I have the opportunity at last by living in Washington State to now meet Danny O'Keefe this weekend. I have waited years for this; one of his songs about a man who never found success in life was playing the day my father died--and I was at that moment having an email chat with Danny.
This song is also about death, and perhaps one of the most profound ones I ever heard, considering how fragile Danny's voice can be, backed by just an acoustic guitar. It is about the men and women who died trying to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, known as Jomolungma to the people of Tibet.
George Leigh Mallory is mentioned here; he vanished in 1924 in a climb with another man. Mallory was making his final attempt to reach the top, and it was never known if he did. His body was found in 1999, and it appeared that the fall he took did not kill him outright. His body was so pale and preserved that it looked like alabaster marble. New Zealander Rob Hall also lost his life from severe exposure and dehydration on Everest in 1996, and managed to call his pregnant wife via satellite to reassure her.
And then there was Marty Hoey.
And then there was Marty Hoey.
Marty Hoey was a climber on the 1982 expedition to Mount Everest.
She often said she would not live to be 30. It was her choice to pick one man each year when she climbed: he was hers, and she shared his life and tent. The other climbers who knew her wanted marriage, but she declined. She was killed during the climb, when she plunged over the edge of the Great Couloir. The cause of her death was an unsecured harness. She had leaned back, trying to get a better balance. Following this, a new, more secure, knot was developed for climbing ropes and named the Marty Hoey knot in her honor.
Marty was the first woman mountain climbing guide to be hired at Mt. Rainier Mountaineering. Lou Whittaker at first was convinced that a woman could never have the strength and endurance required for the job. Marty had to take a job as cook for the climbers at 10,000-foot Camp Muir for a couple of years before being given the opportunity to prove herself.
I can only imagine the horror and shock that those men felt when they heard her scream and watched her body fall.
She often said she would not live to be 30. It was her choice to pick one man each year when she climbed: he was hers, and she shared his life and tent. The other climbers who knew her wanted marriage, but she declined. She was killed during the climb, when she plunged over the edge of the Great Couloir. The cause of her death was an unsecured harness. She had leaned back, trying to get a better balance. Following this, a new, more secure, knot was developed for climbing ropes and named the Marty Hoey knot in her honor.
Marty was the first woman mountain climbing guide to be hired at Mt. Rainier Mountaineering. Lou Whittaker at first was convinced that a woman could never have the strength and endurance required for the job. Marty had to take a job as cook for the climbers at 10,000-foot Camp Muir for a couple of years before being given the opportunity to prove herself.
I can only imagine the horror and shock that those men felt when they heard her scream and watched her body fall.
I interviewed Danny in my book Rock 'n' Blues Stew II.
