This oft repeated tale of love and loss in the mountains has shaped Max’s life. Torn told the story from a new vantage: that of a son. It is to date his most significant work, a defining project that introduced Max Lowe to the world. Lowe himself was open about his desire to remain well-rounded, not to specialize in any particular style of climbing. We will go over there and retrieve the bodies. They’re not completely out of the ice, but I think things might change in the next five or six weeks before we can get over there. We’ll put on crampons, and go up the glacier, and retrieve the bodies. Then, we’ll find a place to have a cremation, a pyre according to local customs. This is what both Alex and David’s parents want, and they believe this is the right thing to do for both of them. Do you have a favorite memory of Alex that you could share?

Bisharat, Andrew (2 May 2016). "Climbing Partner Remembers the Legendary Alex Lowe". Archived from the original on May 14, 2016.Lowe was survived by his wife Jennifer and three sons, Max, Sam, and Isaac. The Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation was established in his honor to provide direction and financial support to humanitarian programs in mountain regions around the world. Their work includes the Khumbu Climbing Center for indigenous people of Nepal. [9] Torn” becomes, in the end, less a movie about mountain climbing and more about the seemingly insurmountable obstacles that trauma and grief placed in this family’s path, and what it took to get around them. High in the Himalaya, a world-class adventurer dies, leaving a wife, three young sons and a best friend to cope with their grief...

But he does have a gravestone, and you see it 41 minutes into “Torn.” It’s at Shishapangma Base Camp, just below where an avalanche killed him in 1999. Shishapangma (26,335 ft.), Tibet. Alex Lowe and David Bridges were swept away by an avalanche in 1999, during their attempt to scale the world’s 14th highest peak, Shishapangma.

‘Torn’: The Alex Lowe Story

Khan Tengri, Kyrgyzstan (August 1993), solo ascent in 10 hours and 8 minutes (broke the former speed climbing record by four hours) I happily claim expertise in no single aspect of climbing,” Lowe famously said, “which is what has kept the passion burning hot all these years.” Better than most, his wife understands all that comes with being married to a climber, both the glorious and dark sides to their risk-reward equations.