Linda Wylie

Linda Wylie, who lived with Anatoli Boukreev in Santa Fe, is presented through a small number of sharply defined moments: shared anticipation of his winter expedition, a farewell before his departure, and her journey to Nepal after news of the avalanche. Her actions connect the domestic life awaiting Boukreev’s return with the search that followed his disappearance.

Life with Boukreev

Wylie was Boukreev’s girlfriend and was living with him in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The account places her within the circle that followed his plans for Nepal. On Christmas Day, 1997, she joined the narrator and cinematographer Dyanna Taylor on a climb of Atalaya Mountain. Their thoughts turned repeatedly to Nepal and to the anticipated summit attempt Boukreev and Simone Moro would make as the full moon approached.

Farewell and separation

On November 14, 1997, Boukreev and the narrator said goodbye in the lobby of a Seattle hotel. Boukreev was leaving for Nepal to attempt a winter ascent of Annapurna I; the narrator was returning home. They expected to meet again in Santa Fe the following spring. The narrator records that this reunion never happened, giving the planned return a finality that was not apparent at their farewell.

Search after the avalanche

News reached Santa Fe late on December 26, following the avalanche that left Boukreev and Dimitri Sobolev missing. Two days later, Wylie departed for Nepal to contribute what she could to the search. The searchers hoped that the two men might have dug themselves out of the debris and reached a surviving Camp I tent, where food, stoves, and high-altitude clothing could sustain them until rescuers arrived. The account presents this hope as the immediate purpose of Wylie’s journey, without claiming that she found them.

Public remembrance

Wylie also took part in a public presentation about Boukreev: she was arranged to share a microphone with him and read his presentation to the audience. Alongside her role as his partner and as a participant in the search, this episode places her within the work of conveying his account to others. Her appearances are few, but together they trace a movement from shared plans and expected reunion to practical involvement in the search and remembrance after his disappearance.