Double Date Dinner - A Trip Report (mountaineering related)

[Franz Klammer]

She: "Let's go out for dinner on Friday with my friend Elisabeth and her new boyfriend."

Me: "Sure, but isn't she going out with that older guy, you told me about? Is he good company?"

She: "At worst you'll get to talk to me all night long."

Me: "That's exactly what I'm afraid of! --I could also hang out with the guys at Middlesex Lounge."

She: "Oh, come on, I heard the guy is into mountaineering. I am sure he's interesting."

Me: "Sure, we can talk about all the *extreme* mountaineering and climbing here on the EC ..."

---

Drive to restaurant, meet Elisabeth. Boyfriend is not yet there and I can already see myself coughing up an exorbitant restaurant bill for mediocre food and badly chosen wine.

Then the boyfriend arrives. Older guy. Looks a bit frail.

He: "Hi, I'm David."

Me: "Hi, I'm Franz Klammer."

He: "So, I heard you're into mountaineering and skiing?"

Me: "Yeah, I quite like both of them. I heard the same about you."

He: "That's right."

Me: "So, what do you do?"

He: "I film and climb."

Me: "You're in the movie industry?"

He: "Not really, I'm more of a mountaineer."

Me: "You do that for a living?"

He: "Yeah, I live from the films and books."

Me: "Your own films?"

He: "Yeah."

Me: "So, what's your name again?"

He: "David."

Me: "I know, but what's your last name?"

He: "Breashears."

Me: "You're kidding, right?"

He: "No."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Breashears


I didn't talk much to my girlfriend that night ...

[IHeartWhistler]

sweet...

[HyRUPz]

Yeah, I'd say he knows a bit about mountaineering and shit ... nice date, man love?

[Kevo]

Haha, he definitely wouldn't know too much about mountaineering. All east coast stuff for that guy.

[ak_powder_monkey]

can I touch you?

[Telenater]

I didn't talk much to my girlfriend that night ...

Had I been in your situation, my gf would have been on her own too.

It's not every day you get to have dinner with one of the big names.

[Raps]

Wow yeah read about him in a few Everest books, pretty core guy........musta been interesting to talk to........

You think he's gonna call you for a second date?

[LightRanger]

That's pretty damn cool.

[shirk]

Nice score. These types of things usually turn out lame.

[bc]

Sounds like a fun evening. Everything I've heard/read about the guy is that in addition to his obvious megacoreness he's atypically modest for a climber of his caliber.

Compare his IMAX reaction to the 1996 disaster to the current "Beyond the Limit" team. Breashears basically scrapped the whole expedition for a multi-day rescue--without the cameras. I think it was like a week later, at base camp, that they decided to push for the summit again.

[G]

"High exposure" was one of the most memorable books I've ever read. I highly recommend it.
The dude is definitely impressive.

[cramp]

Wow, nice story. I guess he was also surprised to meet the definitive ski champion of the 70ies in a restaurant at the East Coast .

I hope the two poor ladies were not too bored with your conversation ...

[Benny Profane]

Any talk about Everest, Beyond the Limit? Why does he live in Boston?

[edg]

His conduct in Into Thin Air is a brilliant counterexample to the 'x number of people pass dying man on Everest.' That must have been an interesting evening.

edg

[stayalert]

His conduct in Into Thin Air is a brilliant counterexample to the 'x number of people pass dying man on Everest.' That must have been an interesting evening.

edg

true but sad

[RootSkier]

How much was the bill?

[Yeti]

Where did you eat?

[Lone Star]

What did you eat?

[Viva]

What a neat and unexpected encounter!

On a similar note...

A few years ago, I got a call from some Chinese dude wanting to collaborate on a research project. The guy turned out to be a postdoc in the lab of Lou Reichardt at UCSF. Reichardt, a former climber, is friends with David Breashears and they both were on the first American team to climb K2 25 (30?) years ago.

Lou and I spoke a couple of times and we briefly discussed climbing as well as High Exposure (Lou laughed and made some comments about Breashears and the book- nothing negative, but I forget what it was), but I could tell that he was more interested in talking science.

So, Franz, are we like related now or something? We should do a double date.

[lemon boy]

That's classic Franz.

Go in expecting to be the swinging dick and have to talk to some gaper and....end up being the gaper

[Free Range Lobster]

I think Dave knows a little bit about mountaineering.

Any talk about Everest, Beyond the Limit? Why does he live in Boston?

Last I knew he was hanging out with Wilcox et al? *shrug*

[nhtele]

Yeah, from what I understand he's pretty into the younger ladies (~25?). A lady friend of mine was saying he was laying it on pretty thick with her in DC last year.

I reckon Boston gives him a chance to collaborate with Brad Washburn and the Museum of Science on his films? Plus, I think he's from the NE.

[4matic]

Yeah, from what I understand he's pretty into the younger ladies (~25?). .

Who isn't? If you can afford them..

[mtnbikerskierchick]

Heh, that's a funny story

[Helicrackjnky]

So did you put out??