

You can spread the virus without showing symptoms.

This is part of what makes coronavirus so scary to infectious-disease experts. While SARS could only be transmitted via听the obviously sick (i.e., those who were听hacking and feverish), coronavirus carriers can fly under the radar with few or no symptoms. A 20-year-old woman from Wuhan 听but never had symptoms听herself. And another woman infected a coworker at a meeting despite feeling nothing but a bit of fatigue. , people are the most contagious when they are the sickest. However, the agency reported听that 鈥渟ome spread might be possible before people show symptoms.鈥澨�

The difficulty of asymptomatic transmission means both that there are carriers out there spreading the virus around unknowingly and that people who get sick will have no idea where they contracted COVID-19. It鈥檚 a recipe for rapid transmission.

The worst part of the pandemic鈥攊f it becomes one鈥攚ill probably occur November through next March.

Coronaviruses which is why flu season is in the winter. If the new coronavirus follows the patterns of past pandemics, it will spread during the spring in the Northern Hemisphere, die down over the summer, and then come roaring back as the weather cools in the fall. If the fatality rate is actually above 3 percent, the new coronavirus would , which followed a similar pattern. The pandemic actually emerged in late 1917 at a military hospital in France, spread through the winter and spring of 1918, but didn鈥檛 really take off until the virus mutated into a more virulent strain that emerged in August of that year and was far deadlier in its than in the first.

Some people are highly infectious 鈥渟uper-spreaders.鈥澨�

A businessman attended a sales conference in Singapore, stopped off at a French ski resort to see some friends, then headed back to the UK. Little did he know he was spreading coronavirus the whole way. By the time he realized he was infected, he鈥檇 tagged 11 other Britons. Oh, and he still didn鈥檛 feel sick himself. No one is exactly sure , but it鈥檚 probably a , from the host鈥檚 immune system to their behavior (if they鈥檙e听a hand washer) to where they happen to travel. Whatever it is, they鈥檙e dangerous. During the SARS epidemic in Singapore, just听 managed to be responsible for 144 out of 204 cases.

Don鈥檛 panic. It鈥檚 not time to go to your .

In fact, hoarding could make things even more dangerous. If masks and other protective gear are snapped up by the 鈥�,鈥� there鈥檒l be : medical professionals.

The post 10 Things to Know About the Coronavirus Outbreak appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Kuiu Kutana Soft Shell Jacket ($259)

The 听has panels of durable Japanese nylon that are stretch-woven, without the need for spandex. And Kuiu鈥檚 trim, sleek cut makes its apparel fit athletic builds true to size.

Patagonia Western Snap LS Shirt ($79)

听is equally suited to the rough and the refined. The breathable hemp-polyester blend makes it perfect for layering under a jacket and still fits in at the dinner table.

Maven C.3 Binoculars ($400)

Wyoming-based Maven expanded its line with the relatively affordable , a sharp, well-built set of binoculars. The 10x magnification version lets in plenty of light for first-shooting hours.

Salomon Quest 4D 3 GTX Boots ($230)

听is a workhorse: stable and waterproof-breathable, with a stiff chassis and aggressive tread for hard and high treks in search of game or just a view.

James Brand Hell Gap Knife ($335)

This upscale knifemaker is known for its sleek everyday-carry designs. The 7.8-inch 听is its first fixed-blade model, with extra-hard s35vn steel that holds an edge beautifully.

This item is currently sold out.

Mystery Ranch Mule 23 Pack ($375)

Here鈥檚 a novel concept: mount a daypack to a full-size meat-hauling frame. 听did just that, and the result (if a bit heavy at 4.4 pounds) gives you the flexibility to lash an elk鈥檚 hindquarter between the external carbon fiber and the pack body and cinch it all tight with compression straps.

This product has been discontinued by the manufacturer.听

Yeti Boomer 8 Dog Bowl ($50)

On the road in pheasant country, your dog needs a $50 steel bowl like you need a $50 coffee mug. 听looks great in the dirt or banging around in the back of the truck.

Mathews Vertix听Bow ($1,099)

features 85 percent letoff鈥攎eaning it鈥檚 really easy to hold and aim once it鈥檚 drawn鈥攁nd it鈥檚 capable of shooting arrows at a blistering 343 feet per second.

L.L.Bean Hunter鈥檚 Tote ($45)

We鈥檝e stashed everything from dove decoys to groceries in this . Keep several on hand for times when your organization breaks down and you need a good place to store supplies.

First Lite Sawbuck Brush Pants ($160)

Conventional wisdom says that brush pants are for bird hunting (since birds don鈥檛 care how you look), while discreet pants are for big game, which can hear the rustle of Cordura. The 听upends that by putting chaps-like panels on stretchy nylon, and the results are tough yet quiet.

The post The Hunting Gear We Loved This Fall appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 remember the impact,鈥� says Emily Harrington, at 33 one of the world鈥檚 strongest rock climbers. 鈥淚 remember reaching up to a handhold and in that split second before I was solid, my foot slipped. I remember falling. The next thing I remember was Alex being there.鈥�

Alex is Alex Honnold, the only climber in the world with an Oscar to his name for his efforts climbing the 5.13 Freerider route up El Capitan without a rope. That鈥檚 what made him the perfect belay partner for Harrington鈥檚 one-day free attempt on the 5.13 Golden Gate route up Yosemite鈥檚 most famous landmark. 鈥淕olden Gate is much more difficult than Freerider,鈥� says Honnold. So difficult that only three people have ever free climbed it in a day: Tommy Caldwell, Brad Gobright, and Honnold himself. Conveniently, Golden Gate and Freerider share the same route up the first 2,000 feet before Golden Gate diverges for the last and most difficult 1,200 feet. 鈥淎lex obviously knows it better than anyone,鈥� says Harrington.听

Having Honnold on board as a belay partner was only one part of a strategy that would need to work perfectly in order for Harrington to become the first woman and fourth person to free climb Golden Gate in a day. She鈥檇 been working through the moves of the route for years. In 2015, she freeclimbed it in six days. And on November 7 of this year, she came heartbreakingly close, climbing all but the last 30 feet of the final 5.13 pitch before exhaustion overtook her. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not about the hard pitches,鈥� she explains. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about the accumulation of fatigue. Even the 5.10 pitches are really physical, so it becomes this huge endurance challenge that a lot of climbers don鈥檛 quite grasp.鈥�

On November 24, with a snowstorm fast approaching that would signal the end of the Yosemite big-wall season, Harrington wanted to make one last attempt. Well before dawn and with the mercury reading 27 degrees鈥攃old for the slipper-like climbing shoes and long-sleeve T-shirt she was wearing in anticipation of extreme physical exertion and warmer temps throughout the day鈥擧arrington stepped onto the wall.

