No Shortcuts to the Top

In May 2005, Ed Viesturs became the first American to climb the world’s 14 tallest peaks without the aid of supplemental oxygen.  Deemed Endeavor 8000, Viesturs chronicles his 18 year quest to stand atop these peaks without sacrificing his personal climbing beliefs. 

Quotable: “I believe that most accidents and death on the high peaks are due to human error….Ambition and desire overpowering common sense have killed many a Himalayan climber.  Our instincts have evolved over millions of years, instincts that kept our remote ancestors alive.  Humans with poor survival instincts got weeded out long ago, thorough natural selection.  The fight-or-flight instinct is a perfect example, passed down to us in our very genes.  I’ve learned I need to listen to my instincts.  The signals we receive from them are not imaginary.”

Adventure Rating: 5/5.  Famous for his motto, “Reaching the summit is optional.  Getting down is mandatory.”, Viesturs is a cautious climber who never hesitates to do what’s morally right on the mountain, even if it means sacrificing his own summit bid.  His memoir is personal and engaging and really gives the reader a sense of Ed’s true character.  His vivid recounts of the events in the 1996 Everest disaster shed even more light on those tragic days, yet his team’s ability to overcome adversity is truly inspiring.  With an interesting background and a wide array of subjects, this book is a must read for anyone.  Period.

On the Ridge Between Life and Death

By the age of 22, David Roberts had already been involved in three fatal climbing accidents.  He went on to pioneer new routes in Alaska and became a mentor for another famous climbing writer, Jon Krakauer.  In his powerful memoir, On the Ridge Between Life and Death, Roberts re-examines his life love of mountaineering and comes to new conclusions about the cost-benefit equation of this dangerous sport. 

Quotable: “During glum, reflective moments, I have sometimes brooded on the question of what mountaineering cost me, rather than what it gave me.  To be sure, climbing bestowed on me….the three most important and lasting friendship of my adult life.  But what other friendships have I let wither and die….In my narcissism, what opportunities for love and compassions have I left slip through my fingers?  Whom might I have helped or comforted, had my own “needs” not come first.  In particular—and these are dark and scary waters for me—I wonder whether I might have been a better husband to Sharon had I not been such a fanatic climber.  And a better son to my parents.” 

Adventure Rating: 4.5/5.  Roberts has authored seventeen books on mountaineering and has been called a “dean of modern adventure writing.”  He has also co-authored a number of books, including No Shortcuts to the Top with Ed Viesturs.  In terms of eloquence and introspection, Roberts can’t be beat.  In this book particularly, he answers some tough questions and looks at his past tragedies with a fresh set of eyes.  Roberts is a superb writer, and this book is full of excitement and drama, but also has a healthy perspective on reality and risk, which is sometimes lacking in other adventure narratives. 

High Exposure

David Breashears is a mountaineer and filmmaker whose climbing career has taken him on many exotic adventures.  As the director of an IMAX film on Everest in 1996, he offers great insight into the fateful events of those tragic days.  He also discusses his early days of training and his constant struggle with balancing his quest for knowledge with the ever present danger of the mountains. 

Quotable: “The stresses of high-altitude climbing reveal your true character; they unmask who you really are.  You no longer have all the social graces to hide behind, to play roles.  You are the essence of what you are.”

Adventure Rating: 4/5.  Breashears’ autobiography is an interesting and engaging read.  From his early beginnings in to his ultimate triumph of filming an IMAX movie on Everest during the deadliest season in history, his stories are never dull.  At face value this could seem like yet another book about the ’96 Everest disaster, but it offers so much more.  With in-depth and frank discussion about the allure of climbing, High Exposure won’t disappoint.

A Life on the Edge: Memoirs of Everest and Beyond

As the first American to stand on the top of Mount Everest, Jim Whittaker is often heralded as one of the original pioneers of modern day mountaineering.  He grew up in Seattle, and together with his twin brother, honed life skills in his own backyard.  In A Life on the Edge, Whittaker explores his many adventures, from early beginnings on Mt. Rainier to his roller coaster friendship with the Kennedys to rebuilding a life after financial ruin.

Quotable: “In the mountains, the “church” is all around you….You cannot travel the world and experience new customs and religions…without eventually concluding that there is no single, “true” path to God. There are as many paths as there are searchers for the way, and part of the essence of being a spiritual being lies in treating other travelers on that road as you would have them treat you – with an open mind and a compassionate heart. These days all I know is that the more I explore the world and its faiths, the less anxious and the more humble I become.”

