Well, it had to happen sometime, I actually read the Outside Magazine article on Steve House. All I can say is wow, I'm very disappointed. One of the climbers I've held in high esteem was definitely brought down a notch, nay, a whole level. He's now at the level of Maestri, throwing rocks of paper and words that whisper. Wow, that was kinda nice - metaphorical. Anyway, as all 'great' climbers are full of contradictions, House is no different. Let's take a look at what he says.

House tipped his chair back and shook his head dismissively. "It's not like you need a lot of money to climb these peaks," he said, offering as evidence his own budget for six weeks in Pakistan: just $10,800, split evenly among him, Anderson, Johnson, and Haley. "I've never understood the whole argument for sponsored expeditions," he concluded. "To me, the money just gets in the way."

Steve-o, then why bother being an ambassador for Patagonia? We already know that while Patagonia is not as overt as The North Face, they pay a considerable amount to their ambassadors to wear and be photographed in Patagonia gear. The f**king article title is a marketing tool. And duh, we all know that the costs of expeditions are cheap, it's the training, the time away from work that costs the money.

Steve also rails against those who do not climb in the way he promotes - lightweight alpine ascents:

Another of House's arguments is harder to articulate, but it's just as strongly felt. "I need another word, but there's a moral or ethical element here," he told me in Pakistan. "Climbing is a form of expression that has no practical purpose—it's for one's own personal satisfaction. So to climb in a manner that is not what I call moral is to diminish your own experience. We already know we can climb any route with enough technology. So what's the point? That's not interesting. Uncertainty is the most important aspect."

Which I agree with, but I don't make it a personal vendetta against those who climb siege style. It's a matter of style, I like Armani, climb_ca likes Rustler, doesn't mean my style is better or worse, it's just different. At the end of the day, you stand on the same summit.

Most disheartening and truly disturbing is his disparagement of his partner Bruce Miller on the Rupal in 2004.

"It would have been the greatest accomplishment of my life. But I had to go down with Bruce because his no was necessarily stronger than my yes," he wrote. "Bruce had acted on fear... At 7,650 meters, Bruce's overriding fear had become me, become my death."

The necessity to blame anyone but yourself is what earns him castigation. He points to Miller's fear as his downfall. The unwritten rule in climbing is that your partner is your life, if you climb as a duo, your understanding is that if one does not go on, the other will not either, that's the system of checks and balances. You NEVER blame a partner for a missed summit bid, it just doesn't happen. It is very unfortunate that House says this as it brings him to level of the hordes of Everest summiteers who fail and blame their guides, the weather, the route, having to rescue someone. Your partner's life is always more important. Moreover, to have it written in the Alpinist is even more damaging. The mountain will always be there, a good partner is eternal.

"I was unprepared for the burden of proof being directed at me," House says of his rise to prominence. "I've thought about just not responding, but I feel like if I don't, I don't know who will."

Sweet Maria, 'the burden' of what? Does anyone outside of a few dozen people care about the face of American Alpinism? If the mantle has been passed from Twight to House, which I don't really think it has, it doesn't mean you actually become Twight.

At the end of the article, all I can say is that House has become an arrogant turd. To assume that Twight passed the mantle to you, that you bear the burden of representing American alpinism, and that your style of climbing is 'pure and extreme' is pretentious and assuming. Yes, he has a right to rail against the Soviet Big Wall Project, even against Alex Lowe et al who climbed Trango and filmed it, but the fact remains, let your climbing do your talking. The seeds of Messnerism, or Humarization are already there, hubris, disrespect, and most of all, a platform to voice your tripe and thinking that people are listening. American Maverick? Pfft.