Stuart Alexander Lowe
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-->Stuart Alexander Lowe, better known as "Alex Lowe" (1958-1999), was widely considered the world's finest all-around climber prior to his October 5, 1999 death in a massive slab avalanche on Shishapagma in Tibet. The event also claimed the life of high-altitude cameraman David Bridges, 29, and injured climber (and longtime Lowe alpine partner) Conrad Anker. (Just five months earlier, Anker discovered on Mt. Everest the body of famed 1920s Mount Everest climber Sir George Leigh Mallory.)
In September 1999 Lowe, Anker and Bridges traveled to the 26,291-foot Himalyan giant as part of the 1999 American Shishapangma Ski Expedition. Plans called for them to ascend the mountain--the world's 13th highest--and then become the first Americans to ski down an 8,000-meter peak. During the roughly three-week trek to the mountain, the elite team chronicled their deeds through photographic and written updates at MountainZone.com. On Otcober 5, they were crossing a snow field they had already deemed avalanche-prone when a massive wall of snow broke loose 6,000 feet above and thundered toward them. Lowe and Bridges were unable to escape its path. Anker, though injured, assisted in a frantic, ultimately futile, rescue attempt. Lowe's body was never recovered.
Lowe's climbing achievements at altitude, on rock, ice and mixed terrain are legendary, including harrowing ascents of K2's North Ridge, the first "free ascent" of the 4,000-foot west face of Peak 4810 in Kyrgyzstan, a difficult route on Gasherbrum IV, first ascent of the 6,000-foot northwest face of the Great Trango Tower in Pakistan, 11 routes on El Capitan (many A5 routes), Mt. McKinley/Denali, difficult winter climbs in the Tetons, the 2,500-rock pillar Rakekniven in Antarctica, peaks in the Baffin Islands, as well as on-sighting exceptionally difficult 5.12d sport routes. Closer to his Montana home, Lowe scaled challenging ice routes in the Hyalite Canyon of the Gallatin National Forest. The Montana State University graduate is credited with numerous speed ascents in the Tetons. In 1994 he won an International Speed Climbing Competition in Kyrgzstan, covering the distance in 10 hours, 8 minutes. In 1995, the American Alpine Club honored him with the Underhill Award for outstanding mountaineering achievement, the highest honor in U.S. mountaineering.
Lowe frequently climbed with The North Face professional climbing team and author-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, author of bestseller Into Thin Air. After his death, Outside Magazine posthumously declared Lowe "the world’s best climber," adding, “No matter how jaw-dropping his routes, Lowe’s real genius grew out of the way he combined physical accomplishments with an indomitable spirit.”
Referring to Lowe, David Hahn--an Everest summitteer--once remarked with a gesture of his hand, "There's Alex Lowe up here, and then there's the rest of us down here. The guy's just really that much better than everybody else." Despite widespread praise that bordered on adulation, Lowe remained humble and said the notion of a "best climber" was misguided.
Lowe gained iconic status within the climbing community for his courage, humility, style and phenomenal drive at high-altitude. Climbing lore is replete with stories of his exceptional upperbody strength, developed through a fanatical exercise regimen that regularly included 400 chinups.
At a time when other high-profile alpinishts hewed to conservative climbs, Lowe dreamed big, took calculated risks, and dared to push the envelope. In 1995, he assisted the National Park Service in rescuing several imperiled climbers on Mount McKinley/Denali, at one point carrying on his back up a snow bank an incapacitated climber, while a rescue helicopter waited at nearly 20,000 feet. Another episode found Lowe blowing out the toe box on his climbing shoe halfway up Yosemite’s massive El Capitan. An engineer by training, Lowe was known to climb by day, then pull out a textbook at night and do calculus problems by headlamp.
Numerous first ascents and heroic feats earned Lowe a cult-like following--and a host of nicknames, among them: "The Mutant," "The White Knight," and "The Lung with Legs," this last title bestowed by an astonished climber who witnessed Lowe--carrying a heavy load--effortlessly ascend Argentina's 22,841-foot Mount Aconcogua (highest in the Western Hemisphere) in a two-day lighting assault.
Lowe left behind in Bozeman a wife, painter Jennifer Leigh Lowe, and three sons, Max, Sam, and Isaac.
View Alex Lowe's climbing resume at: http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:8eXY6zJ_9GUJ:www.exumguides.com/news/alexresume.shtml+%22alex+lowe%22+mutant&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=4
Notable Climbs
- First Ascents
- * Trango Towers, Pakistan, 1999
- * Rakekniven, Antarctica, 1997
- * Hunter's Moonflower Buttress, Alaska
- * Sail Peak, Baffin Island, 1997
- * Peak 4810, Kirghizstan, 1995
- New Routes
- * Kwangde Nup, Nepal, 1989
- * Kusum Kanguru, Nepal, 1990
- * Northwest Chimney, Grand Teton, Wyoming, 1991
- Other Climbs
- * Mount Everest, South Col Route, Nepal, 1990 and 1993
- * Matterhorn, Switzerland
- * K-2, China, 1986
- * Gasherbrum IV, Pakistan, 1992
- * Aconcagua, Argentina, 1993 and 1994
- * Annapurna, Nepal, 1996
Skiing
Along with being an excellent climber Lowe was also a highly accomplished skier.- First Descents
- * Hellmouth Couloir, Alex Lowe Peak (formerly peak 10,031), Montana, 1997
- * Northwest Couloir, Middle Teton, Wyoming, 1992
- * Enclosure Couloir, Grand Teton, Wyoming, 1994
Quote
"I sort of steer clear of the whole 'World's Best Climber' stuff, it's a sort of hype, really, and climbing just doesn't lend itself to that. There might be a fastest runner, or a highest jumper—you can measure that, quantify that. But climbing is different. It's just too subjective. And it's a lifestyle, it's not a sport. So I don't really think there is such a thing as a 'best climber.' There are certainly talented climbers, and there are persistent, sort of anal climbers, you know? They just can't give up. And those are the ones that sort of go on and do lots of climbs, and harder climbs. Those are the people who just can't shake it off. That's what I am."Alex Lowe Peak
-->Formerly known by its elevation as Peak 10,031, Alex Lowe Peak, south of Bozeman, Montana in the Gallatin National Forest was named after him in September 2005. In spring of 1997 Alex Lowe climbed the northern couloir with friend Hans Saari. Upon reaching the summit the two made a first ski-descent down what they named "Hellmouth Couloir," this first descent is also the only known descent of this couloir.
External links
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