Adventure Rating: 4/5.  Whittaker does a great job of creating an interesting and engaging read.  His life has been full of twists and turns and he clearly shows no intentions of slowing down.  He gives insight into many interesting people and events that have changed climbing history – including some tragedies of his own.  Whittaker spares no detail yet manages to stay away from boring details that can plague other books. Especially interesting to Seattle natives is his role in REI, and how he expanded it from a one man operation the the mammoth beast it is today.  Now pushing 70, Whittaker is a guy who would never stops in his quest for knowledge and adventure.  I’d like to buy him a beer.

The Climb

In 1996, Anatoli Boukreev was serving as a guide on Mount Everest under the Mountain Madness expedition led by Scott Fischer.  Widely criticized in Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, this is Boukreev’s opportunity to paint his own picture of the tragic events of that fateful day. 

Quotable: “I had Charlotte on my arm, back, head, wherever, and I couldn’t see where to go.  And I also didn’t have the strength to drag or carry her to camp.  She refused to walk.  So…we sad down for a second, and then I heard a month about fifteen, twenty…feet behind us, which was the Japanese girl.  So I went back and I grabbed her and brought her to where Charlotte was….the plan at this point was just to sit still and hope somebody would come back for us.” 

Adventure Rating: 3/5.  To anyone who has read Into Thin Air, it seems obvious that Boukreev was nothing but an irreverent and irresponsible guide who contributed to the tragedy of Everest in 1996.  However, his book presents an entirely different picture, convincingly portraying Boukreev and a committed and reliable mountain guide.  Unlike Krakauer, Boukreev relies on the first hand accounts of survivors, specifically through the transcript of the taped debriefing that took place a few days after the tragedy.  Understandably dry and lacking in gossip and drama, Climb presents a very believable and un-glamorized version of the ’96 events.  Boukreev was awarded the American Alpine Club’s highest honor for his hard work to save lives at the top of the world, and his account of the ordeal is worth reading. 

Lost on Everest

In June of 1924, George Mallory and “Sandy” Irvine set out to conquer the top of the world.  Last seen around 1pm just shy of the summit, it is unknown if they ever reached the top, and what transpired to lead to their untimely deaths.  In March of 1999, an expedition set out to find the bodies of these climbers and searches to find answers long hidden by Everest. 

Adventure Rating: 2/5.  Firstbrook is a good author and is clearly well researched, but unless you’re a history buff this book isn’t for you.  Heavy on facts and lacking in drama or excitement, this book has just enough to keep you reading but not enough to be engaging.  Spoiler Alert: They find Mallory’s body and go so far as to hypothesize that he did summit and died on the descent, but ultimately we’ll never know.  Skip this book, and Google “Mallory’s Body” online if you’re hungry for more information. 

Into Thin Air

Perhaps the most popular Adventure Mountaineering book ever written, Into Thin Air chronicles the deadliest season in Mount Everest’s history.  The mountain was crowded in 1996, with hundreds of sherpas, guides, clients, and a team making an IMAX film.  Desperate with “summit fever,” too many people set out on the morning of May 10th.  The combination of overcrowding, oxygen deprivation, and bad decisions all culminated to result in the loss of 12 lives and changed the climbing community forever.

Quotable: “I’d always known that climbing mountains was a high-risk pursuit.  I accepted that danger was an essential component of the game—without it, climbing would be little different from a hundred other trifling diversions.  It was titillating to brush up against the enigma of mortality, to steal a glimpse across its forbidden frontier. Climbing was a magnificent activity, I firmly believed, not in spite of the inherent perils, but precisely because of them.  Until I visited the Himalaya…I’d never actually seen death at close range….Mortality had remained a conveniently hypothetical concept…but when it finally happened the shock was magnified by the sheer superfluity of the carnage: all told, Everest killed twelve men and women in the spring of 1996, the worst single-season death toll since climbers first set foot on the peak seventy-five years ago.”

Adventure Rating: 5/5.  Jon Krakauer does an excellent job dramatizing this epic story of tragedy and loss.  He is able to paint vivid pictures and his very personal account puts the reader right on the mountain as the drama unfolds.  Unfortunately, Krakauer was admittedly struggling with oxygen deprivation and, while he presents his story as factual, the reader has to be aware that some of his accounts are questionable and it well always be a mystery as to waht exactly happened on that fateful day.  Having recently re-read this book and I can now appreciate that perhaps Krakauer wrote too quickly, without allowing an adequate amount of time to properly reflect on the events of that day.  However, overall this is a must-read for anyone who is even remotely interested in mountaineering.  It is a story of death and sadness but also a hopeful tale of teamwork and friendship wrought from tragedy. 

