Die Trying: One Man's Quest to Conquer the Seven Summits

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Die Trying: One Man's Quest to Conquer the Seven Summits Pub. Date: 2/12/2009 Publisher: AMACOM

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Overview

At the age of 26, Bo Parfet seemed like just another ordinary guy working as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan when he arranged his first major mountain climb—of Mt.Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest and fiercest mountain. He was no professional climber, nor was he in any kind of shape to be tackling any major peak. To the trained mountaineer, Parfet would have seemed foolhardy. But in just four years, with perseverance and unbelievable courage, he managed to successfully complete his quest to scale all Seven Summits, including Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua, Denali, Vinson Massif, Elbrus, Carstenz Pyramid, Kosciusko, and Everest—the highest peaks on the seven continents—defying all odds and cheating death at every turn.

Combining the gripping narrative of Into Thin Air with the adrenaline-fueled drama of Vertical Limit, Die Trying is the incredible story of one man’s battle against his own limitations. From dodging avalanches to crossing a ladder over a seemingly bottomless crevasse, to making his way through the Khumbu Icefall and burying a dead teammate at 27, 000 feet, we experience all of the author’s exhilarating, often terrifying climbs first-hand. We share the terror of his confrontations with corrupt army officials, cannibalistic tribesmen, and local militia groups, and we follow this ultimate everyman blessed with the opportunity to undertake an extraordinary journey of exploration and self-discovery as he survives on a diet of fried bats and rats in New Guinea and nearly dies after falling into a crevasse when the ground beneath him gave way on Mt. Cook. Recounting such life-on-the-line experiences as almost drowning in crocodile-infested rapids during a canoe race in Belize to pushing himself to the brink of starvation and complete physical exhaustion, Die Trying is a compilation of extraordinary experiences—each one a totally unique, self-contained story—that illustrate not only the complexity of Bo’s amazing vision and ability to extract the possible from the seemingly impossible, but also the all-too-human struggles that we all share. Enlightening and gripping, Die Trying is the compelling story of man’s quest to conquer nature—and his own fears.

Bo Parfet was a postgraduate research fellow at the Financial Accounting Standards Board, and an investment banking analyst for J.P. Morgan. He summited Kilimanjaro in 2003 and has been climbing ever since. He established the Seven Summits Awards Program as a specialized research grant for The Explorers Club’s Youth Activities Grant Program funded by both his personal contributions and various capital campaigns. This program awards students grants to perform health-care-related field research. He has also established a partnership between The Explorers Club and The Kellogg School of Management, where seasoned explorers lecture on campus about leadership lessons learned from exploration. He lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Richard Buskin is a New York Times bestselling author whose books include the biographies Sheryl Crow: No Fool to This Game and Princess Diana. He lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780814410844
Publisher: AMACOM
Publication date: 2/12/2009
Pages: 256
Product dimensions: 6.20 (w) x 9.10 (h) x 1.10 (d)

Meet the Author

Bo Parfet (Kalamazoo, MI) was a Postgraduate Research Fellow at the Financial Accounting Standard’s Board, and an Investment Banking Analyst for J.P. Morgan. He summited Kilimanjaro in 2003 and has been climbing ever since.

Richard Buskin (Chicago, IL) is a New York Times bestselling author whose books include the biographies Sheryl Crow: No Fool to This Game and Princess Diana.

Read an Excerpt

I N T R O D U C T I O N

DANGLING IN MIDAIR at the end of a 40-foot rope, looking at a

2,000-foot drop down a craggy mass of mostly vertical rock, I sucked

in some air and tried to catch my breath. I’d witnessed death close to

the 29,029-foot summit ofMount Everest, been stuck in 70-mile-anhour

winds on the side of Aconcagua, struggled with a crippling bout

of food poisoning on Kilimanjaro, and slipped into a crevasse on

Vinson Massif. But after somehow ascending more than 16,000 feet

to reach a steep, awkwardly inverted wall near the top of Papua New

Guinea’s Carstensz Pyramid, the highest mountain in Australasia,

I was faced with an altogether different kind of challenge.

Having already dealt with the elements, Indonesian terrorists,

local militia, lurking cannibals, and near starvation to the point of

physical and emotional exhaustion, I stared at that intimidating

length of granite and, in its rugged gray complexion and skyward

trajectory, saw yet another manifestation of the proverbial barrier

that I’d faced all my life. As a dyslexic kid with a speech impediment,

I had grappled with overwhelming odds to disprove the claims of

my teachers and fellow pupils that I’d never graduate from high

school. As an adult, I had worked hard to succeed in a mostly literate

world and achieve what I’d been assured was impossible.

