Another top alpinist has been lost forever in the mountains. Mike Gardner fell to his death last Monday on the still unclimbed 7,468-meter-high Jannu East (also known as Kumbhakarna East) in eastern Nepal. Mike was only 32 years old.
Together with his friend and rope partner Sam Hennessey, the mountain guide from the US state of Colorado had attempted to climb the extremely challenging 2,400-meter-high North Face of Jannu East in alpine style – i.e. without bottled oxygen and without fixed high camps – for the third time after 2019 and 2023. It is still unclear exactly how the fatal fall occurred.
Hennessey had alerted the French climbers Benjamin Vedrines, Leo Billon and Nicolas Jean, who had also attempted the wall in alpine style. The French trio had already decided to turn back because Billon was not feeling well. Together with Hennessey, the Frenchmen abseiled down to the base of the wall. Their search for Gardner – on foot and with the help of a drone – was unsuccessful. They only discovered some of the fallen climber’s equipment.
Raccoon style
Mike Gardner was one of the best climbers in the USA and was constantly on the move in the mountains: whether in his native Grand Teton National Park, in Alaska, in Antarctica or in the Himalayas. Gardner did not describe himself as a professional mountaineer, but as an “athlete and mountain guide”. Because he was not only an excellent climber. He was also an great skier and skateboarder.
Last summer, Mike christened his way of climbing Mapache style (Raccoon style), and defined it as follows: “The style of alpine climbing in which you embody the spirit of existing on the fringe. Push into the dark forgotten corners. Sustain on what you have. Scrappy to the bitter end. Life on the fringe. Eat trash, live fast. Mapache for life.”
“Keep it tight and spread the light”
Inspired and motivated by his father, Mike had already worked as a mountain guide as a teenager. George Gardner fell to his death in 2008 while solo climbing on the 4.199-meter-high Grand Teton.
Mike always returned to the place where his father died. “I used to lament the brevity of his life, but now I realize ‘To live till you die is to live long enough.’ (Lao Tzu),” Mike Gardner wrote on Instagram last July and added: “Keep it tight and spread the light.”
