Читать книгу Edge of the Map. The Mountain Life of Christine Boskoff онлайн

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“I kept going to Atlanta by myself to see them,” Joyce recalled. “They were full of adventure and I liked adventure myself.” Adventure for the newlyweds included a honeymoon in Asia. It was October 1994 and 22,500-foot Ama Dablam in postmonsoon Nepal called to the pair, who sought to become the first American couple to summit that peak. Completing their goal on October 25, Keith and Chris were jubilant, deciding to remarry at the base of the mountain in the village of Pangbouche. Music blared from speakers set up by villagers. Once word had spread that an American couple planned to marry, the village came alive. A Buddhist monk provided blessings. Chris and Keith became instant celebrities, draped in traditional Nepalese clothing. They danced to local music that spilled into Michael Jackson. Chris’s hair was caked with celebratory yak butter as Ama Dablam rose in the distance.

Ama Dablam—technical to ascend and stunning to behold—was the highlight of their mountaineering career so far, both as individuals and now as a couple. Mountaineers who summited the highest peaks in the Himalayas often visited historian Elizabeth Hawley in Kathmandu after their expeditions. With sharp attention to detail, Hawley questioned them closely to confirm their ascents. She spent decades verifying the achievements of climbers and recording them in an extensive database, which is still used today (Hawley continued her work until her death in 2018 at age ninety-four). With their summit of Ama Dablam, Chris and Keith received their first mention at her hand: