Genre Verbal Lore, Proverb
Language English
Country of Origin United States
Informant Billy Boyle
Date Collected February 25, 2018
Collected by Daniel McClafferty
Informant Data
Billy Boyle is an employee at Zimmermann’s The North Face. He was born in 1953 in Germany, but he grew up on American military bases. He participated in the Boston Appalachian Mountain Club of the Boston Chapter, where he organized slideshows that introduced many world-famous mountaineers such as Doug Scott, Charles Houston, and David Breashears.
Contextual Data
This proverb was used in a generation or two older than our informant to explain the tight-knit community among climbers. Our informant said now there are stories of tourists on Everest being left behind, but that is not actually the case. The informant also noted that this is a proverb that has slowly disappeared from the climbing community.
Item
The Brotherhood of the Rope