Adam Fabrikant (left) and Billy Haas (right) in Salt Lake City discussing their Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II ski expedition.
I swear, this is not a love letter. This is not a fan letter, although I am, it seems, a fan. My mighty Prius with Blizzaks zipped from Bend to Salt Lake City to support some friends on Tuesday evening. There, ski alpinists, ski mountaineers, alpinists-skiers, under-the-radar badasses, whatever anyone would like to call them, Billy Haas and Adam Fabrikant gave a slideshow titled, loosely, “Gasherbrum Ski Odyssey.”
Haas, Fabrikant, and Brendan O’Neill climbed and skied Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II with no oxygen and no sherpa/porter support above basecamp, this past July. As part of a small alpine-style group, they did not carry film gear. They did, however, come home with over 2000 photos and vivid stories—a perfect recipe for a good old-fashioned slide show. And it was.
Part of this story today has to do with reporting on such a wonderful event. It’s also a plug for others who are low-key and simply doing their thing in the mountains at a high level to help gather the community every once in a while and get us all connected around what we love.
On a personal note, many of you know we are releasing Issue 1.0 of The High Route magazine in February. Both Billy and Adam have feature stories in that issue. I spent many hours on calls with Billy and Adam editing, and I texted back and forth 1000s of words with my co-editor on these stories, Kelly. I felt like I had a pretty good grasp of their Gasherbrum trip.
Cocooned in a standing-room-only venue, listening to two low-profile yet world-class ski mountaineers was exceptional. Am I about to huff and puff up an 8000-meter peak? No. But, I am inspired. And I came away understanding that despite what I thought I knew about someone’s adventure as I did with Billy and Adam’s, I didn’t know much.
Below are the thoughts of two other attendees who have written some fine stuff for THR. If you have the bandwidth and resources, Billy, Adam, and Brendan O’Neill will present a slideshow in Jackson on December 9th.
High energy and a packed house. Photo: Peter Vordenberg
Peter Vordenberg
When I was a kid, my family and I went to a slide show about tofu. This was Boulder in the late 70’s or early 80’s. I don’t know what got us to go. But I do know we never ate tofu. Even being a third-generation Boulderite, it still never made the menu. Not once. What I remember is that the place was packed. The tofu-curious or the simply bored came and filled the auditorium, and we were collectively abuzz.
It was the only tofu talk, but one of quite a few slide presentations we attended as a family over the years: some about dogs, some mountains, cycling, and general adventuring. My grandpa used to give a slide show as part of his work as an educator and mountain climber called High Adventures and Integrated Higher Education. And so, this write-up may be tinged with a bit of nostalgia, but attending High Mountain Skiing, a slide show by Adam Fabrikant and Billy Haas, felt like a magical moment of community. It might also have been the beer. But damnit, beer drinking with people who like to do the same kinds of things beyond just drinking beer is deep fun and a good basis for the community event.
The two fellas were humble and low-key, which was balanced with the photos that captured the true immensity of both landscape and undertaking. One thing about a slide show versus a movie is that it is more interactive and spontaneous. I very much enjoyed their presentation. And what I most enjoyed was being in a room filled to standing room only with a bunch of folks stoked on skiing and mountains and drinking beer, too. More this!
Spencer Dillon
For being two of the most well-traveled and accomplished skiers of their type, whatever that means, Adam and Billy seem forever graced with the boyish enthusiasm of two buddies discovering a new world together. This trip was a step up for them (in their words), as Alaska and the Andes are not quite on the same level as the Karakoram. I was skeptical of this distinction, but they convinced me. What shone through most for me was the humility and zen, “‘beginner’s mind”‘ that they articulated in their presentation.
Most skiers, especially those whose professional careers depend, in a sense, on bravery and adventure, put up some sort of front when they do something new. Adam and Billy, however, were vulnerable about how novel the experience was for them. From the trekking to the fixed lines (which they did NOT use) to the base camp cook to the permitting to the lack of oxygen, there was a lot of newness. And that shone through. They both seemed genuinely amused by the circumstances of their trip and the strange politics of “Greater Range” climbing experiences. It’s rare to find storytellers who don’t conceal their experience behind artifice, which is not to knock their storytelling. They had me locked in. They didn’t tell the story they thought anyone wanted to hear. They told their story, warts and all.
As to the skiing itself? I’m unsure how interested I am in skiing an 8000-meter peak. It sounded like a lot of avoiding climbers and variable snow, as one might expect. But their story and enthusiasm got me way excited for big mountain skiing, and I heard much the same from some of even the more jaded characters in the room. The slide show (an amazing format for as antiquated as it appears) did its job. It felt like a campfire story for a few friends—everyone hungering for another detail.
