A Mountain Of Grief Six Years Without My Son

Jo Patti Sets The Record Straight.

- Lynley Ward

Jo Patti cherishes the days she spent with her son Denali celebrating his graduation before he headed to the roof of the world - all the while harbouring a deep foreboding that she would never see him again.

A treasured photo from 2013 is tucked in her wallet, the dashing 25-year-old artist in full academic regalia, smiling, a colourful floral lei draped around his neck.

“He had just graduated top of his class at California College of the Arts; it was such a celebratory 10 days we spent together before he left,” tells his proud mum. “He wanted to teach and paint, and marry adventure sports with art.”

Tragically, a few weeks later on K2, the second highest peak in the world, the skilled skier perished alongside his mountaineering guide father Marty Schmidt, attempting to summit in chest-deep snow, conditions considered too dangerous by other climbers who refused to go on.

It’s a painful period in her life. But now, almost six years after the treacherous peak in Pakistan’s Karakoram range claimed the lives of her exhusband and son, Jo has reached a place of acceptance.

The American-born Kiwi has returned to New Zealand to promote her latest book, Getting off the X, and tells the Weekly it’s time to set the record straight about what happened on that ill-fated expedition, for the sake of her son.

“There was a lot of spin that had come out in the media after his death that was actually inaccurate, and nobody asked me. Honestly, I didn’t want to talk to media for years.

“But I would like to set the record straight now.”

She says after completing a ski patrol qualification at Wanaka’s Tai Poutini Polytech, Denali worked in the United States and Australia for two years to test the waters. It was during this time he had decided against an alpine career.