To stack the deck in her favor, she and Honnold planned to use a technique called simul-climbing, a time-saving high-risk endeavor in which the leader and follower both advance at the same time. The leader places gear sparingly, 鈥渞unning it out,鈥� as they say, while the follower cleans the gear. By leaving huge gaps between placements and climbing simultaneously, a team can cover four pitches with the amount of gear and time that it typically takes to finish one. The tradeoff is, of course, safety. If the follower slips, he pulls the leader off with him. If the leader falls, she takes an enormous fall that must be caught by a belayer who is focused on climbing.

鈥淵ou have to conserve your gear,鈥� says Harrington. 鈥淚nstead of climbing the Freeblast in 12 pitches, we planned to climb it in four pitches.鈥� The Freeblast, for people who remember the movie Free Solo, is the lower, less-than vertical-section of Freerider/Golden Gate where the climbing isn鈥檛 technically as difficult as the upper sections, but it鈥檚 slabby, slippery, and what Harrington generally characterizes as 鈥渋nsecure.鈥澨�

鈥淚t鈥檚 dark. It鈥檚 cold. It鈥檚 easy for your fingers and feet to be numb and to slip unexpectedly,鈥� says Honnold. When he made his abortive attempt on Freerider early in Free Solo, it was the Freeblast section that turned him around rather than the most difficult sections up high. Harrington is a 5.14 climber. When she slipped, she was making the last move of a 5.10c pitch while navigating a pair of twin cracks. Just a few feet above her was a fixed bolt she could have clipped for ultimate safety.听

About 150 feet below, Honnold was belaying Harrington when he heard her scream. 鈥淚 was sitting on the ground tying my shoes, getting ready to start simul-climbing,鈥� says Honnold. 鈥淭ons of slack just pools on the ground, which is consistent with huge falls.鈥� The phenomenon occurs when the leader is falling but still above her last piece of gear. 鈥淭he rope is falling at the same speed as the climber,鈥� says Honnold. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just physics.鈥澨�

Honnold was belaying with a gri-gri, a mechanical device that鈥檚 a little bit like the cams in a car seat belt. Its mechanism allows the rope to slide smoothly through it at low speeds but locks down tight if you try to pull the rope through it with any kind of jarring motion. But the energy of the fall never actually reached the gri-gri. In most circumstances, a belayer鈥檚 hand is never supposed to leave the rope. But at the highest echelons of simul-climbing, that鈥檚 just not an option. The follower has to climb and remove gear from the wall while also belaying the leader. That鈥檚 why there鈥檚 a simple rule of simul-climbing: don鈥檛 fall.听

鈥淭he leader is choosing a strategy with the intention that they鈥檙e not going to fall on easy terrain,鈥� says Honnold. 鈥淵ou can see in the video鈥︹�澨�

Jon Glassberg of , was filming and photographing the ascent. (Glassberg shared the video with me but asked that we not publish it, fearing that it might听look like Honnold had given an inattentive belay.) 听

In it, Honnold鈥檚 girlfriend Sanni McCandless shouts encouragement upward, 鈥淣ice, Em!鈥澨�

A second later Harrington鈥檚 haunting scream arcs out of the darkness. Honnold looks up from tying his shoes, grabs the rope that鈥檚 pooling around him with his bare hands, and stops the fall with a stunned look on his face. The catch was unorthodox, but so was the fall.听
Harrington鈥檚 headlamp was knocked off by the impact, so Glassberg, McCandless, and Honnold couldn鈥檛 see what had happened to her. Honnold lowered her onto a pedestal-like ledge. McCandless put on her harness and took over the belay from Honnold, who soloed up to find Harrington conscious but injured.听

鈥淪he had an enormous goose egg on the front of her forehead,鈥� says Honnold.

Glassberg radioed to Yosemite Search and Rescue (YOSAR) and to Harrington鈥檚 boyfriend, the Himalayan guide Adrian Ballinger, that she鈥檇 fallen and was hurt. Ballinger had planned to hike to the top of El Capitan, rappel in, and take over belay duty from Honnold for the last 1,200 feet of the climb.

鈥淚 remember talking to him. I remember him holding my back up and keeping my head still,鈥� says Harrington.

鈥淪he kept saying, 鈥業f I was you, I鈥檇 be dead. If I was you, I鈥檇 be dead,鈥欌�� recalls Honnold. 鈥淚 was like, Oh man.鈥� It was a reference to the fact that Honnold鈥檚 friends worried publicly about him climbing this same route with no rope at all.

鈥淲e just waited for Adrian and YOSAR to get there,鈥� recalls Harrington. 鈥淭he YOSAR guys said you were so lucky to be so close to the ground.鈥�

First Ballinger arrived and then YOSAR. She and Honnold were both shivering. They quickly got her into a litter and lowered her back to the ground where she was loaded into an ambulance.听

At the hospital, her injuries proved to be gruesome but largely superficial. Most shockingly, Harrington had somehow managed to get her neck caught in the rope during the fall and was left with a long bruise that made it look like she鈥檇 been strangled. Ultimately she was able to walk out of the hospital a day later. She and Ballinger were planning to Airbnb their Squaw Valley condo starting this week and head out for a ski-mountaineering trip to Ecuador. Now, Harrington at least, is struggling with the prospect of some forced R&R.听

And inevitably, within the climbing community, there will be some level of debate about whether Honnold鈥檚 belay was up to snuff for one of the world鈥檚 best climbers. If Harrington had fallen a minute later, while Honnold was on the wall with her, the fact that his hands weren鈥檛 on the rope would have been a given.

Honnold, who is famously dry when it comes to assessing risk, doesn鈥檛 view it as a cautionary tale: 鈥淚n a lot of ways, this shows that the techniques actually work,鈥� says Honnold. 鈥淪he took one of the worst possible falls on the whole route and still wound up basically fine.鈥�

Ballinger, who shepherds clients to the summit of Everest most years with a perfect safety record, has a similar take. 鈥淔or Emily to climb Golden Gate in 24 hours, she has to cut out part of the safety system on the easy sections. Otherwise she鈥檇 never have time to climb the hard pitches up high.鈥澨�

Ultimately, though, Harrington herself sees the accident as a validation, if a painful one: 鈥淭he system worked. The rope caught me. My gear held,鈥� she says. 鈥淚鈥檒l try again in spring.鈥�

The post Inside Emily Harrington鈥檚 Scary Fall on El Capitan appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

PoleClinometer Sticker Kit ($15)

Backcountry caution dictates knowing a slope鈥檚 pitch before committing to climbing up it and then riding down. And while it may look gimmicky, the PoleClinometer provides this information as simply and quickly as possible: with a sticker you attach to your ski pole indicating various angles. Dangle the pole vertically, compare the slope鈥檚 pitch with the chart on the sticker, and make better-informed decisions off-piste.

