Jennifer Jordan: "Last Man on the Mountain"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-08-31/jennifer-jordan-last-man-mountain
A journalist tackles one of the Himalayas' most legendary mysteries: What happened to the wealthy, middle-aged American adventurer who tried to climb K2 in the nineteen-thirties.
Guests
Jennifer Jordan
filmaker, screenwriter and author of "Savage Summit: The Life and Death of the First Women of K2"
Comments
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In 1996, many of us were shocked to read about the number of climbers killed on Mt. Everest. John Krakauer and others have written about how that happened. What we learned was that anyone with enough money could buy a place on a guide-led expedition. Many of those killed clearly had no business being on an expedition to climb an 8000 meter peak. Yes, with perfect weather, they could have made it both up and down, but something always goes wrong. And in the various accounts of what went wrong, we see that people differ on exactly what happened.
Jennifer Jordan's excellent account of the 1939 expedition on K2 shows many of the same problems. There was poor leadership, and most of the members of the expedition had no business being there. This time, there were too few and not too many climbers. And this time, money or the lack of it became an issue. And Ms. Jordan documents that the participants had varying versions of what had happened.
Most interesting to me, and what I hope that Diane will spend some time discussing with Ms. Jordan, are the issues of climbing ethics raised by what happened on K2. Who should be allowed on an expedition? When does a climber decide that he cannot save another and must save him/herself? What risk is acceptable when deciding to attempt to rescue someone? At the same time, we have to realize that in 1939, people knew a lot less about organizing a Himalayan expedition, and today we look at the K2 expedition with 20-20 hindsight.
All in all, I found Ms. Jordan's book one of the most interesting descriptions among those I have read about tragedies on Himalayan peaks. It is a great read.
How could the human remains found with Dudley Wolfe belong to Sherpas?
The first person to climb all mountains higher than 8,000 meters without oxygen supplement was the Italian Reinhold Messner.
Hi Diane - Love your show. My question is for the author. Jennifer -- Is your background primarily in mountain climbing. What motivation lead to writing this book?
Thank you - Silvia Martin
please explain the Gilkey memorial.
To answer to question, "Why."
It is not learning, grace nor gear,
Nor easy meat and drink,
But bitter pinch of pain and fear
That makes creation think.
Kipling
When we climbed Kilimanjaro in 1993, we tested our oxygen levels with a portable pulse oximeter. Our head guide smoked like a chimney; at 600 feet, his oxygen level was 89% and ours was 99%. But by the time we got to the summit, we were panting after every step and our oxygen level was 86% and our guide, who acted like we was strolling along a beach, was at 88%.
And it was harder going down -- our knees and hips were sore for days.
I was listening to this show in traffic on my way back to the office this morning from a meeting and was completely captivated by the story Mrs. Jordan's account and attention to detail. I don't know anything about climbing and don't pretend to know the subject in her book but; she peaked my interest. So much so that I will be buying this book so that I can learn the rest of the story and know who this man was.
Thank you for taking the time to correct a wrong.
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