Kokou no Hito 11

I just want to climb alone.

[Kokou no Hito 11 Translation by Kewl0210]
Page 23:
Title: 11th Climb Seeking Independent Action
SFX: Bah

Page 24:
SFX: Tah
Yumi: Wh-What!?
Didn't he fall, just now...!?
Mori: So...
Solo...
Title: 11th Climb Seeking Independent Action

Page 25:
Yumi: Aw, why won't it go through!!?
Mori-kun, wait here!
I'm gonna go call sensei!!!
Mori: You don't need a rope or a belayer.
Just climb by yourself...
Can you really do that...!!?
Manager: Whew, so you were up here...? I've been looking for you for a while.

Page 26:
Manager: Yo.
Mori: ..........
Manager: I saw you climb.
For a first time, you really did pretty well.
But you mustn't throw the rope away like that.
That's a complete act of suicide.
Mori: ...I'm going home.

Page 27:
Manager: A long time ago, I, too, had a comrade that wanted to run solo, like you.
Mori: !!
Manager: Has it really been 40 years since then...?
高度経済成長期
It was a time of high economic growth in Japan...
皆 社会の歯車になることを強制され窮屈な時代だったんだ...
It was a constrained age where everyone was obligated to become a cog of society...
In order to escape the those fetters of obligation,
we climbers took out all our pent up energy on mountains.
「毎日新聞」1956年5月18日付
Top thing, I guess citing the source: "Mainichi Newspaper" May 18th 1956
初登攀がニュースで流れる時代だった
Manager: It was an age where climbing untrodden places was big news.
山は誰もが英雄になれるチャンスがあったんだ
Mountains were a chance for anyone to become famous.

Page 28:
Manager: That was January of '67.
谷川岳 足を踏み入れた
A company kouhai and I set foot on Mount Tanigawa.
TL Note: If you're not already aware, kouhai means a junior, someone less experienced in the situation (here, company). The opposite, senior, is senpai.
厳冬期の滝沢第三スラブ
Manager: Our goal was the mid-winter Takizawa third slab---
Said to be unclimbable, Japan's most difficult ice wall----
Whoever: Pretty soon we're gonna be famous!!!
SFX: Gah

Page 29:
Manager: Got it!? The first one to climb it's gonna be me!![I'm sure they'll say his name eventually]
お前も必ず引っ張り上げてやるからな
I'll definitely pull up up too, Iijima!!
Iijima: ...Right!!!
SFX: KAAAAAN KAAAAAN
Manager: Huh...?
SFX: JIWA

Page 30:
Manager: ------!!!!
SFX: DOH
気温の上昇が雪崩を引き起こした
A rise in temperature had caused an avalanche!!
太平洋側と日本海側の空気が直接ぶつかる位置にあり
Mount Tanigawa was in a place where the air from the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan would directly collide.
UO------H
世界で最も気象の変化の激しい山なのだ
It is the mountain with the most violent changes in weather in the world.

Page 31:
Iijima: ...Sen
Senpai...
Yoshida Senpai!!! [There we go. The manager's name is Yoshida.]
Yoshida: ---------!!!
Iijima: Are you all right, senpai!!?
Yoshida: !!!

Page 32:
I-Iijima...
I get it, he stopped me with the rope...!!
W-What about yoooou!!?
Are you okay!?
Iijima: I'm fine.
I was underneath an overhang so I was able to avoid getting swept up in the avalanche!!
Senpai, can you climb uuuuup!?
Yoshida: Y-Yeah.
!!!
Iijima: What's wrong, senpai!!?
Yoshida: I lost my damn ice axe...
It's impossible for me to climb anymore...

Page 33:
このまま下の確保点まで降ろしてくれ...
Sorry. Could you lower me down to the safe point, below...
Iijima: All right, there!! Next is your turn!!!
SFX: Zakuh
SFX: Basah
Yoshida: !!?
SFX: KAAN
Yoshida: I-Iijima...!!?

Page 34:
Iijima: I'm going on alone!!
If I let this chance slip away, I'll regret it for the rest of my life!!!
Yoshida: Y-You idiot!
Climbing alone, without even a rope, is an act of suicide! Come back...!!!
Iijima: ...!!!
SFX: KAAN
Yoshida: Are you not listening to your senpai!!?
This is an order, come baaaaack!!!!

Page 35:
SFX: KAAN
Yoshida: !!!
He disappeared into the fog.
Iijimaaaaaaa
The next time we met was three years later----
SFX: Kaaan kaaan
Whoever: Heey!! I found hiiiiim!!
Yoshida: !!
深い谷底の万年雪の中だった
it was in perennial snow at the bottom of a deep ravine----

Page 36:
Guy: So he fell into this valley and failed in climbing to the peak.
もし成功していれば尾根筋か下山ルートで見つかるはずだ
If he'd succeeded we should have found him on a ridge line or the descention route.
Yoshida: Y-You...
Goddamn idioooot!!
Why did you have to be so rash!!!!?
Mori: ..........
Yoshida: With a rope tied to me, I survived.
And Iijima, who threw away the rope and chose to climb solo, died.
行き着く先は常に死だ
Solo climbing always leads to death.
There's no one to save you, no one to watch over you, you die alone.

Page 37:
Yoshida: Understand? Don't let go of the rope.
A person who cuts their ties with other people is a person who cannot live.
Iijima...
I still don't understand...
Back then, why did you run to do such a reckless act?
And why did your death have to be so meaningless...?
Mori: Hmm, but, that person...

Page 38:
Mori: He was able to climb alone.
[Owned.]
Yoshida: T-This facial expression,
it's absolutely...
From when I saw it that day in the snow,
isn't that the same as Iijima's dying face--!!!?

Page 39:
Mori: I'm going home, now.
Yoshida: W-Wait! This talk isn't over!!
Join the alpine club, "Team Baltoro", I'm chairing!!!
Mori: I decline.
Yoshida: Wha...
You're still a beginner!
Stop saying bad things and please listen to your senpai!!!
上とか下とか
Mori: Up, or down,
it's annoying.

Page 40:
Mori: Bye...
Yoshida: I-It can't be.
SFX: Gaku
Yoshida: The one who couldn't throw off all his fetters...
was me...?
Iijima...
You didn't want to become famous.
You just...
wanted to climb alone...?

Page 41:
Yoshida: Once again, I couldn't stop anyone...
No,
even if I had stopped him, it's useless.
Anywhere he goes,
he'll probably be alone...

Page 42:
Kokou no Hito
The Climber