Can’t believe I’ve read two life-affirming stories in the space of five days, but I have. The cover of Texas—The McCombs School of Business Magazine (Cory Leahy, editor) is a portrait of a scarred young man behind type that reads “This Man Should Be Dead.” Because I have a policy of always reading stories about people who should be dead, I turned to pg. 22 for “The Fall and Rise of Matt Miller” by Tracy Mueller. The photo opposite the first page of text is simultaneously arresting and gruesome, because in addition to a scarred face, Miller has hands that resemble fingerless clubs. What the hell happened to this guy?
Mueller’s story is a well-crafted account of a mountain climbing accident that, indeed, should have killed Miller. With is father, Miller was attempting to climb Pico de Orizaba, a volcano in Mexico that is that country’s highest summit. Miller’s father developed altitude sickness on the summit attempt and began falling. The second time, his son tried to catch him, and both men ended up sliding 3,000 feet down the mountain. It was miraculous that they didn’t slide off a precipice, but they were in mortal peril when they came to rest. Dennis Miller, the father, suffered a badly broken leg. Matt was in much worse shape. His 3,000-foot plunge had torn off his nose and nearly severed an ear. The two men had to spend a freezing night at 14,000 feet before a U.S. military helicopter could evacuate them from the mountain. In his delirium, Matt took off his gloves and boots, incurring the frostbite that later required amputation of his fingers. He ended up losing eight toes, as well.
Mueller does a superb job of pacing the narrative, provides the vivid detail that makes the story riveting, and avoids all the clichés that typically plague this kind of story. She passes up every opportunity to fall into sentimentality. All the emotion in this piece is earned. The gaze is unflinching. The details are right. Mueller does not put one foot wrong. She nails it.
Here’s just a taste, from the top of the story:
His eyes were swollen shut, but he peeled them open so he could see his father, Dennis, sprawled next to him on the ice. He wanted to say goodnight, to reminisce about their fly-fishing trips and baseball games. Most of all he wanted to tell his dad this wasn’t his fault.
They jokingly told each other, “See you in the morning,” knowing they’d never last that long. Then Matt folded his arms underneath his head and waited to die.
Jon Krakauer could not improve on that.
Tags: cory leahy, good work, matt miller, mccomb, texas, tracy mueller
Wow. The piece is truly incredible. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
Thanks so much for including our story on your blog, Dale. I was lucky enough to get both a great story and an interview subject who was willing to bare his soul to total strangers. Not something we necessarily get a lot of in our buttoned-up business school culture. It’s been exciting and moving to see readers’ response to Matt’s triumph.
[...] my recent Texas magazine cover story (“The Fall and Rise of Matt Miller”) on his UMagazinology blog. It was a thrill to write Matt’s story, but it was also a huge challenge, so I’m [...]