Meru

361 00:32:15,810 --> 00:32:19,772 his first words were, "Come stay with me." 362 00:32:19,856 --> 00:32:23,734 So, we just moved into his bachelor pad. 363 00:32:23,818 --> 00:32:26,737 Two kids, all their markers and Legos. 364 00:32:26,821 --> 00:32:27,821 Yeah. 365 00:32:27,864 --> 00:32:29,532 And he just took us right in. 366 00:32:33,202 --> 00:32:36,956 You know, he's another one of these extremely accomplished climbers. 367 00:32:37,039 --> 00:32:38,499 You don't appreciate how good a climber he is... 368 00:32:38,583 --> 00:32:40,751 because you get distracted by the art... 369 00:32:40,835 --> 00:32:43,463 which is probably the way he likes it. 370 00:32:43,546 --> 00:32:47,175 And taking pictures makes the climbing Way harder. 371 00:32:47,258 --> 00:32:50,887 He was filming this Everest expedition, and his morn got really sick. 372 00:32:50,970 --> 00:32:55,308 And he found out about it and had to leave so he could see her before she died. 373 00:32:59,020 --> 00:33:03,065 My mom had made me promise fairly early on, she was like... 374 00:33:03,149 --> 00:33:06,986 "If you're gonna make this your life, you need to promise me one thing. 375 00:33:07,069 --> 00:33:11,240 You have to promise me that you will not die before me." 376 00:33:11,324 --> 00:33:14,327 And when I was on climbs and on expeditions... 377 00:33:14,410 --> 00:33:18,164 I would get to a certain point, and I would say, "Okay. 378 00:33:18,247 --> 00:33:22,335 How close am I willing to go to potentially break that promise?" 379 00:33:22,418 --> 00:33:25,755 So, after my mom died... 380 00:33:25,838 --> 00:33:28,841 when the climbing started to get into that place... 381 00:33:28,925 --> 00:33:34,180 I remember a moment being like, "Well, I can go for it right now." 382 00:33:43,314 --> 00:33:46,234 Conrad's up there. Can't find good gear. 383 00:33:47,276 --> 00:33:51,364 Our hands and feet are all frost-numb. 384 00:33:51,447 --> 00:33:52,990 Nice, Rad. 385 00:33:53,658 --> 00:33:55,493 Good move. 386 00:33:56,953 --> 00:34:00,248 We're probably at about 20,500 feet. 387 00:34:00,331 --> 00:34:02,291 Just short of the ridge. 388 00:34:03,167 --> 00:34:05,294 It's fucking Arctic. 389 00:34:07,088 --> 00:34:09,257 Today's our summit bid. 390 00:34:17,557 --> 00:34:19,100 Bring it in. 391 00:34:20,434 --> 00:34:23,229 - Whoo! - Yeah, Rad! 392 00:34:26,774 --> 00:34:28,568 Nice! 393 00:34:28,651 --> 00:34:31,862 The game in climbing is cut that line as fine as you can. 394 00:34:31,946 --> 00:34:34,323 But you don't want to take stupid risk. 395 00:34:34,407 --> 00:34:37,618 If you die taking a stupid risk, not only are you dead... 396 00:34:37,702 --> 00:34:40,413 but you've embarrassed yourself and you've disgraced yourself. 397 00:34:40,496 --> 00:34:42,623 You're not supposed to take risk lightly. 398 00:34:42,707 --> 00:34:45,835 You're supposed to show that you're so good and so controlled... 399 00:34:45,918 --> 00:34:48,504 you can take it right to that line and go no further. 400 00:34:51,674 --> 00:34:55,261 It's been a super long morning. Started at 2:00. 401 00:34:55,344 --> 00:34:58,014 Probably another 500 feet to the summit. 402 00:34:59,974 --> 00:35:02,268 We're gunning for the summit ridgeline... 403 00:35:02,351 --> 00:35:07,315 and Conrad's burrowing through this overhanging cornice. 404 00:35:07,398 --> 00:35:10,776 Renan is in the line of fire. 405 00:35:10,860 --> 00:35:13,946 Snow and ice falling 150 feet... 406 00:35:14,030 --> 00:35:16,449 just slamming Renan. 407 00:35:16,532 --> 00:35:19,785 All the shrapnel and the ice that he was kicking down... 408 00:35:19,869 --> 00:35:21,996 was going directly onto me- 409 00:35:22,079 --> 00:35:23,623 like, constant deluge. 410 00:35:23,706 --> 00:35:28,127 And I could really feel that I was losing my fingers and toes. 411 00:35:28,210 --> 00:35:33,341 I started just screaming... and yelling and crying. 412 00:35:33,424 --> 00:35:36,052 That was my absolute last breaking point. 413 00:35:36,135 --> 00:35:39,972 I even said something when I got up there, like, "My feet aren't doing so well." 414 00:35:40,056 --> 00:35:43,184 They didn't even acknowledge what I said. 415 00:35:43,267 --> 00:35:47,229 They were talking about spending the night there. 416 00:35:49,482 --> 00:35:51,602 Conrad and I are having a conversation like... 417 00:35:51,651 --> 00:35:55,154 "Is there a spot to bivy? Is there a spot for us to spend the night?" 418 00:35:55,237 --> 00:36:00,868 Trying to sleep perched on this tiny little corner... 419 00:36:00,951 --> 00:36:03,788 at 20,000 feet without sleeping bags... 420 00:36:03,871 --> 00:36:07,083 and risk fingers and toes. 421 00:36:10,461 --> 00:36:12,922 What if we push on? Should we push on? 422 00:36:13,005 --> 00:36:16,008