Mammut Alugator Pro Lite Shovel ($80)

Those who obsess over shovel performance will love the Alugator Pro鈥檚 long, telescoping shaft and hardened and sharpened aluminum blade, which has cutouts that both reduce weight and allow it to function as an improvised rescue sled.

Mammut Fast Lock 280 Probe ($70)

This probe features a big orange handle that鈥檚 easy to grip and pull for busting out its nine-foot length. The aluminum construction doesn鈥檛 add much heft to your pack.

Black Diamond JetForce Tour 26 Pack ($1,200)

As backcountry gear matures, bugs and kinks are worked out, and the latest generations look better to boot. The Tour 26 is a fine example. It鈥檚 sleek, compact, and reliable, and it makes use of Alpride鈥檚 avalanche-airbag tech, which operates via a fan and supercapacitor. The system recharges by micro USB (or, in a pinch, two AA batteries) and features a mesh helmet holder, accessory pockets, and a standard under-leg strap, so you don鈥檛 slip out of the pack in a slide.

Backcountry Access Tracker S Beacon ($335)

The Tracker S follows a beacon-design trend toward simplicity, which makes it more usable in an actual avalanche, when fancy features are likely to be forgotten or just get in the way. Yet it still has all the functionality of the more blinged-out models, with three antennas, a 164-foot range, and directional arrows that point toward buried partners to hasten searches.

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Mathews Vertix Bow ($1,099)

Our favorite option for delivering arrows in tight groups with relaxed precision, the sub-five-pound Vertix is damp and quiet. The bow has an 85 percent let-off and launches arrows at a blistering 343 feet per second.

Sitka Kelvin Down WS Hoodie ($389)

Mornings spent glassing for big bulls can put a chill in your bones. The Kelvin鈥攚ith goose down and PrimaLoft insulation, and Gore-Tex Windstopper for a durable outer cocoon鈥攕taves it off.

Leatherman Free P2 Multitool ($120)

It鈥檚 not what you鈥檇 use to field-dress an elk, but the Free鈥檚 nearly three-inch blade will do in a pinch. And the Leatherman butterflies open for the most intuitive one-handed tool deployment we鈥檝e seen.

Nemo Recurve Tent ($459)

When shopping for a hunting tent, look for something light enough to carry and big enough to keep all your stuff dry. That鈥檚 the Recurve, which weighs 1.4 pounds and has 21.4 square feet of interior space.

Maven C.3 Binoculars ($400 and up)

The C.3 let us quickly find and sort distant stumps from shooter bucks. It adds an amazingly sharp, reasonably priced option to Maven鈥檚 direct-to-consumer line.

Smartwool PhD Hunt Socks ($27)

Chances are you鈥檒l be marinating in the same footwear for days on end. Here, 66 percent merino and 32 percent nylon come together in a sock with long-lasting loft and moisture wicking.

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Kuiu Venture 2300 Pack ($219)

The Venture is a lean all-day pack for when you aren鈥檛 spending the night out鈥攊ntentionally. At just over 3.5 pounds, it鈥檚 light enough that you鈥檒l never wish you鈥檇 just worn a lumbar pack.

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Filson C.C.F. Utility Pants ($95)

Filson wasn鈥檛 the first to make reinforced-knee canvas pants, but the triple-seam C.C.F. Utility has a lifetime warranty. Think of that next time you鈥檙e crawling on the ground in pursuit of your quarry.

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Under Armour Speed Freek Bozeman 2.0 Boots ($149)

Staking out the inter颅section of svelte running shoe and burly hiking boot, the waterproof Speed Freek delivers grip and sneakerlike comfort at a good price.

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Gear that鈥檚 got your back, should things go sideways

BCA Float 32 Avalanche Airbag 2.0 Pack ($550)

The Float 2.0 sticks with traditional scuba-like compressed-air technology鈥攖hough the cartridge is now 30 percent smaller鈥攖o lift a skier to the surface in a slide. Plenty of pockets and a helmet holder make this a workhorse of an avy pack.

BCA BC Link 2.0 Radio ($180)

The BC Link 2.0 takes a consumer-band FRS radio (no FCC license required), wraps it in sturdy weather sealing, and adds a lapel microphone with all the controls on it for an easy out-of-the-box solution for backcountry skiers who want solid group communication beyond cell range.

Pieps iProbe Two Probe ($155)

When every second counts, you don鈥檛 want to be probing blindly. The ten-foot-long iProbe Two has a built-in receiver that beeps when it detects the signal from a burial victim鈥檚 avalanche beacon, so you can find your target on the first try.

Mammut Barryvox S Beacon ($500)

For people who spend a lot of time in ava颅lanche country, the Barryvox S offers the longest range of detection: 70 yards. The simplified interface uses large pictographic instructions to keep you focused.

Black Diamond Guide BT Beacon ($449)

Tiny but mighty, this beacon combines three-antenna functionality with a 65-yard range in a 7.9-ounce package. A sliding toggle鈥攅asy to operate with mittens鈥攕witches modes, while Bluetooth capability allows you to update firmware each year.

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Garmin InReach Mini Satellite Communicator ($350)

The 3.5-ounce, weather-sealed Mini is svelte and pairs with your phone or other Garmin devices so you can send and receive messages and geo-tagged emergency signals via the Iridium satellite network.

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Revo Traverse Sunglasses ($269)

Old-school glacier glasses had their moment, but what if you want peripheral protection without compromising your field of view? The Traverse pairs complete coverage with Revo鈥檚 full-spectrum polycarbonate lenses for all-around sunny-day performance.

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As the East gets pummeled by winter storm (cough!) Grayson, a so-called bomb cyclone, and the President issues, it鈥檚 worth noting that ski areas in the central and southern Rockies are having the driest year in recent memory.

鈥淭he official numbers show ten to 20 percent of average snowpack,鈥� says Joel Gratz, founding meteorologist at Boulder, Colorado-based OpenSnow, which offers forecasts for skiers. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no way to sugar coat it. There鈥檚 just not a lot of snow on the ground.鈥�

Just how dry has this winter been? According to Gratz, done by the USDA have only been in place since the nineteen-seventies. But current conditions from roughly the I-70 corridor鈥攚hich runs east to west from the main Colorado ski resorts through听the Front Range鈥攁nd south match or exceed the lowest snowpack Snotel levels ever recorded. 鈥淚t could be the low end since the fifties or sixties,鈥� Gratz speculates.

