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The Spectator
Mountaineer to Tell Story of Love, Loss
by Katrina Rabeler '12Features Writer
October 23, 2009
"You can either live your life in fear or you can live your life." These were Jennifer Lowe-Anker's words of advice to those trying to understand how she kept her passion for life and adventure alive when her husband, Alex Lowe, was killed in a mountaineering accident ten years ago.
On Oct. 29 at 7 p.m., Jennifer Lowe-Anker will be speaking in the Kennedy Auditorium in the Science Center about her marriage to Alex Lowe, one of the most well-known American mountaineers. Lowe's career was filled with groundbreaking successes until his untimely death on Shishapangma in Tibet.
Lowe-Anker will also discuss her life following the tragedy, including her marriage to her current husband, Conrad Anker, who was Alex Lowe's best friend. Jennifer Lowe-Anker is herself an accomplished mountain climber, and her recent memoir, Forget Me Not, won the 2008 National Outdoor Book Award for literature.
Lowe-Anker is coming to campus on the invitation of James L. Ferguson Professor of History Maurice Isserman. Each year, Professor Isserman brings an author of adventure literature to campus for his Adventure Writing 111 class.
"The students in the class alternate between writing about their own adventures on Adirondack Adventure, trips we take in the fall to the Adirondacks and the adventures of others," Isserman explained. Isserman recalled that two years ago, when Conrad Anker came to speak about Alex Lowe, the Kirner-Johnson auditorium was overflowing. This year, the class read Lowe-Anker's book, and is looking forward to her talk on campus.
"As the memoir of a climbing widow, her book brings a different perspective to mountaineering literature, with an emphasis on relationships, risk and loss, something that you don't often find in a run-of-the-mill account of a triumphant expedition to this or that peak, and I thought [it] would be interesting for my students to read and discuss," Isserman said.
Lowe-Anker's story has it all: mountains, love, tragedy, family and adventure. Her memoir recalls detail from her and her husbands' lives. The title of her first and only book so far, Forget Me Not, comes from her and Alex Lowe's favorite flower. In one of his letters to her, Alex once begged Jennifer, who received her bachelor's degree in art, to paint the flower for him.
"My book is a memoir about my life," explained Lowe-Anker, "I lived [with him] for 18 years before my husband died 10 years ago. Alex was one of the world's foremost mountain climbers. At age 40 when he died, he was known as the best mountaineer in the country and one of the best in the world. I set out to write a book knowing there was a market for a story about Alex, but the book is about me as well." In writing about herself and their relationship, Lowe-Anker hopes that she was able to relate her husband's story. "I thought it would be better to capture who Alex was," she said, "the book includes a lot of letters to me when he was away and stuff from my journals."
In their first seven years together, Jennifer and Alex shared many adventures. They traveled together all over the world climbing and mountaineering. They visited South America, Alaska and Europe. Later in their lives they had three boys together. Eventually Alex was invited to the Himalayas and began more extreme mountaineering expeditions. On Oct. 5, 1999, Alex was walking over a glacier in Tibet on the mountain Shishapangma, an 8,000-meter peak. With him were his best friend Conrad Anker and high-altitude cameraman David Bridges. The three of them were caught in an enormous avalanche. Tragically, both Alex and David Bridges died.
Though Jennifer did not know her deceased husband's best friend very well, they grew close after the accident and found comfort in one another. "He was quite drawn to the boys and me," Jennifer said. Jennifer and Conrad eventually fell in love and were married, after which Conrad adopted her boys. The last part of Forget Me Not is about Conrad and Jennifer's lives going forward. With the help of mountaineer Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea, Jennifer and Conrad started a charitable foundation in honor of Alex. The foundation teaches climbing skills to Sherpa in Nepal.
When asked if she had any advice for students dreaming of becoming successful in adventure writing, Lowe-Anker said, "Read veraciously, keep journals and write letters. Letters were an incredible side of my relationship with Alex when he was away. They're really valuable. To receive a letter is like getting a present. Writing is great for getting in touch with your own thoughts."
Lowe-Anker was filled with inspirational advice for students. She said that, "too many people are stuck in the virtual world. Real world is where it's at." When it came to insecurities held by students, whether aspiring writers or not, she said that, "there's nothing holding them back but themselves." She suggested that anyone "can become Greg Mortenson if they want. Doors are begging them to come through."
Jennifer Lowe-Anker's talk next week should attract climbers, writers and anyone who enjoys a great love story. After all that she has been through and all of the challenges she has overcome as an author, mountaineer and mother, Lowe-Anker still believes that, "falling in love is probably the biggest risk [you can take] in life."