DIE_ intro_p001-004:Layout 1 9/26/08 4:25 PM Page 1

Now, swinging beneath a ridge on Carstensz Pyramid, technically

my most difficult climb to date, I thought, “You won’t defeat me,

you sonofabitch.”

I’VE HEARD PEOPLE describe near-death circumstances with the

phrase “I saw my life flash before my eyes,” but I question this.

Anyone who has experienced extreme fear, physical or emotional,

would say that each second becomes an eternity, that time slows to a

crawl and there’s an absorption of theminutest details. Instead, it’s our

everyday lives that flash before us. Our heartbeats, distant noises, and

incidents just beyond our field of vision all go unnoticed as the days

pass, one rolling into another. But that isn’t the case on the side of a

mountain, where there’s a hyperfocus on the tiniest subtleties of wind

and temperature and sweat.When you climb, you feel each and every

second of being alive, and that is something I have come to crave.

Thanks to expeditions such as that to Carstensz Pyramid, I’ve

learned that fear isn’t about wondering how you’ll ever reach the top

of the mountain. It’s about the times when you’re gasping for air,

attempting to defy gravity, and being thankful for every beat of your

heart. That’s what I love about climbing—what it teaches me about

myself physically, emotionally, and spiritually, as well as the everpresent

possibility of death. Not that I value life less than anyone

else. On the contrary, I’d say I value it more, and I’ll put it on the

line only for what I consider to be the most worthwhile challenges,

testing myself in far-flung environments before returning to daily

life with a fresh perspective. For me, the entire climbing experience

is about feeling reborn.

The vast majority of people have goals: They want to work out;

they’d like to eat healthier food; they have their eye on a new job;

they want to start their own company; they’re trying to become better

parents. They want to change, and they want to improve. Yet,

while they talk about this, within themselves they usually remain the

same, year after year. So, how do you change? One way is to make

minor adjustments over the course of a lifetime. Another is the transition

that occurs in response to the death or near death of a loved

one. And then there are those individuals such as myself who want

to change dramatically and relatively quickly. Born with limited

ability, we achieve this by saying that we’re sick and tired of living

a regular existence, and we step outside the ordinary by knowingly

putting ourselves in life-threatening situations, facing adversity like

we’ve never done before.

No doubt about it, during a three-month climbing expedition that

forces me to learn something new (and think about what I’ve learned)

every day, I change for the better and move beyond the set of skills

with which I began the challenge. For me, my freedom is worth more

than a salary.

Still, while some people believe that divinity and immortality

await those who reach the summit, I can’t say I’ve ever aspired to

those lofty attributes. The truth is, I just thought that hauling myself

up the side of a mountain might be a good way of attracting girls.

Little did I realize that, in the process of trying to climb that mountain,

I’d sometimes spend months without showering, risk losing fingers

to frostbite, see my body wither at high altitudes, and share a

tent with five other guys.

My grand aspirations as an international man of mystery were

shattered early, as were any notions of my returning from a mountain

as some sort of shaman, imparting answers to humanity’s greatest

questions. Among the Dalai Lama’s “Instructions for Life” is one

that states, “Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.”

I love that line, but unfortunately, I’m a far cry from the man

who wrote it. Instead, I’m just an ordinary guy who was blessed with

the opportunity to undertake an extraordinary journey of exploration

and self-discovery—my quest to climb the Seven Summits, an exhilarating,

sometimes excruciating, ultimately enlightening odyssey

that, without endowing me with spiritual transcendence, has provided

many unforgettable experiences.

“When man knows how to live dangerously, he is not afraid to

die,” William O. Douglas, the Supreme Court’s longest-serving justice,

wrote in his adventure memoir Of Men and Mountains. “When

he is not afraid to die, he is, strangely, free to live. When he is free

to live, he can become bold, courageous, self-reliant.”

This is the story of how I became free to live.

C O N T E N T S

Foreword IX

Author’s Note XI

The Seven Summits XIII

Introduction 1

1 Getting to the Mountain 5

2 Kilimanjaro 24

3 Aconcagua 42

4 Up the Creek: A Quick Adventure 67

5 Denali 76

6 Elbrus, First Attempt 97

7 Vinson Massif 113

8 Everest, First Attempt 135

9 Elbrus, Second Attempt . . . Plus Exploits 166

10 Carstensz Pyramid 176

11 Kosciuszko (and Some Major Side Adventures) 193

12 Everest, Second Attempt—On Top of the World 207

Appendix: The Seven Summits Gear List 219

Acknowledgments 237

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Die Trying: One Man's Quest to Conquer the Seven Summits

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