Alex Lowe - "The White Knight"

"The White Knight"

Lowe gained iconic status within the climbing community for his courage, humility, grace and supreme athleticism. Numerous first ascents and heroic feats earned him a cult-like following, and a host of colorful nicknames: "The White Knight," "The Mutant," and "The Lung with Legs," this last moniker bestowed by an astonished climber who witnessed Lowe — carrying a heavy load, no less — effortlessly ascend Argentina's 22,841-foot (6,962 m) Aconcagua (highest peak in the Western Hemisphere) in a two-day lightning assault.

Referring to Lowe, Dave Hahn — a twelve-time Everest summiter — once remarked with a gesture of his hand, "There's Alex Lowe up here, and then there's the rest of us down here. The guy's just really that much better than everybody else." In its obituary on Lowe, the New York Times quoted Conrad Anker as saying, "We're all at this one level, and then there's Alex."

I sort of steer clear of the whole 'World's Best Climber' stuff, it's a sort of hype, really, and climbing just doesn't lend itself to that. There might be a fastest runner, or a highest jumper—you can measure that, quantify that. But climbing is different. It's just too subjective. And it's a lifestyle, not a sport. So I don't really think there is such a thing as a 'best climber.' There are certainly talented climbers, and there are persistent, sort of anal climbers, you know? They just can't give up. And those are the ones that sort of go on and do lots of climbs, and harder climbs. Those are the people who just can't shake it off. That's what I am.

Lowe's obituary continued, "He was widely admired for excelling in every aspect of mountaineering, from rock- and ice-climbing to ski descents." It quoted the late climber-photographer Galen Rowell as saying, " was a renaissance mountain man in all regards." The obituary added, "Climbing light, fast and often alone, Mr. Lowe pulled off feats that left other climbers in awe." Despite widespread praise, Lowe remained humble and discounted the notion of any "best climber." He was later quoted in the American Alpine Journal (AAJ) as saying, "The best climber in the world is the one having the most fun!"

Climbing lore is replete with stories of Lowe's exceptional upper body strength, developed through a fanatical exercise regimen that regularly included 400 chin-ups and hundreds of dips. In December 1999, Outside Magazine commented of Lowe: "That sweetness and utter normality made the lore that went around about Lowe all the more enchanting. He lugged calculus texts on remote expeditions to amuse himself while tentbound. Pullups were a compulsion; he'd do 1,000 at an airport, or dig a snowpit in an Antarctic storm and start hoisting himself on a ski. He took coffee like a diabetic takes insulin. All true." During his climb of the Great Trango Tower, The Times noted, Lowe "was ill at the time, fell 50 feet (15 m) and injured his elbow, but pushed on to the west summit at 20,410 feet (6,220 m)." The December 1999, Outside Magazine article quoted Al Read, Lowe's boss at Exum Mountain Guides, as saying, "It was astonishing what he was able to do. And do safely. And do alone, without bragging. He wouldn't even tell you about it."

In an article for Active Lifestyle, Gordon Wiltsie, a photographer who climbed with Lowe in Antarctica and Canada's Baffin Island, said, "He was one of the most driven people I've ever met, but he could slow down and talk with anyone. He didn't suffer fools easily, but if you approached the mountains sensibly and with a good spirit, he was great." The article continued, "He did have his quirks, though. A self-admitted exercise addict, he often stormed through the door at 7 a.m. after getting up four hours earlier to ski fresh powder. Later, it was off to the gym, where he'd hog the pull-up bar to knock out 400 pull-ups in sets of 40 and 45. He abhorred downtime. He knew where to do pull-ups in many airports. Even on expeditions, when rest is hard to come by and much appreciated, Lowe was an oddball. He'd cop pull-ups on a ship's rigging en route to Antarctica, or do dips in a snow pit he dug at base camp." In that article, Wiltsie said, "At Baffin Island, after hauling supplies to a high point on a climb, we went back to camp beat and tired, but Alex proceeded to do pull-up after pull-up. He even brought an exercise device on climbs."

In 1995 Lowe climbed a massive "icicle" in Hyalite Canyon, near Bozeman, Montana. While climbing in the lead, Lowe's section of ice snapped free. He rode the ice 40 feet (12 m) down, crashed into a ledge, smashed his forehead into his ice ax, then stood and proclaimed himself okay. His friends saw something else, Outside recalls. "Lowe looked like a mangled victim in a Wes Craven movie; his companions could see that a broad section of his scalp was draped over one eye, exposing a section of skull." Lowe later recalled what followed: "We ... kinda taped the scalp back into place, and put a hat on, and taped around the hat, and started skiing out. kinda knew it was time to go to the ER. But we also knew it was going to be a long evening there, so we stopped down at the coffee shop and got lattes. It was great. My clothes were saturated with blood. We parked in the handicap spot in front of the coffee shop, marched right in, and then headed for the hospital."

Another climbing episode saw Lowe blow out the toe box on his climbing shoe halfway up Yosemite's massive El Capitan, a 3,000-foot (910m) vertical rock. Instead of quitting, he completed the climb, friends later recalled, by wearing his shoe backward.

Lowe's philosophy was expressed in a Helen Keller quotation that he posted on his office wall: "Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all."

In the December 1999 article in Outside Magazine, Lowe was quoted as saying: "When I'm 70 or 80 I'm still going to be doing good climbs. It's going to be fun to the bitter end."