Where Paul Petzoldt's book was light, fun and only scattered with sobering stories of close calls and rescuses/recoveries; Steve House presents a deeper darker side of alpind climbing that the public rarely has the opportunity to experience in such a humble and sincere manner. I was constantly shocked by the aduacity that Steve has to tread in such a bold manner into such a sacred space. A free solo first ascent on Denali, another on K7, numerous climbs that even roped in with a partner push the edge of human ability. All of them with the absolute minimum amount of gear to survive the climb. And to meet him at the boulder project talk - completely unassuming. I would love to find out what makes him tick. His isn't a path I would want to walk, but wow.
(Later)
On second thought maybe I do know how someone can get to that point. I guess I wasn't far from going in that direction; I can relate to having stronger ties with climbing partners than with romantic interests. So I suppose it's a very good thing that I married my climbing partner. A round of layoffs could have been impetus to be on a wall somewhere, maybe with a partner scrounged up or more likely solo and longing for a partner. From there it's only a natural progression to something a little harder and higher.