Standing on top of the world: The untold story of Australia’s most heroic climber

AUSSIE Mick Parker felt most alive at the point where others couldn’t catch their breath. He climbed without guides, Sherpas or oxygen. Then tragedy struck.

MICK Parker felt most alive at the point where others could hardly catch their breath.

The daring, free-spirited climber never once used guides, Sherpas or even oxygen — a dangerous feat no other Australian, and few in the world, has achieved. Others liken the experience to breathing through a plastic bag with a straw, while exercising hard. On 21 May 2009, the 36-year-old took a selfie on the summit of Makalu in the Himalaya, 8463 metres above sea level. Suffering from dizzy spells, he sped back down the mountain, descending in three days where it usually takes seven. He passed out several times. Thirteen days later, he was found dead in his hotel room in Kathmandu. Doctors learned later that he had already been suffering from an undiagnosed virus. The fact he was able to climb at all was testament to his astonishing strength of body and mind. Despite his great prowess for climbing, Mick shunned the spotlight throughout his 14-year career, preferring to spend time in the company of locals in mountain villages. But his astonishing story has finally been told in biography Spirit High, which traces Mick’s journey from suburban Melbourne boy to reaching the summit of five “8000ers”. “He personified all that is mystical about the Himalaya,” writes Australia’s top mountaineer Andrew Lock in the preface to the book. Mick was quietly determined to experience the outer limits of human experience, and to help the families in remote communities who he met his high-altitude adventures. “From the very early days he pushed the boundaries,” his father Bruce told news.com.au. “He started climbing around the house when we lived on a rural allotment of land in Warrandyte, Victoria, where it’s very hilly with lots of cliffs.” Later, without Bruce’s knowledge, he graduated to 50m SEC (State Electricity Commission) towers, hauling himself up by the bolts on the sides. Mick felt deeply connected to nature and the bush, befriending lizards and beagles. His wild streak got him in some trouble at school, where he questioned teaching methods and pulled silly stunts with friends. “He was always trying to break his own records, in running in the early days,” said Bruce. “To see the expression on his face on the finish line knowing he had given everything he could was a bit unusual in someone his age. “He had a very strong social conscience. He was always conscious that someone was worse off. “He was very proud of being Australian. In later years, he took himself off into Central Australia and the north-west of the country. He had a four-wheel drive and was very comfortable with Aboriginal Australians. He understood how they had lived for thousands and thousands of years.” Everywhere he climbed, Mick spent time with locals. He felt a close bond with the people of Nepal and north Pakistan, and never had money because he gave it all away to them. Before his death, he had planned to start an organisation to transport teaching materials to the most remote communities. Children living there often had to travel two or three days to school, sleeping in the classroom for the week. For others, there was no school within reach, and their education consisted of village elders scratching rudimentary lessons in the dirt while the students huddled around. After his death, his parents set up The Michael Parker Foundation to fulfil his intentions. Its first project has been to build a hostel for children who have to travel to school, providing board and food. Later, staff hope to build a school, using local labour and rock. Bruce admitted that helping author James Knight with book was a challenge, but that he had to do it after every one of the son’s climbing friends told him that Mick’s story had to be told. “The hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life is going to Nepal to bring him home,” said Bruce. Knight has made a career writing about sports people at the top of their game. Mick was equally unique. His final climb up Makalu was a third attempt, thanks to appalling weather, one his climbing partner Roland Hunter said he would not have completed were it not for Mick’s total focus. Mick was clearly in pain, but no one realised that pain would prove to be fatal. Just one 8000m peak can be a lifetime’s accomplishment for many climbers, but for him there was always a fresh goal, one step further on. The summit of Makalu was bathed in sunlight on that day, and after an arduous but exhilarating journey to the top, for a moment he was standing on top of the world. “I understand how they feel,” said Bruce, a former military man who always encouraged his son to push a little harder, without being reckless. “Euphoria hits, and that compulsion to keep going.” He recounts that time that British mountain climber George Mallory was famously asked: “Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?” and replied: “Because it’s there”. “Mick was like that,” said Bruce. The Parkers hope for great success for the foundation, particularly after the Nepal earthquakes brought such devastation to the region. But that isn’t the only reason for the book about Mick. “Part of the reason is to encourage young people to think outside the square,” said Bruce. “That’s his legacy. If it serves to inspire other young people, Mick would be happy. And so would we.” Visit the Michael Parker Foundation website to donate or to buy the book. All proceeds will go to assist the education and ease the hardship of disadvantaged children in Nepal, Northern Pakistan and Australia.

Originally published as Standing on top of the world: The untold story of Australia’s most heroic climber