Some context: Jean-Christophe Lafaille (31 March 1965 - 27 January 2006 [presumed]) was a French mountaineer noted for a number of difficult ascents in the Alps and Himalaya, and for what has been described as "perhaps the finest self-rescue ever performed in the Himalaya", when he was forced to descend the mile-high south face of Annapurna alone with a broken arm, after his climbing partner had been killed in a fall. He climbed eleven of the fourteen eight-thousand-metre peaks, many of them alone or by previously unclimbed routes, but disappeared during a solo attempt to make the first winter ascent of Makalu, the world's fifth highest mountain.
On the strength of his climbs in the Alps, Lafaille was invited on an expedition to Annapurna by Pierre Beghin, one of the leading French climbers of the day. The pair attempted the mountain's vast South Face following the monsoon season in October 1992 in Alpine style, with no Sherpa support, pre-stocked campsites or fixed ropes on the upper mountain. They had reached a height of 7,400 metres when bad weather forced them to descend. The pair made a series of abseils down the face, but due to their lightweight approach they had little protective equipment and were often forced to abseil from a single anchor to conserve equipment. On the fourth or fifth abseil, Beghin fell to his death when the single cam he was using as an anchor became dislodged from the rock. Beghin had been carrying most of the pair's technical equipment, including all the ropes, and Lafaille was left alone on the face, a vertical mile above safety. With great difficulty, Lafaille managed to climb down the 75 degree face to the pair's last bivouac site, where he found 20 metres of thin rope, allowing him to make short abseils down some of the hardest parts. With no technical equipment to use as anchors he was forced to entrust his weight to tent pegs or, on one occasion, a plastic bottle. He finally reached what should have been the relative safety of the top of a fixed rope which he and Beghin had installed on a steep rock band, but almost immediately he was struck by a falling rock, which broke his right arm. Disabled and helpless, he lay on a ledge for two days in the hope that other climbers would rescue him. However, while there was a Slovenian team attempting a route on a different part of the South Face, they judged that a rescue attempt would be too dangerous to undertake, so help never came. The cruellest thing about the ordeal, Lafaille said, was being able to see life in the valley below, and by night, the flashbulbs of trekkers' cameras. In spite of this, he later agreed that the Slovenians had made the right decision in not trying to save him. Eventually, with all hope of rescue gone, Lafaille resolved to continue down alone. He initially tried to continue abseiling, but unable to control the rope with only one hand and his teeth he reverted to downclimbing one-handed, and was utterly exhausted when he reached the Slovenian team's base camp. By that time the climbers at the base of the mountain had given up hope for him, and his first wife, Veronique, had already been told that he had died. Reinhold Messner later said that the survival instinct he showed was of the sort which defines the best mountaineers.
How long did he stay on the ledge?
A: for two days in the hope that other climbers would rescue him. However,
Some context: Norquist grew up in Weston, Massachusetts. He is the son of Carol (nee Lutz) and Warren Elliott Norquist (a vice president of Polaroid Corporation), and is of Swedish ancestry. His brother, David Norquist has served in senior posts in Republican administrations at both the United States Department of Defense and the United States Department of Homeland Security. Norquist became involved with politics at an early age when he volunteered for the 1968 Nixon campaign, assisting with get out the vote efforts.
Norquist is best known for founding Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in 1985, which he says was done at the request of then-President Ronald Reagan. Referring to Norquist's activities as head of ATR, Steve Kroft, in a 60 Minutes episode that aired on November 20, 2011, claimed that "Norquist has been responsible, more than anyone else, for rewriting the dogma of the Republican Party." The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP. ATR states that it "opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle." Americans for Tax Reform has supported Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, while opposing cap-and-trade legislation and efforts to regulate health care. In 1993, Norquist launched his Wednesday Meeting series at ATR headquarters, initially to help fight President Clinton's healthcare plan. The meeting eventually became one of the most significant institutions in American conservative political organizing. The meetings have been called "a must-attend event for Republican operatives fortunate enough to get an invitation", and "the Grand Central station of the conservative movement." Medvetz (2006) argues that the meetings have been significant in "establishing relations of...exchange" among conservative subgroups and "sustaining a moral community of conservative activists." As a nonprofit organization, Americans for Tax Reform is not required to disclose the identity of its contributors. Critics, such as Sen. Alan Simpson, have asked Norquist to disclose his contributors; he has declined but has said that ATR is financed by direct mail and other grassroots fundraising efforts. According to CBS News, "a significant portion appears to come from wealthy individuals, foundations and corporate interests."
what did ATR do?
A:
The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce government revenues as a percentage of the GDP.