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Near the top of Mount Everest, on 10 May 1996, eight climbers died. It was the worst tragedy in the mountain's history. Lou Kasischke was there. Now he tells the harrowing story of what went wrong, as it has never been told before - including why the climbers were desperately late and out of time. His personal story, captured in the title AFTER THE WIND, tells about the intense moments near the top. These moments also revealed the love story that saved his life. In the spring of 1996, Lou Kasischke joined renowned climber Rob Hall's Mount Everest expedition. When he said goodbye to his wife, Sandy, he knew he faced major physical and mental challenges against rock, snow, ice, avalanches, and extreme high altitude to climb the highest mountain in the world. What Lou didn't know was that he also stood at the threshold of a living hell. Six weeks later near the top, things went wrong. Lou and his fellow climbers faced a challenge even greater than the mountain - the internal struggle about what to do when you are close but out of time. There were no second chances. Decisions were made. Some lived. Some died. It was the worst tragedy in Mount Everest history. Lou wrote his account of the events 16 years ago in the aftermath of the tragedy, but only now is he ready to let it go. He tells two stories. One is about the historic events. His perspective and analysis about what happened and what went wrong have never been told, and his account differs markedly from what others have written. The truth in the story depends on who is telling it. Lou also tells a very personal story about how he came back home. An inspiring story about where to go for inner strength when facing a tough decision. A story about his wife Sandy's part in his survival. A story about what he heard, after the wind - the voice of the heart. A love story. Show More
About the Author
Lou Kasischke has lived his entire life in Michigan, but his enduring love of the mountains and alpine endurance sports have taken him to many remote parts of the world, on all seven continents.
Lou's education includes a Bachelor of Arts degree in business and a Juris doctor degree in law from Michigan State University. Risk management was the major focus of his business degree from MSU. Already as a student, Lou was fascinated by risk, risk evaluation, and the concepts of taking and managing risk. For a career centered in finance analysis and law, he also became a certified public accountant and earned an advanced Master of Laws degree.
Lou's work career experiences were multi-dimensional. In law, this included 35 years with Dykema Gossett, a national law firm, as a specialist in corporate and tax law and in representing venture capital businesses. He authored a leading book on corporate law and was selected by his colleagues for all editions of The Best Lawyers in America, which represents about one percent of the nation's lawyers.
In business, Lou was a chief executive officer and a director and advisor to several major corporations on business and legal matters. His professional career, especially as a lawyer and a venture capital advisor, often focused on taking high-stakes business risks, managing risk, and making decisions with far-reaching consequences. This part of Lou's life made his several decades as a serious mountain climber a natural extension. And it also explains his perspective and the important purpose that led him to closely examine, analyze, and explain what went wrong on Everest and his experience of being there, based on the facts that matter and not on the sensational and irrelevant.
Lou is retired from law and business and lives with his wife, Sandy, on the northern shore of Lake Michigan. He remains active with alpine sports and other endurance challenges in the great outdoors.
