I wanted to join the rest of you who knew Mizuki and extend my thoughts and wishes to you in memory of her. I'm an outsider to the Northwest climbing community but I shared Mizuki with you.
I climbed with Mizuki, and her friend, Anne, (along with a friend of mine), for a week in Ouray this past March. I met Mizuki over the internet when she responded to an open invitation I had posted on a few climbing sites about a trip to Ouray. Mizuki said she had injured her leg and was not able to make the Colorado trip she had joined earlier. She thought she would be recovered enough for my March trip to give Ouray a shot. After several e-mails about getting the trip together, we finally hooked-up in Ouray several weeks later when I picked Mizuki and Anne up at the Montrose airport.
In the car ride to the motel in Ouray, Mizuki seemed unexpectedly reserved and I wondered to myself what kind of week it would be. The first few hours of the trip were awkward. Our e-mails had been brief and centered mostly on logistics, with a little discussion here and there about what we might want to climb. I am a detail-guy and was continuously updating her on how plans were developing. In what I am sure was an unintended way, Mizuki made it clear that she cared little for details; all she wanted to do was climb - anything!!! all day!!! every day!!!
During the course of the week as our party of four climbed together and lived together, I think I got to know her much better and was impressed by her passion for climbing. Unlike many climbers I meet, Mizuki was aware of climbing history and tradition. She was an adventurer at heart, fully into the current one and always looking forward to the next one, including Denali.
I was also captivated by her warmth, her sense of humor and wonderful smile: her whole face lighting up, eyes matching mouth in a broad grin over my poorly told jokes and silly antics. Mizuki and I talked only a little about her leaving Japan but I sensed a sadness about some things left behind, unresolved.
During some of our casual monents in Ouray, when she and I talked about some of her climbs, Mizuki talked mostly about her partners, not the routes. For those who knew her, she displayed a certain joy in remembering climbing with you and her memories were first and foremost of her personal experiences with you. Her partners must have touched the same spark that lay within her.
I've seen reports regarding the accident on Denali that Mizuki met her partner over the internet. That is not surprising - it's the same way I met her. She was confident in her climbing skills, she seemed to know how to keep herself safe and I never saw her cut any corners. She was strong and determined. Who knows what happened on Denali? The only thing I feel certain about is that Mizuki knew what she was doing up in the hills.
I remember saying good-bye to Mizuki at the Montrose airport - this time very different from when we said hello, just a week earlier. We promised to climb again with each other, sometime, somewhere, maybe rock climbing, probably Ouray next year. In April, I got an e-mail from Mizuki asking if I wanted to meet her at Red Rocks in September. Again, no details, just "... airfares are cheap so, let's do it!" I immediately said OK and marked the dates on my calendar. She said she would get back in touch after Denali - I wished her luck in Alaska and asked her to remember to always climb safe.
The good-bye in Montrose was said to a climbing partner.
The "good-bye" said today is to a sister.
Like each of you, I'm left feeling a heavy loss, an irreplacable loss. The short time that I knew Mizuki, memories were made that will last - for me, they will last as long as Denali lasts. I won't see her in September but I am going to keep those dates that are written on my calendar so that I can see them - and, remember.
Peace, Mizuki.
Tom
