Sixty-four years later, writer Matthew Power and photographer Bobby Model retrace one of climbing's most extraordinary escapades. Photograph by Bobby Model
Hiram, Charles, and Agustino were our amazing and incredibly intrepid porters. Hiram, the guy in the center, has been a porter on Mount Kenya for 30 years. Even though these guys had grown up working on the mountain, but none of them had ever been on this route.
Because we would start technical mountaineering once we got up to 15,000 feet [4,572 meters], we had a huge amount of ropes and gear. Those packs are each about 100 pounds [45 kilograms]. I tried to lift one but I couldn't. These guys were with us until we began mountaineering. —Contributing Editor Matthew Power
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