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Peak Experience
August, 2003 Second-year MBA student Andy Evans belongs to a very small club. The Canadian geologist is one of fewer than 1,000 people in the world who have stood atop top the planet's two highest peaks, 29,035-foot high Mt. Everest and K2, about 260 feet lower. In July 2000, Evans stood atop K2 fighting his emotions as he realized a 20-year goal. He was elated but he also thought of Canadian Dan Culver, who climbed K2 in 1993 with countryman Jim Haberl. Culver died on the way down. Haberl later died in a climbing accident in Alaska. "One in seven of those who summited K2 died on the way down," Evans told a Business School audience. "Over the years 152 have made it to the top, but 22 died coming down. We have to remember we're here to have fun; this is just a sport. You have to remain focused on the rest of your life," he said he remembers telling himself. "There's a seductive thing happening at these altitudes. You're making life and death decisions with only half your marbles [because of oxygen deprivation]. You have to be able to walk away." Three years earlier he had climbed Everest using oxygen during the climbing season immortalized in Jon Krakauer's book Into Thin Air. For the attempt on K2, the climbers spent weeks on the mountain acclimating themselves to the altitude and used neither portable oxygen canisters nor porters. "This is a very selfish endeavor, one I do for myself and not for anyone else," Evans told his classmates. "I find these expeditions are tremendously cathartic. They reaffirm, let you strip everything away, and let you focus on what matters to you and what you're made of. I've gained a lot from that over the years." |
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