This is the last episode before the summer, folks! And it’s a good one. For one thing, if you have some lazy indoor time you need to fill over the summer, this can be an excuse to take up a new obsession with mountaineering – the armchair kind – by watching some of the documentaries I recommend at the end of this post.
As I see it, either you’re already fascinated by these brave/ crazy individuals who risk their lives to climb into the “death zone,” on mountains of elevations over 8,000 meters, or who free solo (climb without ropes) up massive faces of granite, or you’re ripe to fall under their spell.
Before reading Margret Grebowicz’s new book, Mountains and Desire, I confess I didn’t have any particular interest in mountaineering myself. But that, it turns out, was simply because I didn’t know anything about it. If I had to explain what I now find seductive about this subculture, I would have to say it’s first and foremost the places.
I knew of course that Everest was, like, super tall, but I hadn’t really seen it in more than an odd photograph. But watch one of the documentaries – I enjoyed the film Beyond the Edge, for example, about the first successful expedition to summit Mount Everest led by John Hunt in 1953 – and it takes your breath away. And that’s in a movie, so I can only imagine what it’s like in person. Similarly, in the movie Free Solo, about Alex Honnold’s climb of El Capitan in Yosemite without ropes (that’s what it means to “free solo”), I fell in love again with this exceptional place that I knew as a teenager growing up in California. (Romantically, my best friend and I decided we wanted our ashes scattered over Bridalveil Fall when we died.)
This episode will introduce you to mountaineering, but it’s not really (or not only) about mountaineering. It’s really about the “desire” part of Margret’s title. An environmental philosopher, Grebowicz is interested in what this extreme sport can tell us about human desire in the age of selfies and corporate workplaces where a tragedy at Everest can be parlayed into a motivational exercise.
“I don’t know if we know why we do anything anymore. I don’t know if we know why we want anything anymore,” Grebowicz says at one point in our conversation. These words have been haunting me ever since we spoke. I wrote a draft in which I tried to explain why, but I think perhaps it’s best if you just listen to the episode and mull it over.
I’ll be back in the fall with more episodes. If you have ideas you’d like to share with me in the meantime, send me an email to the following address: asquith.intheweeds@gmail.com.
As promised, here are some suggestions for your viewing -and armchair mountaineering- pleasure:
Touching the Void – A film about the 1936 disaster in which five climbers died trying to scale the north face of the Eiger, a mountain in the Swiss alps.
The Dawn Wall – A documentary that follows Kevin Jorgeson and Tommy Caldwell in their attempt to climb the Dawn Wall of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.
Free Solo – A must-see. About Alex Honnold’s ropeless climb of El Capitan, though much of the film is a reflection on what is at stake in this endeavor for Honnold as well as the challenges of climbing while being filmed.
Death Zone – “The dramatic self-documented story of 20 elite Nepali climbers who venture into the “Death Zone” of Mount Everest to restore their sacred mountain and the contaminated water source of 1.3 billion people.” The Death Zone is the area above 8,000 meters where oxygen levels are so low that people can’t survive for very long.
The Dark Glow of the Mountains – A documentary by German filmmaker Werner Herzog on a very challenging climb undertaken by Reinhold Messner and his partner Hans Kammerlander. This is a good one for the “why do you do it?” question.
Messner – A 2002 documentary about the famous mountaineer. The guy is something else.
Everest – The 1998 film about the struggles of climbing Mount Everest that was made into a very successful IMAX film. I’m not a big IMAX person but I would go that one.
Sherpa – I won’t tell you what happens in this one (though you can easily find out). An engrossing and troubling film about the cost of being a professional Himalayan guide.
K2 and the Invisible Footmen – A documentary about the Pakistani climbers who serve as guides to others climbing K2.