Michael Gardner died in a climbing accident in Nepal

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Michael Gardner died in a fall on Jannu East (7,468 m) in Nepal’s Kangchenjunga region on October 7th. The 32-year-old attempted a new route up the imposing north face, one of the world’s great unclimbed faces, with his long-time friend and climbing partner Sam Hennessey. This was the duo’s fourth trip to Jannu East and third attempt to climb the North Face, having turned back in 2022 when their shelter was destroyed by an icefall and not having good general conditions for a proper application in 2023.

The details of Gardner’s fatal fall are not yet clear Climb confirmed that Hennessey had been successfully relegated. During his descent he encountered a French team who were also withdrawing from an attempt on the north face, and the group rappelled the final 700 meters together. A search by drone and on foot was unsuccessful, but some of Gardner’s personal equipment was found beneath the rock face.

Hennessey and Gardner had achieved an incredible list of groundbreaking advancements over the course of their seven-year partnership. They truly redefined fast and easy alpinism by climbing Alaska test pieces in fractions of the time (often in ski boots with skis on their backs to descend); but perhaps most importantly, they did so calmly and with overflowing, infectious joy.

Mike is survived by his mother, Colleen, and his sister, Megan. His father, George Gardner, was a famous Exum mountain guide who died in a fall on Grand Teton in 2008, when Mike was 16. Mike was loved by everyone around him, including other mountain guides, clients and athletes who were lucky enough to call him “friend”.

The word “legend” is used too often in our alpine climbing circles. But if Mike Gardner doesn’t deserve it, then no one deserves it. He had a style all his own: a bushy mustache covering a wiry body, usually dressed in blue jeans and a pearl button shirt (often sleeveless), driving a bat car and skateboarding everywhere from Ridgway, Colorado, to Nepal . Stories about Mike are the canon of a barely believable (but nonetheless true) mythology: After just an hour-long introductory seminar, Mike almost broke the US breath-holding record by around eight and a half minutes; and came to the attention of the Arc’teryx athlete team when he offered to help as a safety advisor for one of their ski photo shoots, putting on the athlete’s jacket and doing a backflip for the camera to everyone’s amazement.

Mike was a reluctant climbing “pro” who had neither an Instagram page nor a knack for self-marketing before signing with Arc’teryx. “He wanted a guarantee that he could maintain his authenticity as he continued his climbing career,” said athlete team manager Justin Sweeny. “I assured him he could do it. And we began to build the most unique athlete relationship I have ever been a part of. … Mike’s legacy lives on through all the people he touched and his soul rests gently in the land of giants.”

I met Mike soon after at the Ouray Ice Fest in 2020. He hung out climbing and chatting with genuine ease and openness, deflecting questions about himself and his achievements to his most recent passion, skijoring (a competitive winter sport in which skiers are supported by horses be drawn). dogs or motor vehicles on a racetrack), but the depth of his emerging successes quickly became apparent in his quiet modesty. “I climbed it Infinite spur ski down the summit in ski boots? Repeated Light traveler in 31 hours?? Who is this guy?!” I asked myself and then the internet the next morning. The first Google result: a 2010 powder In a magazine article he was named one of the “best (20) skiers in the world under the age of 18.”

He and Sam Hennessey continued to tackle large alpine routes at a rapid pace, particularly in the Alaska Range. Together with Adam Fabrikant they sprinted up the mountain from Kahiltna base camp Cassin Ridge (5.8 AI 4; 2,400 m) and completed the first ski descent of Denali’s Northwest Buttress in a single 64-hour attack, ran across the tundra and took the bus back to Talkeetna. New routes on Denali’s Isis Face (Anubis (WI 5 M6; 2,500 m), also in ski boots, carrying skis) and the east face of Mt. Hunter (A way out (AI 6 M6+ R; 2,000 m)) with Rob Smith nothing seemed to stop them. In 2022 they climbed Denali, also with Rob Slovak Direct (5.9 x M6+ WI 6 A2; 2,700 m) route in 17 hours and 10 minutes. It was Mike and Sam’s second route up the gigantic south face of Denali, having already completed their second ascent Light traveler (M7 WI 6) in 2018. This spring, the duo with Eric Haferman made the second ski descent of the same wall.

It is a great temptation to reduce a climber to a list of his climbs, and if one thing is certain, it is that in doing so, Mike leaves out a number of days that Mike considered notable simply for the company he had, be it on-site adventures in the Teton area or in the Himalayas. Still, it is an undeniable truth that Mike was one of the greatest alpinists of our time, pushing the limits beyond what most of us could even imagine possible.

On a day of sport climbing on Anvil Island during the Arc’teryx Climbing Academy this summer, between carefree leaps and plunges into the ocean, Mike told us about his planned tattoo after he and Sam completed “The Jeast” (Jannu East): a Fierce Mapache.

Mapache style (raccoon style)

adjective | Ma·pa​·che style

1. The style of alpine climbing where you embody the spirit of existence on the edge

Push into the dark, forgotten corners.
Stick with what you have.
Crash until the bitter end.
Living on the edge. Eat junk, live fast. Mapache for life.

—Michael Gardner (Instagram post July 19, 2024)