KAZUYA HIRAIDE & KENRO NAKAJIMA

ALPINISM HAS A RICH HISTORY WHICH IS THE STORY OF HUMANS PUSHING INTO THE EXTREMITIES OF OUR PLANETS GEOGRAPHY. AS THIS PROCESS HAS GONE ON IT HAS BEEN REFINED AS THE PURSUIT OF HUMAN PERFORMANCE, DOING EVER HARDER AND HIGHER CLIMBING WITH LESS RESOURCES AND IN PLACES FURTHER FROM SUPPORT. LIKE ALL GREAT ENDEAVOURS THERE ARE GREAT PLAYERS WHO MOVE THINGS FORWARD AND WHO BECOME SYNONYMOUS WITH THE THING ITSELF, AND IN THE TELLING OF THE HISTORY OF ALPINISM KAZUYA HIRAIDE AND KENRO NAKAJIMA HAVE THEIR OWN CHAPTER.

OUR CONNECTION TO THEM GOES BACK TO THE MID-2000s WHEN WE GOT TO KNOW KAZUYA AS THE GUY IN JIMBOCHO TO TALK TO. BACK THEN HE WORKED IN THE ICI SPORTS MAIN STORE, POLITELY SELLING HATS AND SOCKS TO GERIATRIC HIKERS BETWEEN PLANNING FOR HARD FIRST ASCENTS. HE WAS THE FIRST CORE ALPINIST WE GOT TO KNOW IN JAPAN, MEETING UP ONCE OR TWICE A YEAR USUALLY UNEXPECTEDLY, AND PLAYING WITH SERIOUS IDEAS. IT IS WHERE WE GOT OUR INSIGHTS INTO JAPANESE STYLE FROM, INCLUDING THE TRAINING, AND AS THE OTHER LEADING LOCAL ALPINISTS RETIRED OR FADED OUT, KAZUYA JUST GOT BETTER, MORE INTERESTING AND THE SCALE OF HIS IDEAS LARGER.

APART FROM THE COMMON PROGRESSION OF MOST STAR ALPINISTS, KAZUYAS ATTEMPTS AND ASCENTS ARE A HEADY MIX OF STUFF MOST CLIMBERS HAVE NEVER HEARD OF, ACROSS A SPECTRUM OF PLACES THAT INCLUDE AFGHANISTAN, MYANMAR AND REMOTE CHINA. HIS WAS ADVENTURE AT A TILMAN-LEVEL, FAR FROM THE MERE BAGGING OF PEAKS, AND HIS QUOTE THAT THE WEST FACE OF K2 WAS THE CULMINATION OF ALL HIS CLIMBING HAS A MUCH BROADER MEANING THAN THE NUMBERS GAME THAT THE POPULAR CLIMBING MEDIA THINKS.

IF THE WORD CONSUMATE APPLIES TO ANYONE IT APPLIES TO KAZUYA HIRAIDE.

WE KNEW HIS PARTNER KEI TOO, IF NOT BETTER AS WE SAW HER MORE OUT CLIMBING, AND HAD THE BRIEF CONVERSATION AFTER HER DEATH WHERE KAZUYA SAID EVERYTHING WITH ONLY A FEW WORDS IN TYPICAL JAPANESE ELOQUENCE. AS KENRO NAKAJIMA EMERGED AS HIS NEW PARTNER IT MADE SENSE, AND THOUGH WE NEVER KNEW KENRO WELL, SHARED A COMMON INPUT OVER SOME DETAILS WITH SOME QUESTIONS HE HAD.

BOTH CLIMBERS WERE EXCRUCIATINGLY ENGAGING, QUIETLY SPOKEN, DEFERRING AND GENEROUS, EXEMPLIFYING A STYLE AND ATTITUDE FAR FROM THE ROCK STAR EGOS OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH TODAYS HIGH ALTITUDE SCENE. KAZUYA ONLY RELUCTANTLY STOOD IN FRONT OF A CAMERA, DESPITE THOUSANDS OF HOURS BEHIND ONE, AND ENGAGED LIFE AS THE MASTER ARTIST IN THE JAPANESE TRADITION.

ELITE ALPINISM WITHOUT KAZUYA AND KENRO BECOMES A DIFFERENT THING NOW, AS THEY REPRESENTED AN EXTREME LEADING EDGE OF STYLE AND COMMITMENT THAT HAS FEW OTHERS IN ITS COHORT. AT A TIME WHERE HIGH ALTITUDE CLIMBING HAS DEVOLVED INTO MOSTLY COMMERCIALISM AND A GAME OF STATISTICS, THEIR TYPE OF CLIMBING KEPT THE CURVE SET BY KURTYKA, MACINTYRE AND FOWLER ALOFT. KAZUYAS RESUME ALONE MAKES FOR ASTOUNDING READING, AS DID HIS IDEAS ABOUT THE FUTURE, WHERE DESPITE THE CLAIM THAT THIS K2 ASCENT WAS HIS MAGNUM OPUS, THOSE WHO SPENT TIME WITH HIM KNOW OTHERWISE.

WE KNOW WE WILL MISS BOTH CLIMBERS AS FRIENDS, THERE WON’T BE MORE SURPRISE CONVERSATIONS ON THE TRAILS OF YATSUGATAKE OR SPOTTING EACH OTHER ACROSS THE GREAT CHUTE ON FUJI IN LATE JANUARY OR ICED COFFEE OUTSIDE THE 7-11 IN JIMBOCHO, OR EMAILS ABOUT EXOTIC BITS OF GEAR AND QUESTIONS ABOUT CHINA. WE WILL MISS THAT THE FUTURE OF ALPINISM NEEDS TO GRIND ONWARDS WITHOUT THEM, TO PUSH THAT BIT HARDER TO KEEP THINGS OPEN ENDED AND SATURATED WITH POTENTIAL TO AVOID DEGENERATING INTO STAGNATION AND NUMBERS.

FOR OUR PART WE TRY TO KEEP THE DIRECT LINEAGE OF KAZUYA AND KENRO GOING, AS DO WITH CHARLIE FOWLER, KYLE DEMPSTER, DOUG SCOTT AND THE OTHER GREATS WE SHARE THE SAME PLACES WITH. IT IS THE PLACES THAT ARE THE LITMUS TEST FOR ANYTHING REAL IN ALPINISM, THE ARMCHAIR IS NOT WHERE THE CHARACTERS OF THESE CLIMBERS WERE EITHER FORGED OR APPLIED, AND IF WE CAN KEEP THE FUTURE OPEN WITH THE POSSIBILITIES OF NEW PLACES THAT IS SOMETHING KAZUYA AND KENRO WILL LIVE ON THROUGH.