Brian Lazar, the deputy director of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, based in Carbondale, notes that the snowpack in southwestern Colorado is especially grim. 鈥淪tatewide snowpack in Colorado is just over 50 percent of where we should be at this time of year,鈥� says Lazar. 鈥淒ecember was one of the driest snowfall months听on record. But the southern mountains are doing even worse than that. It gets progressively worse as you move south.鈥�

There are some bright spots, though. Arapahoe Basin and Breckenridge, closer to the Continental Divide along I-70, have nearly 90 percent of their usual snowpack. Farther north, from northern Washington across northern Idaho and into western Montana, snowfall is above average. And British Columbia is its usual snowy self.

Even in the southern Rockies, it鈥檚 been dry but not so warm that ski areas can鈥檛 make snow. That鈥檚 where ski resorts like Vail, Aspen, Taos, Telluride, Purgatory, and Ski Santa Fe are seeing bets pay off on investments听in new snowmaking.

The drought has caused many mountains to take extraordinary measures. Some have kept lift tickets at early season discount prices to keep people coming. Snow conditions in Aspen were so dire that the resort听 to feed employees who weren鈥檛 getting enough work to pay their bills. Meanwhile, the Mountain Collective Pass, good for independent resorts from Revelstoke, B.C., down to some of the hardest hit areas in the south, like Taos,听is now back on sale at it鈥檚 preseason price of $519.

Lazar and Gratz are both hopeful that the ridge of high pressure parked over the central Rockies could break down soon. 鈥淭he dry spell that we鈥檙e in right now should break,鈥� says Lazar. 鈥淲e should pick up four-to-eight inches over the weekend.鈥� Gratz sees a stormier pattern setting up by the end of January. But if you want snorkel-worthy powder now, you鈥檒l need to head to the Pacific Northwest, the Alps, or maybe even the mid-Atlantic.

鈥淢y dad was going to come out in early January,鈥� says Gratz, 鈥淏ut the skiing was so good in central Pennsylvania that he decided to stay. You don鈥檛 hear that too often.鈥�

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Tenzing Norgay听wasn鈥檛 buying it. Neither were the five other Sherpas who鈥檇 summited Mount Everest since 1953, when Tenzing and Edmund Hillary first knocked the bastard off. The Euros had been too fast鈥攖oo fast to have climbed the mountain with bottled oxygen,听let alone without it. But such was the claim that Italian Reinhold Messner, then 33, and Austrian Peter Habeler, 35, were making about their Everest summit on May 8, 1978. They said they鈥檇 reached the top of the 29,035-foot peak from Camp IV鈥攚hich听sits at 25,938 feet on the South Col, the saddle between Everest and neighboring Lhotse鈥攊n just under eight hours. They鈥檇 spent 15 minutes on top, then returned individually, Hab颅eler in an hour and Messner in an hour and 45 minutes.

If true, they鈥檇 not only defied the doubters, but they鈥檇 also turned in the equivalent of a four-minute mile. Climbers using oxygen tanks typically required鈥攁nd still require鈥�12 to 14 hours round-trip from Camp IV. 听(At that altitude, in the so-called Death Zone above 26,000 feet, supplemental oxygen clears the mind, warms the body, and fuels the legs.) But Messner and Habeler had done it in less than ten.

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When the pair arrived back at Camp IV, British cameraman Eric Jones, who was there waiting for them, radioed Base Camp to reach Leo Dickinson, the director of , a documentary about the expedition that would be released the next year. 鈥淭here鈥檚 something wrong here,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e back too soon.鈥� In a June 17 Reuters story, Tenzing and others told a reporter that they had serious doubts about the accomplishment.

You can鈥檛 blame them for being skeptical. When I presented several modern climbers with the numbers鈥攚ithholding the names of the legendary men who鈥檇 claimed them鈥攖hey were dubious, too. 鈥淚鈥檇 call those times incredibly unlikely,鈥� e-mailed guide Adrian Ballinger, who summited Everest without oxygen via the North Col in 2017. In fact, if a climber has ever made the trip without oxy颅gen as fast as Messner and Habeler, I could find no record of it.

The men expected people to question their ascent. At the summit, Messner tied one of his depleted camera batteries and Habeler a snippet of rope to an old survey tripod so that nobody could dispute that they鈥檇 been there. But proving a negative鈥攖hat they hadn鈥檛 used oxygen鈥攚as trickier. 鈥淪ome experts,鈥� Habeler wrote in his 1978 book, , claimed that they 鈥渉ad allowed a sniff of it, at least at intervals.鈥� Messner lashed out at Tenzing and other doubters when he got back home to Fun猫s, Italy. 鈥淚t鈥檚 sheer envy on their part,鈥� he told Reuters. 鈥淭hey can鈥檛 understand that someone has done what they haven鈥檛.鈥�

One person who immediately grasped the climb鈥檚 significance was John Roskelley, who鈥檇 been planning to make the third ascent of K2 that summer with an American team. Roskelley, now 68 and living in Spokane, Washington, says that the no-O Everest summit 鈥渨as the reason I was determined to climb K2 without bottled oxygen. Their ascent proved altitude could be overcome physically by athletes who could adapt to the lack of O2 through a program of acclimatization.鈥�

What many people didn鈥檛 know at the time was that, despite their historic accomplishment, Messner and Habeler鈥檚 relationship was on its way to unraveling, and the first ascent of Everest by 鈥渇air means鈥� would be the wedge that severed their partnership. Maurice Isserman, a historian at Hamilton College and author of , points out that this team was always a little tenuous. 鈥淵ou think of Hillary and Tenzing, Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou think of this quintessential act of being听tied to another human being. Messner and Habeler had a rope, but they were roped for only a short amount of time. They really made two solo ascents without oxygen.鈥�

Nonetheless, for a brief moment in the spring of 1978, the pair stood together, alone on the pinnacle of human performance.

By听the late seventies, climbers had started judging their accomplishments less by the peaks they climbed than by the routes and the style they used to climb them. In 1963, Hornbein and Unsoeld completed a first听ascent of Everest鈥檚 West Ridge. Though they used oxygen, their fast and light approach represented a serious upgrade in difficulty and exposure. In the decade that followed, the sport rapidly evolved as modern climbers chipped away at the size and plodding strategy of the massive expeditions that听defined mountaineering during the first half of the century. But oxygen was still considered vital, especially on Everest.

