Hell Is Above Us: The Epic Race to the Top of Fumu, the World's Tallest Mountain by Jonathan Bloom Page A
Authors: Jonathan Bloom
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friendships with any American mountaineer, please ask them about my abilities. I am confident they will paint an impressive picture. The United Kingdom would benefit greatly from my participation.”
Cox saw right through the request, but also championed the idea of letting Junk come along. Cox wrote to a friend who was also on the committee about Junk’s request:
“ Mister Junk is under the false impression England has no access to American newspapers. I am sure all of us [on the committee] are aware of his volatile relationship with William Hoyt, and I am sure if we contacted Hoyt, we would find he too has designs for an Everest expedition in the near future. Bloody Americans. They have the civility and tact of lowland gorillas. I actually find Hoyt to be the more offensive of the two because he carries himself as if he were a subject of the Queen. He is nothing of the sort. None of our ranks has been beaten bloody outside of a pub and thrown into jail. Nonetheless, no one wants to send good men to the top of Everest right now, so I am comfortable letting Junk join the expedition scheduled for late summer. May God have mercy on my soul.”
Cox lobbied hard, but almost every member to the man was opposed to Junk’s inclusion on the expedition. The Royal Geographic Society took umbrage with an American – any American – taking part in an endeavor so tied up with national identity. What if Junk reached the top first? What if Junk doomed the whole enterprise? Any press-worthy actions by an American climber on a British expedition would be problematic. His success would belittle them, and his failure would bring the government’s judgment into question.
Junk decided to make his case in person. He travelled to London and made a beeline for Cox’s flat. After talking Cox into dinner and after countless late-night bottles of expensive California wine, Junk literally got down on bended knee. All he wanted, he explained, was to continue the work his dearly departed father could never finish. Cox stopped him from embarrassing himself further. He knew William Hoyt was also planning a trip to Everest and that Junk wanted nothing more than to beat Hoyt to the top. Cox then shared the bad news that Hoyt’s trip was scheduled to start ten days before the British trip. Catching up would be futile. If Junk still wished to join the expedition knowing he could not compete with his nemesis, then Cox could convince the other committee members to let Junk tag along. Put another way, removing the personal competition would de-fang the American and make him more willing to play along with his fellow team members. And this knowledge would reassure the committee.
Surprisingly to Cox, Junk needed no time to deliberate. He accepted.
Aaron Junk had absolutely no intention of “tagging along” (and of course, he had no intention of making maps, a profession in which had had little interest). He intended to use his aggressive salesman skills to essentially hijack the expedition. He would work his way into a leadership position and convince the team to take Everest from the south. This had three important implications. First, the south side of Everest is in forbidden Nepal, so they would have to sneak through the Kingdom undetected and still have the strength to climb what was thought to be the world’s tallest mountain. Second, no one in the mountaineering community had a good idea what the south side of Everest held in store. People who had reached the upper ridges of Everest had looked down at its southern face and so could deduce some basic things. The glimpses from above confirmed that the southern face might offer an easier route to the top. But one could not really be sure until he or she was standing at the base, looking up. The third implication, the one most important to Junk, was that taking Everest from the south would easily shave ten days off of the trek, allowing him to catch up with Hoyt. Hoyt was a
Cox saw right through the request, but also championed the idea of letting Junk come along. Cox wrote to a friend who was also on the committee about Junk’s request:
“ Mister Junk is under the false impression England has no access to American newspapers. I am sure all of us [on the committee] are aware of his volatile relationship with William Hoyt, and I am sure if we contacted Hoyt, we would find he too has designs for an Everest expedition in the near future. Bloody Americans. They have the civility and tact of lowland gorillas. I actually find Hoyt to be the more offensive of the two because he carries himself as if he were a subject of the Queen. He is nothing of the sort. None of our ranks has been beaten bloody outside of a pub and thrown into jail. Nonetheless, no one wants to send good men to the top of Everest right now, so I am comfortable letting Junk join the expedition scheduled for late summer. May God have mercy on my soul.”
Cox lobbied hard, but almost every member to the man was opposed to Junk’s inclusion on the expedition. The Royal Geographic Society took umbrage with an American – any American – taking part in an endeavor so tied up with national identity. What if Junk reached the top first? What if Junk doomed the whole enterprise? Any press-worthy actions by an American climber on a British expedition would be problematic. His success would belittle them, and his failure would bring the government’s judgment into question.
Junk decided to make his case in person. He travelled to London and made a beeline for Cox’s flat. After talking Cox into dinner and after countless late-night bottles of expensive California wine, Junk literally got down on bended knee. All he wanted, he explained, was to continue the work his dearly departed father could never finish. Cox stopped him from embarrassing himself further. He knew William Hoyt was also planning a trip to Everest and that Junk wanted nothing more than to beat Hoyt to the top. Cox then shared the bad news that Hoyt’s trip was scheduled to start ten days before the British trip. Catching up would be futile. If Junk still wished to join the expedition knowing he could not compete with his nemesis, then Cox could convince the other committee members to let Junk tag along. Put another way, removing the personal competition would de-fang the American and make him more willing to play along with his fellow team members. And this knowledge would reassure the committee.
Surprisingly to Cox, Junk needed no time to deliberate. He accepted.
Aaron Junk had absolutely no intention of “tagging along” (and of course, he had no intention of making maps, a profession in which had had little interest). He intended to use his aggressive salesman skills to essentially hijack the expedition. He would work his way into a leadership position and convince the team to take Everest from the south. This had three important implications. First, the south side of Everest is in forbidden Nepal, so they would have to sneak through the Kingdom undetected and still have the strength to climb what was thought to be the world’s tallest mountain. Second, no one in the mountaineering community had a good idea what the south side of Everest held in store. People who had reached the upper ridges of Everest had looked down at its southern face and so could deduce some basic things. The glimpses from above confirmed that the southern face might offer an easier route to the top. But one could not really be sure until he or she was standing at the base, looking up. The third implication, the one most important to Junk, was that taking Everest from the south would easily shave ten days off of the trek, allowing him to catch up with Hoyt. Hoyt was a
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