Book Review: Shishapangma, Skiing the Highline
by Mike Marolt
I must confess that I picked up my copy of Mike’s book at a recent local Alpine climber book signing presented by the Aspen Historical Society. I think Aspen has always had a high alpine mountain climbing community, it was spawned from the 10th Mountain division.
The first time I met Mike and his twin brother Steve was on the little league field, and in the distance, you could see Pyramid Peak and Maroon Bells from the pitching mound. Mike and his brother coached the younger kids of which I was one. Mike taught my brother how to pitch I was an outfielder. For my freshmen year in high school Mike and his brother were juniors so it was kind of like the movie Dazed and Confused… Mike was not the quarterback like in the movie but he was the pitcher and I was one of the little leaguers under his wing.
The thing about growing up in Aspen was that we all went through 7th and 8th grade outdoor ed. It was these trips that really got us kids out... way out... in the mountains. This is where most of us belayed each other for the first time. I know this is when most of the kids I grew up with caught the bug for extreme mountain climbing.
When I opened Mike’s book Shishapangma, Skiing the Highline, it sent me back to that time. This story also reminds me about how us Aspen kids were received. We were always ‘over-underestimated’ and while it was frustrating it meant we had to challenge ourselves in our own way. Mike, Steve and their buddy Jim Gile decided to ski down Shishapangma, something only us crazy Aspen kids could even think of. The rest of the world at the time was baffled.
I remember seeing the movie “The Man Who Skied Down Everest” at the local ISIS theater and I know Mike and Steve were there. To be honest this was an amazing movie but in reality Yuichiro Miura fell most of the way. So since on this trip the three took a film crew to film the first ever decent on skis, these guys knew they could not fall they were from Aspen. The film came out in 2009 and was called “Skiing Everest.” The quote that stands out from Mike’s book the most to me was from Papa Marolt, “You have to block out the noise of people if you want to find any success in anything.”
In reading this book I got a good sense about the lessons they learned, but what really got me was hearing my old little league coach’s growth through all of these mountain climbs and amazing descents. We all grew up with Warren Miller in the back of our minds but the voice of Mike Marolt sure is an inviting and truly respectful voice for a journey you will never forget.
Whether you know Mike or not, this book is an amazing adventure.