鈥淚n 鈥�75 or 鈥�76, if you would ask anyone who had been involved in Himalayan climbing what would be the next big thing,鈥� Habeler told me in June, 鈥渆very second person would tell you: It鈥檚 Everest not using oxygen.鈥�

Habeler and Messner were the perfect people to try it. Each of the 鈥渢errible twins,鈥� as they were known in Europe, started his 颅career in the Alps. Messner, with his headband, beard, and untamed brown hair, looked like a feral Bj枚rn Borg. Habeler, usu颅ally clean-cut, had high cheekbones, gleaming white teeth, and leading-man looks. Messner was recently divorced; Habeler climbed with a photo of his wife and young son.

Habeler grew up in Mayrhofen, Austria, while Messner lived just 50 miles south in Fun猫s, Italy. Both did their apprentice-ships with weaker partners (sometimes family members鈥擬essner had eight siblings) and made their names as soloists. It听seems inevitable that they would partner up, if only because there was nobody else in their league.

Habeler, who turned 75 in July, is an introvert compared with Messner, who is famous for his brash and outsize personality. 鈥淗is birth sign is Virgo, he likes to shine. I鈥檓 a Cancerian who crawls back into his shell,鈥� Habeler wrote in Lonely Victory. 鈥� We are not friends in the usual sense of the word,鈥� he continued. 鈥淲e are not 鈥榖uddies鈥� who stick together through thick and thin. We rarely speak to each other about our private life.鈥�

Starting in 1965 with the Tofana di Rozes,听in the Dolomites near Cortina, Italy, the men,听then 22 and 20, forged a climbing bond that would last 13 years. They were primarily rock climbers, fitness nuts with steel nerves. But in early 1969, both Messner and Habeler joined an expedition to the Andes and made the first ascent of the east face of Yerupaja, a 21,768-foot Peruvian peak with a hatchet blade for a summit. It was their introduction to high altitude.

Messner immediately wanted more, and in 1970 he signed on with a German expedition to the Rupal face of Pakistan鈥檚 26,660-foot Nanga Parbat. Habeler couldn鈥檛 join him, so Messner鈥檚 younger brother G眉nther went instead. G眉nther鈥檚 death on the mountain that year, as the brothers were descending from the summit, became the defining moment of Messner鈥檚 life and career. Exhausted听and with few options, the two descended the wrong side of the mountain, where G眉nther vanished, likely swept away by an avalanche. (His body was not discovered until 2005.) Even today, Messner calls that climb his most significant, because of its extreme difficulty. But the tragedy, and accusations that he had endangered his brother, dogged him for decades.

Messner survived after limping to a village on the far side, but he鈥檇 lost seven toes on his first 8,000-meter peak. In 1974, Messner and Habeler made it up the north face of Switzerland鈥檚 Eiger in just ten hours, roughly half the time as the previous record. The following year, they became the first to summit an 8,000-meter peak鈥擯akistan鈥檚 26,509-foot Gasherbrum鈥攚ithout using supplemental oxygen, porters, or the traditional siege-style tactic of establishing and stocking a series听of camps.

This new technique was brought from the Alps and thus called alpine style鈥攁 name that has since become the aspirational ethic in the climbing world. To climb mountains is听one thing, but to call yourself an alpinist is听to claim a higher standard. Messner didn鈥檛 invent the phrase, but he codified it in the 1971 Mountain magazine manifesto 鈥�.鈥�

鈥淧ut on your boots and get going,鈥� he urged. 鈥淚f you鈥檝e got a companion, take a rope with you and a couple of pitons for your belays, but nothing else.鈥�

After the 1975 Gasherbrum climb, on a flight home, Messner and Habeler toasted their success with gin and tonics. In his book, Habeler recounted a particular exchange, which to him sounded as if they were speaking in unison. 鈥淭o Mount Everest,鈥� Habeler said. 鈥淲ithout oxygen.鈥�

鈥淲ithout oxygen,鈥� Messner replied.

Over the years, much has been made of the idea that climbing Everest this way was considered physiologically unthinkable. As Messner in 2006, 鈥淚t was like going to the moon without oxygen鈥攈ow is it possible? 鈥� And in Germany, at least 铿乿e doctors on television appeared before, going and telling everyone they can prove it is not possible.鈥�

That鈥檚 probably a stretch: the most vocal sources for the idea that nobody could survive a clean ascent of Everest were the climbers themselves. Few doctors or scientists had given a professional opinion about a feat that wasn鈥檛 on anybody鈥檚 schedule anyway. And the altitude research available in 1978 seems to contradict the notion of impossibility.

Over the winter of 1960鈥�61, Edmund Hillary led a team of scientists to Nepal on a multipronged expedition to study human physiology at altitude. Ten scientists spent more than six weeks measuring their bodily functions inside a tube-like plywood lab at 19,000 feet. The team discovered that the barometric pressure in the Himalayas is higher than you鈥檇 expect, meaning that Everest, at 29,035 feet, has an effective altitude closer to 27,500.

In 1920, four years before George Mallory听and Sandy Irvine famously disappeared on Everest, Scottish chemist and climber听Alexander Kellas had made a prediction about the mountain鈥檚 effect on human physiology. Using rudimentary data for the body鈥檚 res颅piratory exchange, he was able to calculate, as he wrote in a paper that would go听unpublished until 2001, that 鈥渁t 29,000 feet, on moderately easy ground, a man in good training might expect to be able to climb from 300 to 350 feet per hour鈥� without supplemental oxygen. That figure turned out to be reasonable, as did his assertion that 鈥渢he ascent using oxygen should be comparatively easy. Perchance in the distant future, young men 鈥� may test their courage on the world鈥檚 loftiest summit.鈥�

Arguably, the most convincing data point was the fact that British lieutenant colonel E. F. Norton had made it to within 1,000 feet of Everest鈥檚 summit without oxygen in 1924, on the difficult Grand Couloir up the North Face, before turning back because of looming darkness. Messner and Habeler had also climbed high on numerous mountains and knew how their bodies reacted. By 1978, Messner had already summited two other 8,000-meter peaks without oxygen鈥擭anga Parbat and Manaslu鈥攂efore he and Habeler made it up Gasherbrum.

