Although I am not prone to gossip, its a good way to pass time while recovering and… it’s fun!
As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Himalayan community is a small one. Moreover, I am part of one of the first (30 years), the largest and more reputable commercial expeditions around and by far the largest one at EBC. IMG is based near Seattle, which boasts the largest single community of registered alpinists. So needless to say that they know everyone and their stories (good and bad). I won’t disclose more publicly as I would only be interpreting. As the leader in himalayan expeditions, the connections to the Sherpas are amongst the most prestigious some belong to what I call Sherpa royalty with several ones descendants of the famous Tigers of the Snow. The stories are fascinating and make our Western Himalayan heroes pale in comparison.
I mentioned Uli Steck’s departure for Shishapangma a couple of weeks ago. As you might have heard in the press, he and his climbing partner found the frozen bodies of Alex Lowe, and his cameraman as they hit the glacier. As the lowest and “tamer” 8000ers, Lowe was attempting to ski down its easiest face when they were caught in an avalanche. The third man Conrad Anker (who later married Lowe’s widow) dodged to the side and got injured whereas the other two ran down the fall line to their untimely death. Conrad Anker was part of the 1999 National Geographic expedition led by Eric Simmonson co-founder of IMG, that discovered George Mallory’s body, sighted by the Chinese earlier. It is good to see that nature also gives back what it has taken. A very similar story to Reinhold Messner’s brother and cherished climbing partner was returned off the Nanga Parbat glacier 20-30 years later.