Read Hell Is Above Us: The Epic Race to the Top of Fumu, the World's Tallest Mountain for Free Online

perfectly maintained row houses. Greeted graciously by the people inside, maybe offered a sandwich or a cup of coffee, these officers then went about the business of vigilantly standing guard outside of their employers’ homes, waiting to bash in the skulls of any rioters who chose to target their charge.
    The officers were getting paid only slightly more than the city paid them, which was fine given the city had no intention of paying them during a strike anyway. Junk and McGee had little overhead to worry about. Most of the revenue went right into their pockets. Between the times Junk started selling the security services until the evening of the infamous Boston Police Strike – a period of about two weeks – historians estimate Junk and McGee pulled in almost one million dollars in pure profit.
    Then Junk and McGee took their profits and bet it all - and considerably more - on the Cincinnati Reds in the infamous 1919 World Series. A friend of Junk’s named Nicky Arnstein had let him know “the fix was in” and the heavily favored White Sox planned to throw the game. Exactly one month to the day after the police strike, Junk turned one million dollars into tens of millions of dollars.
    Junk and McGee were now major players in Boston. They ran legitimate business and they ran the streets between them. They drank watered down ale in the seediest dives in South Boston, and they drank the finest single malt scotch at private functions along The Commons. They had connections high and low, among public officials and private businessmen. Junk especially made waves because of his impressive social gifts. McGee often chose to lay low and attend to business. Junk was the face of their power. Everyone knew him. It would not be an exaggeration to say that by the opening of the 1920’s, Aaron Junk owned the city of Boston.
     
    On the trail, Hoyt and Junk did not speak to each other. Progress was slow. Snow and slush reached to their belts. They were soaked to the bone, making everything heavier. Even good friends would have kept conversation to a minimum in such conditions. Every bit of energy was focused on moving forward.
    As they ascended, the weather improved. The rain let up. The sun shined. But the temperature dropped and the wind picked up behind the departing front. The sun was setting when they reached the top of Mount Madison, and they set up camp in brutal conditions.
    In the night, the wind continued to pick up outside of their tents. Junk was introduced to a kind of cold he had never known before. Every muscle he had was in a state of total rigor. As Hoyt had predicted, everything was frozen, including the wool hat Junk wore on his head as he searched in vain for dreams in his sleeping bag.
    It was then things got worse. Junk’s tent, which was also frozen after sitting wet in his backpack on the ascent, succumbed to the howling wind. It did not rip. “In its frozen state, the roof actually cracked and then rose up like a drawbridge. I was suddenly looking at the tops of aspens framing a starry sky.” Humility had not been in Junk’s lexicon until that night. He simply had no alternative but to hop over to Hoyt’s tent in his sleeping bag and beg for entry. The two men spent the rest of the night in the same tent, which potentially kept them alive. Both Hoyt and Junk would return from the trip with advanced frostbite on their toes. Hoyt would lose one to amputation.
     
    Having been cut off by his father, William Hoyt had no home, no finances, and no family. Wizzy’s parents were fond of the young man and agreed to take him in for a few months or until he was back on his feet and Wizzy herself did not hesitate to pay for everything. Over the course of the next two years, Hoyt would marry Wizzy, enroll at Columbia Business School, have two sons, and sign up for his first mountain-climbing expedition. World War I was visited upon the United States, but thanks to climbing injuries it passed William quietly by.