Tales From The Steep | Don Bowie | Stolen Gear | Story 10

Don Bowie finds himself at a high camp on K2, weathered in and in need of critical gear to get down...
Producer: John Long
Director/Videographer: Ted Distel
Editor: Ted Distel
Original Score: Pat Dimitri (www.youtube.co...)
Special Thanks to Adidas Terrex for their support in the making of this video!
www.adidasoutdoor.com

[@Nuttyirishman85]

“I had some energy, because I had a little bit of coke.” I know the feeling

[@armandojuan64]

Legend . Respect .

[@zeewhat]

Nice we did all nut ascent of D1 on the Long's Peak Diamond in 1978. 5.11+ free we aided those pitches!...alas the last pitch 5.6+ if DRY!....MY LEAD....I felt fine 90 feet in a few minutes...a couple of good stoppers I felt fine....until the ice chimmy 10 ft of ice near the top...I was gripped and I put a nut in the chimney...I liebacked this section...my feet possed on wet granite...I mantelled the last part...thankful that I had reached the top!

[@zeewhat]

Yes!

[@nudetaynehatwobble]

*Man I can’t believe just how cemented Don Bowie’s story of survival was on K2. I feel like there is no mountain survival story that beats this one. Ted is a freaking legend for every last interview he’s done. Really makes you feel like you were right there with him on this. So glad Don Is still with us and I get the impression that he is as well!. Would love to see a couple new stories from Ted and Don one day! Hope you’re well Ted!*

[@epicscreenname989]

This is the most intense survival story I’ve ever heard

[@DigitalStokeMedia]

Right!? It's pretty insane. Especially in those conditions!

[@epicscreenname989]

Digital Stoke Media man when I think of all the people that have died descending that mountain WITH crampons, it speaks volumes about his will to survive.

[@3vimages471]

Citizen World But this guy seems decent and honest. Joe Simpson is a narcissistic arsehole and I doubt a lot of his story is true.

[@nudetaynehatwobble]

3Vimages ya don is the embodiment of a class act. He took part in that camp 4 Annapurna rescue as I understand it

[@vincentkrause7097]

@@nudetaynehatwobble des he did and also rescued a skier on gasherbrum later than Summer on an other expedition

[@bastogne315]

I got lost descending the Picos De Europas for 2 hours and attacked by goats and I kissed a big donkey when I got down.

[@3vimages471]

No ...... Need to hear much more. What was the break in your leg? Did that other climb survive? Who stole your crampons?

[@alexanderthelame8462]

Downclimbing K2 in a blizzard with no crampons and 4 days without food or water-wow!Don Bowie blows away David Bowie for sheer theatrics and heroicism-reckon?!

[@PeterSodhi]

"How is that for a story?" !

[@SuperBigblue19]

Bet that dude has his gear strapped to his body now.

[@TheTripstraps]

some people are so cruel there, so me so kind in high mountains. these conditions seperate humans from monsters

[@KplusU]

ha ha ha " your at 8000m where only 3 or 4 mountains are as high" tell Jurey and Messner that.

[@nudetaynehatwobble]

Well, k2 is the second highest mountain. There are only 14 8kers bro, so perhaps you’re just mincing words?

[@Mrthirtyseven]

This is absolutely insane. Is there a book about this?

[@DigitalStokeMedia]

I don't believe so. I'll have to ask him!

[@sambowie11]

I want to climb with him so badly. I wonder if the ancestries line up.

[@zeewhat]

We don't have any water...we have Coke!

[@b.w.22]

Jesus - modern mountaineering can be so gross. Pinching someone’s crampons at Camp 4 on K2? That’s basically attempted murder. Everyone talks about how these high mountains are where they can learn about themselves, so what do you do when you “learn” you are a selfish, coward thief? This guy’s rescuing someone off the bottleneck and others are dropping someone’s precious garbage on him later.

[@nyrbsamoht]

augh so painful. he seems like such a nice guy - like the sort of guy who mite call off a summit attempt to help someone. someone with a sense of direction in a white out is more important than mothers milk. sounds like he saved those climbers following him - and then when he broke his foot they bailed on him! i bet they were the same bastards that stole his crampons?? I would have been checking everyones boots to find that absolute son of a........ and then the high altitude porters? they are not quite as professional as some of the sherpas from what I have read - but i dont really know... it sounds like you were truely on your own on that decent. bravo. Almost has shades of Fritz Wiessner 1939 k2 expedition where his own people stripped the camps below while he was still on the summit because they thought him lost.

[@peterlansdale1793]

These videos could be renamed "This is Not Happening", except that's already a silly comedy series. But these people really say it.

[@camjcasey]

Not only do the porters not help Don, but they throw shit down on him as he's descending with a broken leg? How negligent can you be? I guess that's what poverty does to people. K2 sounds shitty. I think i'll stick to rock climbing lol.

[@zeewhat]

Pots and Pans ....Yikes!

[@frankblangeard8865]

The climber who they had rescued and had to drag down had crampons. So...why did he not take the crampons from the guy who had to be dragged down?

[@nudetaynehatwobble]

He never said they dragged him. You have to be under your own power for that descent bro

[@AX1A]

Real climbers don't take other's shyte -- unless those others are already iced. Remember Beck Weathers?

[@nudetaynehatwobble]

A. X. +1 to the +1

[@b.w.22]

It may sound macabre, but for all the folks who’ve eaten it right where they were at, I’d think a little pile of their crampons, ice-axes, and partial O2 bottles, in a known overhang perhaps, might be a better choice than just “burying” them in a crevasse. It seems that losing gear such as crampons is common enough up there: Fritz, the German-American who was the first to nearly summit, had to retreat after losing crampons right there. Surely there are a thousand reasons people would give for this being unreasonable and I get that. Even so, were I to die up there, nothing would please me more than the idea my gear then helped save someone else.

[@dh5645]

No offense meant: this tale leaves more questions than answers. This gentleman is bad ass and his tale is harrowing BUT the telling of this story is horrible. My deepest respect to him as a mountaineer though.

[@sailukasireddisailu8543]

Warm coke????

[@nudetaynehatwobble]

If you could get an interview with David Lama about lunag ri tho... 😍

[@nudetaynehatwobble]

Oh man another great lost way too soon 😭

[@3vimages471]

Too late. RIP David.

[@devkkev9066]

:(

[@nudetaynehatwobble]

Wasn’t this the second survival situation that Bowie had on K2?

[@nudetaynehatwobble]

Also Ted, do you think you could get Bowie’s account of what happened on the camp 4 rescue at Annapurna last month?

[@DigitalStokeMedia]

@@nudetaynehatwobble Sorry, I wasn't notified about this comment. He's been out of the country for a while now but, I can always see if he'll be down to tell that story.

[@nudetaynehatwobble]

Digital Stoke Media ya I’ve been following his Instagram. Keep wondering if he’s just moving to Nepal soon haha