The previous spring, Leo Dickinson and Messner had been in Kathmandu, where they hired a single-engine propeller plane to fly around the top of Mount Everest at 30,000 feet. Dickinson and the pilot used oxygen, but Messner sat in the back with no mask. 鈥淗is lips went cyan,鈥� Dickinson recalls, 鈥渁nd his eyes got narrow. The funny thing was, you couldn鈥檛 stop him from talking.鈥�

In the footage, Messner sits there chatting away. 鈥淔lying about 30,000 feet without ox颅y颅gen, that is not a proof that we can go with our forces above the top of Everest without oxygen,鈥� he says in Dickinson鈥檚 documen颅tary. 鈥淚t was only proof that we can stay there not dying.鈥�

When Habeler and Messner arrived on听the mountain in 1978, it had been summited听59 times, which seemed like a lot in that era. (In 2017 alone, more than 600 people reached the top.) In some ways, Everest was wildly different from the mountain we think of today, a no-man鈥檚 land without cell coverage. But the Big E was already being shaped by brands, egos, and the mass media. Everest鈥檚 stunt era was under way after a Japanese man, Yuichiro Miura, semi-succeeded in skiing the mountain鈥檚 icy Lhotse Face in 1970 by using a small parachute to slow himself before he crashed. (He survived and now holds the rec颅ord for the oldest man to summit Everest, which he set in 2013 at age 80.)

Then as now, Everest was viewed as a crowded peak. But crowded in those days meant that the government of Nepal, which allowed only one expedition in Base Camp听at a time, had the place booked for years in advance. So Messner and Habeler joined a 1978 expedition, led by Innsbruck-based guide and entrepreneur Wolfgang Nairz, that was attempting to put the first Austrians on the summit. An accomplished hang glider, Nairz also hoped to soar off the South Col. He brought two gliders to Base Camp, planning to have Sherpas haul them up, though they quickly realized it wouldn鈥檛 be possible.

The expedition鈥檚 main event was always going to be Messner and Habeler, though. The two had arranged for additional funding from the German magazine Geo and brought in Dickinson and cameraman Eric Jones. The climb was a big deal in the mountaineering community and in Austria, but it was hardly a worldwide media event. Because of Messner and Habeler鈥檚 relative anonymity in Britain, Dickinson struggled to get his UK producers to sign on. In the U.S., they were virtually unknown.

The duo arrived in Nepal in March, and when they reached Base Camp the first order of business was finding a route through the Khumbu Icefall. They had agreed to forgo alpine methods in this extremely dangerous part of the mountain, opting instead to piggyback on the Austrians鈥� traditional approach. Messner and Habeler personally led the way into the icefall, with Sherpas carrying aluminum ladders to create bridges over the chasms.

The weather, which had been snowy and stormy, finally broke on April 20. Messner and Habeler knew they would have the first summit bid if they wanted it. While the rest of the Austrian expedition waited, they left Base Camp for a push they鈥檇 planned to make the next day. They reached Camp III on the 23rd, famished. Habeler consumed a tin of sardines and immediately began to feel sick.

鈥淐old sweat broke out, and spittle collected under my tongue,鈥� Habeler recalls. 鈥淚 retched my guts out, and my throat burned like fire.鈥� He was racked by diarrhea and vomiting for most of the night. 鈥淚t鈥檚 no good, Reinhold,鈥� Habeler told his partner. 鈥淚 just can鈥檛 go on. You should turn back, too. The weather is getting bad; there鈥檚 going to be a storm. It鈥檚 too dangerous.鈥�

By morning, Habeler had recovered enough to retreat, but it took him days to regain his strength. (Habeler still has a hard time eating canned sardines. Dickinson hates them, too: 鈥淚 mean, why the fuck people eat sardines on Everest, I do not know,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 wrong with vegetable soup?鈥�) With his partner ailing, Messner took two Sherpas, Mingma and Ang Dorje, and continued into the storm for a solo attempt to the top. But at the South Col, where the three planned to erect Camp IV, they were caught in a powerful blizzard, with 80-mile-per-hour winds that ripped through the tent as they huddled inside. Messner published the radio communications that followed in his 1979 book on the climb, .

鈥淭his tent nearly takes off when the wind blows,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t must have a speed between 150 and 250 kilometers. And it鈥檚 minus 50 degrees. The tent flaps so noisily that we have difficulty understanding each other.鈥澨齅ingma was struggling, too. 鈥淲hat must I do if one of the Sherpas turns funny?鈥� Messner asked Nairz. 鈥淐an you ask Bulle at Base Camp what I should do if one of them goes berserk?鈥�

鈥淏ulle says on no account give any drugs,鈥� came the reply. 鈥淏etter to shout at him, or if necessary dot him one, so that the shock quiets him down.鈥�

Eventually, on the afternoon of the second day, the weather broke. Mingma sprang from his cocoon to race back down to Camp II. Messner and Ang Dorji followed. At Base Camp, Habeler was still recovering, and he had serious doubts about their chances. His partner, after all, had failed in his solo bid and barely survived the storm.

Messner, meanwhile, had all but given up on Habeler. In an interview for Everest Unmasked, Dickinson asked: Did he still think he had a chance of success?

鈥淵es, but I have to find a new partner,鈥� Messner said, looking into the camera and sounding exasperated. He hinted that Hab颅eler had been waffling even before eating the bad sardines. 鈥淢aybe Peter is coming up again. He is the strongest climber I know,鈥� Messner continued. 鈥淏ut he鈥檚 always changing. He鈥檚 going 100 meters and saying clouds are coming, let鈥檚 go back.鈥�

鈥淚t made the film very good,鈥� Dickinson recalls of the conflict. 鈥淩einhold had the ability of getting the best out of people but also shaming them. I think he could have been a cult leader if he wanted to be. I don鈥檛 know what his religion is. I expect he鈥檚 an atheist.

Well, apart from believing in himself.鈥�

鈥淚 was, simply spoken, scared,鈥� Habeler says now. 鈥淚 was psyched out. So only when Messner kicked me in the ass and said, 鈥楥ome on, Peter, we have done this and done that. Let鈥檚 do it.鈥� Then I became my old strength.鈥�

As Messner听and Habeler regrouped, Nairz, along with two Austrians and his head Sherpa, Ang Phu, used the bulk of the team鈥檚 remaining resources鈥�12 Sherpas and 16 oxygen cylinders鈥攖o make their own听bid on May 3, eventually putting four men on the summit. Messner and Habeler were in Camp II when they got word of the team鈥檚 success. After Nairz and climber Robert Schauer descended, Schauer told Hab颅eler that he鈥檇 tried taking off his mask a few times and that climbing without it was unthinkable. This was enough to reignite Hab颅eler鈥檚 self-doubt. He told the camera team that he was almost ready to use oxygen 鈥渢o just go听up and have a nice time. Just go up and take some pictures.鈥�

The Austrians thought Habeler was being weak and told him so, adding that if he wanted to use their oxygen, he鈥檇 need to get in line behind the other climbers who still wanted to summit. Habeler鈥檚 resentment over this helped him recommit. 鈥淚 was governed only by a blind anger which drove me on,鈥� he later recalled.

