Meru Page #4

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- [ Jimmy] All soaking wet. Awesome.

[Wind Blowing ]

[Jimmy ] And so, we're there for a day.

Then we're there for two days.

Then we're there for three days.

And basically, we're stuck on

the portaledge for four days.

[ Renan ] It was...

one of the biggest storms I'd ever seen.

It was four days in the storm...

and we had only seven days of food total.

So, we ended up, you know,

depleting a lot of our food supply.

We had essentially lost half our food.

And 90% of the mountain

was still above us.

It's Samsara- the bivy of suffering.

[ Renan's Voice ]

I thought, Okay, it's over.

We've had a good run at it.

Cold. Where's the sun we had

the last couple days?

We're up here freezing.

[ Renan's Voice ]

This is too much for me.

I'm in over my head.

And I'm glad to have the experience...

but I'm also glad that

we're going down tomorrow.

[Jimmy]

The storm clears finally.

And you know, in my head,

I'm like, Okay, you know...

now it's time to move. Storm's over.

So when we started gearing up

that day and getting ready to climb...

you know, there was some confusion,

I think, for Renan, that we were going-

uh, you know,

that we were going up as opposed to down.

- [ Renan, indistinct]

- Okay.

[ Murmuring ]

[ Renan ] They just started racking up

to continue up the mountain.

I didn't know why or how-

what they were thinking.

And especially Conrad.

I'd never seen him so... motivated...

about a climb.

[Conrad ]

Climbing's a really dangerous sport.

And a good partner will

push you to the summit...

but at the same time, keep you aware of

the risks that are involved with it.

[ Renan ]

Belaying out of the portaledge...

[ Conrad ] That 100% trust in your partner

is pretty special.

I think Renan was shocked...

because he hadn't ever really

had anything at that extent.

And Jimmy and I, we'd been through that.

We're pushing on through it, and it's that

understanding of lt's not that bad.

And that's where a mentor comes in.

Climbing is this weird craft, you know,

passed down from generation to generation.

The way you learn is you have a mentor.

Conrad learned at the feet of Mugs Stump.

Conrad was this young phenom, and Mugs was

one of the great climbers in the world.

[ Conrad ] Mugs was great.

He took me under his wing.

He was the sensei,

and I was the grasshopper.

He pushed me.

He had taken what was unshapen

and given shape to it.

Still, to this day,

a very important part of my life.

[ Krakauer] So Conrad,

he'd found the perfect mentor.

And Mugs would take him into his van

and lift the prayer flag...

and there's his special goal,

which is this peak called Meru.

And Conrad was like, Ooh.

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