Mortenson

Jimmy said he first heard about Fathi Peak from Galen Rowell. Jimmy waited to see Galen for five days in Galen's office, Mountain Light Photography, in Emeryville, California. Galen wanted to see him, but he was so busy that he couldn't see Jimmy for five days. Finally, on the fifth day, Galen took him in for two hours and showed him the complete slides of the area and Jimmy was hooked. He then joined up with Brady Robinson—they've climbed together for about four years.

"It was the most demoralizing time Jimmy has ever spent in the mountains. And after three days, and serious communicating, they decided to go up again with full gear...."

Fathi Peak—I'm looking at it right now—is extremely steep, about 80° to 90° most of the way. The team made three attempts on the peak. Their first push—they wanted to do a single-day ascent—so, originally they pushed up about halfway. The weather was foul and they abated their climb. The second time, they went up to about 500 feet from the top where they reached an ice pitch at the top of the dihedral and, because they didn't have crampon gear, they had to come back down again.

When they came back down, Jimmy says, he was super bummed and they spent three days really deciding whether they wanted to go up or not. It was the most demoralizing time Jimmy has ever spent in the mountains. And after three days, and serious communicating, they decided to go up again with full gear. It took them three days to get up the peak. The top, or the last 1/3 of the climb, was, Jimmy quotes, 'a very loose face.' Their final push was 16 hours up what they called an ice pitch, and they arrived on top of the sunshine and rapelled back down.

— Greg Mortenson, MountainZone.com Correspondent