Still Traveling in Search of Surprises

—

I was surprised to hear you say K2, the mountain you’re climbing next, has a death rate of three out of ten.

Ishikawa

Yeah.

—

Does it really fight climbers that viciously?

Ishikawa

Not even Everest compares to it.

—

And yet you want to climb it?

Ishikawa

Every mountain climber aspires to it on some level.

—

Because of how difficult it is?

Ishikawa

I’m sure that’s part of it. The team of Sherpas I always travel with are able to join me this time, as well.

—

How is that unusual?

Ishikawa

Typically, Sherpas only work within their home territory. K2 is in Pakistan, so for the Sherpas I work with it’s a different environment, a different language, and a different religion.

—

So this is a far-off expedition for the Sherpas as well.

Ishikawa

Usually some of the Sherpas have something come up at home during the expedition, so they excuse themselves, return home for a time, and come back. But that’s impossible here. They’ll need to get passports and visas and travel there by plane.

—

Is it rare for Sherpas to do all that?

Ishikawa

Some might do it on their own, but never an entire team of Sherpas. As experienced mountain guides, they’re interested in the chance to test their skills in unfamiliar territory.

—

Are there no Sherpas around K2?

Ishikawa

There are, but I’d rather climb with a team I’ve worked with before.

—

So there’s a sense of trust.

Ishikawa

Trust is everything.

—

These expert Himalayan Sherpas will be climbing K2 for the first time.

Ishikawa

Yes, that’s right. The Himalayan mountains stretch on forever, and the Karakoram range, which K2 is in, is a part of it. But it’s a very different landscape.

—

I see.

Ishikawa

The “K” from K2 stands for Karakoram. The “2” means it was the second mountain of the range to be surveyed. That’s the way they identified them at first—K1, K2, K3, K4, and so on. But for K2, that original survey name remained intact.

—

There’s something unnerving about still calling them that way.

Ishikawa

It is a seriously dangerous range.

—

What makes it so difficult?

Ishikawa

There are lots of rockslides and avalanches, and there aren’t as many established routes as on Everest. There’s very little room to maneuver—you’ll see a spot and think, “Really? This is where we have to climb?” The top of Makalu is the same way.

—

Are you nervous?

Ishikawa

Not any more than usual. I’m not especially nervous about climbing because I’ve done it so much.

—

That’s true, you’ve been doing this for twenty years now. How many mountains have you climbed?

Ishikawa

I’ve lost count, but I’ve climbed four of the eight-thousanders: Lohtse, Everest, Manaslu, and Makalu.

—

And K2 will make five.

Ishikawa

I’ve climbed Everest twice—and this might be unusual, but I’ve climbed only the highest out of all the 14 eight-thousanders in the world.

—

Oh, really? And Lohtse is the fourth-highest.

Ishikawa

Makalu is the fifth-highest, Everest is the first, and K2 is the second-highest. Kangchenjunga is the third-highest, so that one’s on my bucket list.

—

But you said your “vertical journeys” are done once you’ve climbed K2.

Ishikawa

Yes.

—

I’m sure you’re sick of being asked this, and you’ve probably thought about it a lot, but 20 years in, what’s your answer: Why do you climb mountains?

Ishikawa

Hm . . . keeping in mind that it would change over and over again as I get older, I think the reason I do it now is that it’s fun.

—

It’s fun.

Ishikawa

It’s fun because I can see scenery that’s different from when I’m around town. And as I said before, it makes me feel like I’ve reset my entire body. Like I’m completely different than I was when I began the climb.

—

I’m sure it seems that way on the outside, too, seeing your skin burned by the snow and your body so thin.

Ishikawa

I come back looking like those karinto snacks.

—

So you’re not climbing for anyone else’s sake.

Ishikawa

I don’t do it for anyone but myself.

—

You won’t be traveling vertically anymore, but horizontally, I’m sure you’ll continue your travels.

Ishikawa

Yes, because I want to keep being surprised. I’m the same I was in high school in that I want to see new things and be surprised by them.

—

And you capture these surprises in photographs.

Ishikawa

Yeah.

—

I don’t think I’ve asked you this before, but do you have any photographers you admire?

Ishikawa

Daido Moriyama is one of them.

—

Yeah, you showed him your photographs when you were younger, right?

Ishikawa

Yes, on the second floor of a bar in Golden Gai in Shinjuku. It was in the middle of the afternoon, so there was no one there.

—

Did he invite you there when you contacted him?

Ishikawa

Yeah, when I was 23 or 24.

—

So it was shortly after you started photography. Which pictures did you have him look at?

Ishikawa

My pictures from Pole to Pole. It was one of the first times I had ever had anyone check my work.

—

It’s amazing that the first one for you was Daido Moriyama.

Ishikawa

Right before that I’d shown the pictures to the person at the newspaper company because he’d given me so much film, but he said flat out, “We can’t use this in a newspaper.”

—

Huh? Why?

Ishikawa

It must have been unsuitable for news stories. I was really disheartened to be shot down like that.

—

I’m sure. Those were photos you took by spending the whole year traveling all the way from the North Pole to the South Pole on your own.

Ishikawa

I thought I just wasn’t fit to become a photographer.

—

I’m sure anyone would feel that way after being told that.

Ishikawa

Before I went on the trip, he said he wanted to make an article with the pictures I would take. He said, “Let’s make a recurring section that covers everything from the North to the South Pole.”

—

Even then, he shot you down.

Ishikawa

Yeah, after all that talk, I came back after a year and showed it to the head of the photography department. He just said it was all totally unusable. I was in shock when he said that, but that’s when I showed Moriyama. He looked at them from a completely different point of view and complimented my work.

—

In the corner of an empty bar.

Ishikawa

Yeah. [Laughs] He saw a picture where a polar bear is off in the distant and looks like nothing more than a tiny grain of rice, and he’d say, “This is a good one.” He took the time to comment on all my pictures that the newspaper empoyee had just tossed aside.

—

Wow.

Ishikawa

It made me feel like I belonged as a photographer. That it was really fun.

—

So he showed a young, unknown photographer the path he was meant to take.

Ishikawa

I felt like I could make it.

—

So that article with the newspaper never made it?

Ishikawa

Well, I don’t know if they just felt too bad for me afterwards, but we published a single article about it, and it never turned into a recurring series. But if they had supported my work, I might have just become a newspaper cameraman, so I’m glad things turned out this way.

—

You’re glad to have been turned away by the newspaper.

Ishikawa

And encouraged by Moriyama. I feel like I was only able to continue traveling and taking pictures because of him.

—

And your travels will continue.

Ishikawa

Yes. I want to be surprised.

—

Please come home safe from K2.

Ishikawa

Yes, of course.

—

Tell us all about it when you get back.

Ishikawa

Certainly.

[End]

2016-12-06-Tue

BACK | Part 3