Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way by Jon Krakauer
Authors: Jon Krakauer
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my doctor as my oxygen saturation is very low. ”
I replied,
If we do the interview, it has to be recorded. This point is non-negotiable. I will, however, promise that I will not share the audio with anyone else, I will not post the audio on the Web, and I will not give the audio to 60 Minutes 10 or any other news organization … . I would think you would want me to record the interview, to ensure the accuracy of what I write. I will provide a copy of the digital recording to you.
“ We are currently at cardiologist in Bozeman, ” Mortenson ’ s assistant answered. “ Greg is having a heart procedure done Monday morning [April 18] and will not be available for any type of interview. ” I immediately phoned McMillan to express my concern for Mortenson ’ s health, and to suggest that we conduct the interview by phone instead of in person, at a time convenient for Greg. McMillan said that would not be possible. This was the last communication I received from either McMillan or Mortenson.
* * *
IN MARCH when I attended Mortenson ’ s lecture in Cheyenne, the experience unsettled me. After taking my seat, while waiting for the program to begin, I read the six-page brochure that had been handed out to everyone in the audience, and I noticed it included the usual lies: the Korphe myth, Mortenson ’ s “ eight-day armed kidnapping by the Taliban, ” the claim that for sixteen years he has built schools in “ places often considered the front lines of the ‘ War on Terror. ’” The next morning, I called Tom Hornbein to talk about the feelings that seeing Greg in person for the first time in years had stirred. It was Hornbein who initially introduced me to Greg, fourteen years ago, and my description of the Cheyenne event roiled Tom ’ s emotions as well. Reflecting on his own bewildering relationship with Mortenson, he jotted down his thoughts and sent them to me a few hours after our conversation.
“ My transcendent emotional feeling is grief for the loss of what might have been, ” Hornbein wrote. “ Like you, I feel as if I was stupidly conned, wanting to believe in the cause and its value and Greg ’ s motivations. Part of me still wants to believe that there was/is something sincere in what he was setting about to do to change the world a bit for the better. Another part of me is just downright angry at his irresponsibility to the cause with which he was entrusted, the lives of so many whom he sucked in and, in effect, spit out, and not least Tara and their kids and other loving bystanders to the play … . I wish I understood the pathology that has compelled the unending need to embellish the truth so flagrantly. With one hand Greg has created something potentially beautiful and caring (regardless of his motives). With the other he has murdered his creation by his duplicity. ”
Endnotes
1 According to Three Cups of Tea (pages 10 and 44), Mortenson was an accomplished mountaineer who, before attempting K2, had made “ half a dozen successful Himalayan ascents, ” including climbs of 24,688-foot Annapurna IV and 23,389-foot Baruntse, both of which are in Nepal. But there is no record in the American Alpine Journal (which meticulously documents all ascents of Annapurna IV, Baruntse, and other major Himalayan peaks) of Mortenson reaching the summit of, or even attempting, any Himalayan mountain prior to 1993. Scott Darsney, Greg ’ s climbing partner on K2, confirms that Mortenson had never been to the Himalaya or Karakoram before going to K2.
2 In addition to the article by Mortenson in the American Himalayan Foundation newsletter, irrefutable evidence that he originally intended the school to be built in Khane exists in the form of a memo he submitted to Jean Hoerni and the AHF board of directors on March 19, 1995. Entitled “ RELOCATION OF PROJECT SITE , ” the memo explained that Mortenson no longer thought Khane was the right place for the school.
I replied,
If we do the interview, it has to be recorded. This point is non-negotiable. I will, however, promise that I will not share the audio with anyone else, I will not post the audio on the Web, and I will not give the audio to 60 Minutes 10 or any other news organization … . I would think you would want me to record the interview, to ensure the accuracy of what I write. I will provide a copy of the digital recording to you.
“ We are currently at cardiologist in Bozeman, ” Mortenson ’ s assistant answered. “ Greg is having a heart procedure done Monday morning [April 18] and will not be available for any type of interview. ” I immediately phoned McMillan to express my concern for Mortenson ’ s health, and to suggest that we conduct the interview by phone instead of in person, at a time convenient for Greg. McMillan said that would not be possible. This was the last communication I received from either McMillan or Mortenson.
* * *
IN MARCH when I attended Mortenson ’ s lecture in Cheyenne, the experience unsettled me. After taking my seat, while waiting for the program to begin, I read the six-page brochure that had been handed out to everyone in the audience, and I noticed it included the usual lies: the Korphe myth, Mortenson ’ s “ eight-day armed kidnapping by the Taliban, ” the claim that for sixteen years he has built schools in “ places often considered the front lines of the ‘ War on Terror. ’” The next morning, I called Tom Hornbein to talk about the feelings that seeing Greg in person for the first time in years had stirred. It was Hornbein who initially introduced me to Greg, fourteen years ago, and my description of the Cheyenne event roiled Tom ’ s emotions as well. Reflecting on his own bewildering relationship with Mortenson, he jotted down his thoughts and sent them to me a few hours after our conversation.
“ My transcendent emotional feeling is grief for the loss of what might have been, ” Hornbein wrote. “ Like you, I feel as if I was stupidly conned, wanting to believe in the cause and its value and Greg ’ s motivations. Part of me still wants to believe that there was/is something sincere in what he was setting about to do to change the world a bit for the better. Another part of me is just downright angry at his irresponsibility to the cause with which he was entrusted, the lives of so many whom he sucked in and, in effect, spit out, and not least Tara and their kids and other loving bystanders to the play … . I wish I understood the pathology that has compelled the unending need to embellish the truth so flagrantly. With one hand Greg has created something potentially beautiful and caring (regardless of his motives). With the other he has murdered his creation by his duplicity. ”
Endnotes
1 According to Three Cups of Tea (pages 10 and 44), Mortenson was an accomplished mountaineer who, before attempting K2, had made “ half a dozen successful Himalayan ascents, ” including climbs of 24,688-foot Annapurna IV and 23,389-foot Baruntse, both of which are in Nepal. But there is no record in the American Alpine Journal (which meticulously documents all ascents of Annapurna IV, Baruntse, and other major Himalayan peaks) of Mortenson reaching the summit of, or even attempting, any Himalayan mountain prior to 1993. Scott Darsney, Greg ’ s climbing partner on K2, confirms that Mortenson had never been to the Himalaya or Karakoram before going to K2.
2 In addition to the article by Mortenson in the American Himalayan Foundation newsletter, irrefutable evidence that he originally intended the school to be built in Khane exists in the form of a memo he submitted to Jean Hoerni and the AHF board of directors on March 19, 1995. Entitled “ RELOCATION OF PROJECT SITE , ” the memo explained that Mortenson no longer thought Khane was the right place for the school.
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