Dickinson remembers that Messner came up with the perfect motivation. 鈥淗e told Habeler, 鈥業f I can do it, you can do it鈥� 鈥濃�攁 clich茅, but in this case a useful one. Habeler believed he was the fitter man. 鈥淚鈥檓 in better physical shape than Reinhold,鈥� he鈥檇 written in a letter from Base Camp to his father-in-law. But he lacked Messner鈥檚 all-consuming willpower.

鈥淭he best way of describing Peter Habeler is that he鈥檚 normal,鈥� Dickinson says. 鈥淢essner is the most driven human being I鈥檝e ever seen on the planet.鈥�

鈥淚 was determined to forswear the summit if I couldn鈥檛 reach it unaided by breathing equipment,鈥� Messner wrote in Expedition to the Ultimate, laying out the ambition in sweeping prose. 鈥淥nly then will I know what a man feels like being there, what new dimensions it opens up for him, and whether he can thereby learn anything new in terms of his relationship with the Cosmos.鈥�

Dickinson had given Messner film for his eight-millimeter movie camera. The two climbers were also accompanied by cameraman Eric Jones. They had convinced three Sherpas to help them carry gear and two emergency oxygen cylinders to Camp IV, at the South Col, before dropping their loads and turning back.

The climbers made their way to Camp III on May 6. Habeler remembers that they used sedatives to get some rest there, Hab颅eler taking Valium and Messner Mogadon. On May 7, they climbed to Camp IV, with Jones lagging under the weight of his own movie camera. They dozed in their tent, and Messner used a small audio recorder to capture idle speculation about the coming attempt.

鈥淭he whole thing would be simple if we were using oxygen,鈥� Habeler said.

鈥淏ut we do agree to go on unless things get too bad,鈥� Messner replied.

鈥淲ell, I鈥檒l tell you this much: I鈥檓 turning back before I start going out of my mind!鈥�

What鈥檚 notable elsewhere in the transcript is the giddy anticipation of two climbers about to make mountaineering history. The ego, the posturing, and the second-颅guessing had all been stripped away by the sheer magnitude of what they were planning to attempt. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 done a lot together, but the things we have done have all been 鈥榖ig deals,鈥� 鈥� Messner said.

鈥淲e鈥檝e done some very fine things together,鈥� Habeler replied. 鈥淰ery fine.鈥�

At 3 a.m., they unzipped their bags and began to melt water. Messner shoved the stumps of his feet into boots. At 5:30 they set off, leaving Jones still asleep in the tent. They carried little besides their ice axes, extra layers, a rope, and recording equipment鈥攏o more than eight pounds each. They left the emergency oxygen with Jones. Habeler was doubtful that they would make it. 鈥淚 was lethargic, my feet were like lead, and I had no drive at all,鈥� he later said.

The first hint of daylight revealed overcast skies and sleet. Messner was horrified. It looks as if we are beaten, he remembered thinking. But they carried on, barely speaking in order to conserve energy.

鈥淲e were then as close to each other as two people can be,鈥� Habeler wrote of this stretch. Each man described a kind of spiritual bond in which they could read each other鈥檚 mind as plainly as if they were having a conversation. They reached the Austrians鈥� last camp, at 27,900 feet, at 9:30 A.M. They were still climbing through a whiteout, halting every 10 or 20 steps to double over and gasp for breath.

At this point, Messner stopped and spent half an hour making tea, which seems outrageous in the context of their blazing-fast overall time. As Messner remembers it, he and Habeler used the break to discuss the foul weather and their slim chances. Habeler believes that the conversation happened almost telepathically, with no actual words.

Whatever transpired, they climbed on, with Habeler taking the lead. Around noon, they burst through the clouds at the South Summit, 330 feet shy of the top. Everest 鈥渓ooked like an elevated island surrounded by a sea of clouds,鈥� Habeler told expedition leader Nairz in an interview soon after the climb. 鈥淚t was an incredibly moving moment. Tibet fully covered in dense fog. Makalu鈥檚, Lhotse鈥檚, and Kanchenjunga鈥檚 tips just barely visible.鈥�

At the South Summit, they roped up with a 15-meter cord, knotting it around their stomachs. Messner led the Hillary Step so that he could film Habeler coming up. Hab颅eler says he had an out-of-body experience at this point, believing he was alone with a doppelg盲nger of himself. Finally,听only 100 feet beyond the Step, with Messner roped ahead of him, he crawled on his elbows to the summit and stood. It was 1:15 P.M. Messner and Habeler had averaged nearly 400 feet per hour.

鈥淚 went up towards him and all I remember is I started crying. Like a little child,鈥� Habeler said in Everest Unmasked. But the most quoted summit reflection comes from his partner鈥檚 book. 鈥淚n my state of spiritual abstraction,鈥� Messner wrote, 鈥淚 no longer belong to myself and to my eyesight. I am nothing more than a single narrow gasping lung, floating over the mists and summits.鈥�

That line was written back in听Italy. What Messner actually recorded was only, 鈥淣ow we are on the summit of Everest.鈥� The exhausted climbers lay side by side at the top of the world, straining for breath. After 15 minutes, Habeler started worrying about numbness in his hand and general sluggishness. He told Messner he was going to start down. That was the last time they saw each听other before reuniting at Camp IV.

When Habeler reached the South Summit,听the point where he could start descending rapidly toward the col, he sat and slid, which allowed him to move quickly and with little effort. It was an incredibly dangerous place to glissade. If he鈥檇 picked up speed, he could not have controlled his plunge. As he was nearing the col, a slab of snow broke loose beneath him and began to run. 鈥淚 was covering my mouth and waiting for the snow to stop,鈥� Habeler said in听Everest Unmasked. He didn鈥檛 move for five minutes. From the camp, Eric Jones saw Habeler get swept away and thought he was finished. But a few minutes later, Habeler limped into camp, bleeding from his forehead, and declared that he and Messner had succeeded. It was 2:30 P.M.

Messner followed Habeler鈥檚 glissade track down on foot, marveling at the risks his friend had taken during the descent. When the two reconvened at Camp IV, they used the radio to share their success. The team in Base Camp promptly 颅began to drink in a long series of toasts.

