AG Outdoor | 65“Climbing is not just about dying, ultimately it is about
living, a vehicle for your own personal voyage of discovery.”
that there was a lot of really dynamic, innovative
ambitious climbing going on; we were a group
of people who were caught up in that.’ And he is
right: the early 1980s is one of the few periods
when Australians have been at the cutting-edge
of alpine climbing. Not only was the ITP out
there doing hard, bold ascents of alpine peaks,
but there was also the group the ITP (in their
usual piss-taking way) had dubbed the A-Team:
Tim Macartney-Snape, Greg Mortimer (both
of whom would become the first Australians to
summit Mt Everest in 1984 without oxygen via a
bold new route on the North Face), Lincoln Hall,
Andy Henderson and Geoff Bartram.
Mark himself clearly knew what the risks of
mountaineering were. In the essay ‘Life & Death:
a Climber’s Guide’, he wrote:
‘It takes a lot of luck to remain alive, but also
precision and supreme “mountain sense”. One
must have the ability to turn back and live to climb
another day. It must be the most valuable skill
a climber can have. To “live fast and die young”
may be fashionable, but it also displays a gross
ignorance and callousness for life. Noone can
succeed all the time, after all, mountains only let
you triumph at their leisure. “Why indulge in a
glorious death, especially one’s own?” Climbing
is not just about dying, ultimately it is about
living, a vehicle for your own personal voyage
of discovery.’
In 1984 tragedy would be piled upon tragedy
for the ITP when a team comprising Jon Muir,Roddy Mackenzie, Craig Nottle, Fred From, Peter
Hillary and fellow Kiwi Kim Logan attempted
the West Ridge of Mt Everest (the A-Team were
on the other side of the mountain attempting
the North Face at the same time). High on the
route Craig Nottle fell to his death descending in
extreme cold and high wind. Shortly afterwards,
Fred From, also fell to his death in almost exactly
the same spot. The remaining group immediately
retreated from the mountain.
Visiting Mark’s sibling and looking at the many
family photos of Mark as a child and young adult,
the thing that struck me is that he never ages.
The surviving climbers of his generation: Muir
and Hillary, Mackenzie and Macartney-Snape
and all the rest, have faces marked by the passing
of time, the mountains, the sun and wind, love
and sorrow, the processes of aging. Mark, on the
other hand, will always be young and blonde,
lithe on the rock, with unblemished skin, smiling
and laughing and full of a promise – forever the
gilded youth, forever the climber that will leave
us wondering, what if?Left to right Craig Nottle’s photo of the epic
retreat during the fi rst attempt at the South-
West Ridge of Changabang; Mark’s best friend,
Jon Muir, monkeying around with his now
ex-wife Brigitte. Pic: Glenn TempestMARK MOORHEAD | PROFILE