But Messner had made one key mistake in the ascent. He鈥檇 taken off his goggles too many times, to film Habeler. In doing so, he鈥檇 allowed the sun and wind to fry his corneas. As the night progressed, they became inflamed. When his vision faded and the pain became unbearable, Messner was convinced that something had gone wrong in his brain from lack of oxygen. 鈥淪ome parts of it must have malfunctioned, causing me being blind forever,鈥� Messner later told Nairz. 鈥淚n that case, I would have never left the mountain and most certainly killed myself right there.鈥� He credits Habeler with caring for him and his 鈥渢wo gaping sockets as if I were a small child.鈥�

鈥淚 felt more bound to him than ever before,鈥� Habeler wrote. After staying up all night brewing tea, Habeler led Jones and Messner out of camp, across the col, and to the fixed ropes that descend the Lhotse Face. Jones was hobbled by frostbite, and Messner more or less sleepwalked鈥攈e was exhausted and nearly blind鈥攚hile guided by the ropes.

They reached Camp III quickly and then slept until the sun hit their tents around 9 A.M. At the same time, Austrians Oswald Oelz, who the men called Bulle, and Reinhard Karl reached Camp III on their way up, during an oxygen-aided summit bid. When the pair arrived at Camp IV, they found the two emergency oxygen cylinders, still full.

In听base camp, journalists and TV news crews from Germany and England had arrived following the news of the first summit team鈥檚 May 3 success. In Europe, the press trumpeted Messner and Habeler鈥檚 achievement. But in the U.S., the event received only a smattering of coverage. That鈥檚 because the two climbers were still obscure in America, and also because the U.S. media didn鈥檛 understand the extreme difference between climbing with and without oxygen. For most newspaper writers, the mountain had been climbed in 1953 by Edmund Hillary, full stop. But when Everest Unmasked aired on Britain鈥檚 ITV Network in 1979, Dickinson recalls, the documentary was seen by roughly a third of the country鈥檚 households鈥攁bout听16 million people.

By then, talk of whether Messner and Ha颅b颅eler used oxygen had already quieted down. The fact that the pair鈥檚 emergency containers were found full helped bolster their claim. So did the vocal defense of their teammates. Lying about bringing extra oxy颅gen would have required the complicity of all the other expedition members, a tall order given the sport鈥檚 competitive nature. Most important, Messner was just getting started in 1978.

His subsequent oxygen-free climbs would leave little doubt that he was a mountaineer unlike any who鈥檇 gone before him.

Those expeditions did not include Hab颅eler. Almost immediately, the pair fell into a bitter feud, the source of their strife being the publication of Lonely Victory. Messner was supposedly furious that Habeler, long the handsome, good-natured sidekick, had not only written a book but had beaten him to press in 1978. 鈥淭he pie could only be sliced so many ways,鈥� says Dickinson. 鈥淎nd even though Habeler wanted maybe less than half, Messner wanted more.鈥�

Messner told me that he was never angry that Habeler had published, only that he鈥檇 used a ghostwriter, Eberhard Fuchs, who, in his words, 鈥渄id not understand anything about climbing and wrote a lot of bullshit which came often back to me.鈥� Presumably addressing Habeler鈥檚 book during the 1979 release of Expedition to the Ultimate, Messner in颅cluded an unconventional epigraph: 鈥淎n account of an expedition is not a novel. Therefore an authentic account can never be given, let alone written down by someone who was not present.鈥�

In a 1982 国产吃瓜黑料 story about the feud, David Roberts pointed to a key passage in Lonely Victory. Habeler noted that a photo of him reaching the summit of Gasherbrum first, which Messner had snapped from below, was published widely with the caption 鈥淩einhold Messner conquered the Hidden Peak.鈥� Habeler (or Fuchs) wrote of the caption, 鈥淔riends and acquaintances often ask me: 鈥榃hy do you put up with this? All your common ventures simply become a one-man show for Messner!鈥� 鈥�

The result of the discord was the sudden and complete end of one of the great climbing partnerships. For two decades, they barely spoke to each other. Messner went on to climb Everest again without oxygen in 1980, this time solo and unaided via a difficult new route on the mountain鈥檚 north side. Then he steadily ticked off all ten remaining 8,000-meter peaks without oxygen鈥攁nother first. Habeler returned home to Mayrhofen to start the Peter Habeler Ski and Mountaineering School, where he still teaches. Among the young climbers he鈥檚 mentored is fellow Austrian David Lama, one of today鈥檚 most talented alpinists鈥攖he pair summited the Eiger鈥檚 north face last April. And while Habeler never tried to exceed his summits with Messner, he did climb other 8,000-meter peaks, including Cho Oyu, Nanga Parbat, and Kanchen颅junga, without oxygen.

The two have since settled their differences. And while they may no longer climb together, they have at least mended their friendship. When I raised the feud with each of them in June, they both scoffed. 鈥淲e have to make clear that the disturbances between Messner and myself鈥攊t was a little tiny bullshit thing,鈥� says Habeler.

鈥淚n the beginning I was unhappy,鈥� Messner emphasized. 鈥淣ow we have a perfect relationship.鈥�

Currently, Messner views Everest as a tourist mountain and has committed himself, through the construction of mountaineering museums and the production of films, to preserving some shred of the alpine tradition he helped to define. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 happening on Everest today on the two normal routes is tourism,鈥� says Messner. 鈥淎n alpinist is doing exactly the opposite thing. He鈥檚 going where there is no infrastructure.鈥�

Habeler is similarly down on Everest鈥檚 present state. 鈥淩ight now it鈥檚 more important to send out your daily message鈥攖o Facebook or whatever鈥攕o people know where you are, what you eat, how many times you go shit.鈥�

Messner is hopeful that 鈥渢he next generation at least has a chance to know what is traditional alpinism.鈥� Feats like Spanish ultrarunner Kilian Jornet鈥檚 recent speed听ascents of Everest鈥檚 north side鈥攈e climbed the mountain from Base Camp in 26 hours without oxygen, and did it again a week later from advanced base camp in 17鈥攄on鈥檛 excite him much. 鈥淚 would have ten times more respect if he could do a new line on Everest in two months,鈥� says Messner of Jornet. 鈥淎nd Hans Kammerlander was quicker [on the north side] in the nineties and not having oxygen鈥攕o what鈥檚 new?鈥�

And even though he views his tragic 1970 ascent of Nanga Parbat鈥檚 Rupal Face as his greatest climb, the first unaided ascent of the world鈥檚 tallest mountain still holds a special place in his mind. 鈥淚n my memories, Everest plus Peter forever,鈥� Messner said in 1978. 鈥淎nd nothing is going to change that.鈥�

Now when the two men see each other, Habeler told me in June, 鈥淲e have a bottle of wine and we talk about the old days. And I think this is good.鈥�

Grayson Schaffer () is an 国产吃瓜黑料 Editor At Large. He has written several articles about Everest, including “Black Year” (August 2014) and “Take A Number” (October 2012). 听is an听国产吃瓜黑料听contributing artist.

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