Touching the Void

In this unbelievable but true story, Joe Simpson describes his suffering and ultimate survival after his climbing partner, Simon Yates, is forced to cut the rope.  Plunging deep into a crevasse but surviving the fall, Simpson manages to find reserves to crawl to safety.

Quotable: “Everything slowed and softened.  Thoughts became idle questions, never answered.  I accepted that I was to die.  There was no alternative.  IT caused me no dreadful fear. I was numb with cold and felt no pain; so senselessly cold that I craved sleep and cared nothing for the consequences….Reality had become a nightmare, and sleep beckoned insistently; a black hold calling me, pain-free, lost in time, like death.

Adventure Rating: 4.5/5.  If you’re a climber, you know the rope represents life and death for climbers.  When Yates is forced to cut it, he breaks all the rules.  Although it is ultimately the right decision, Yates was raked over the coals in the media initially, until Simpson came to his defense.  This memoir offers non-stop action and a glimpse at the ultimate power of human will.  Simpson is a strong writer and is able to “take you there” with him on his emotional journey.  Yates also contributes and the resulting story is one of friendship, tragedy, and new beginnings. 

Everest: Alone at the Summit

In 1988, Stephen Venables and three climbing partners set out to climb Everest’s Kangshung Face.  With little chance of success, the team was nevertheless set on achieving the impossible.  Exhausted from many weeks of route setting and weather struggles, Venables finally reaches the summit – alone.  After a forced bivy at 28,000 feet, he rejoins his team and together they struggle to get back to base camp alive. 

Quotable: “I slumped over again, gasping with exhaustion.  The wind was flinging snow at me and I was starting to shiver…There’s no-one to help me.  Either I  get myself down or I die.  It would be so easy to die—just lie down here and rest and soon the wind would kill me.  It would be the easiest thing in the world…”

Adventure Rating: 4/5.  The most refreshing part of this book is that it’s not about the 1996 Everest disaster.  It tackles topics of extreme challenge, teamwork, and survival.  The success of climbing the Kanshung face with such a small team is almost unmatched, and this exciting narrative really captures the heart that goes into such an ordeal.    

Savage Summit

Located on the boarder of China and Pakistan, K2 is the worlds 2nd tallest mountain.  By far one of the most dangerous and unforgiving places on earth, K2 has allured climbers for centuries.  In Savage Summit, Jennifer Jordan chronicles the lives of the 5 women who have managed to stand at the summit of K2, and how thier obsession led to thier demise.

Quotable: “K2 has always been a mystical mountain, and one of its earliest explorers and climbers, Aleister Crowley, was a self proclaimed worshiper of the devil whom he called “the Beast 666.” …his climbing skills, antics, and oddities were legend and became woven into the tantalizing fabric of the “Savage Mountain…eerily interesting is the chronology of the women’s history on K2.  In 1986 Wanda Rutkiewicz became the first woman to climb K2.  Six years later she perished while climbing Kangchenjunga.  That same year, 1992, Chantal Mauduit became the first woman since Rutkiewicz to climb K2 and made it down alive.  Then six years later, she died while attempting Dhaulagiri.  Now in 2004, six years after Mauduit died, there is finally a sixth female summiter (Pasaban).  With only slight apology to the realists in the crowd, one can make a case for there being, in the very least, and uncomfortable coincidence with the numbers and perhaps even make suggestion that Pasaban would be wise to choose a sea-level excursion in the year 2010.” 

Adventure Rating: 3.5/5.  Jennifer Jordan does an excellent job in researching and really knowing the women of her book.  She presents Wanda Rutkiewicz, Lillian Berrard, Julie Tullis, Chantal Mauduit, and Alison Hargreaves as they were: wives and mothers who made many sacrifices and questionable decisions in their quests for greatness.  Jordan doesn’t romanticize their journeys; in fact she goes so far as to admit disappointment in some of the women’s choices.  Summit is a very interesting read and perfect for someone interested in the history of women’s climbing.

Addicted to Danger

Jim Wickwire was the first American to reach the summit of K2, and then managed to survive a night on the mountain above 28,000 feet.  IN this memoir, he describes that experience, and explores the nature of his addiction to climbing.

Quotable: “Why did I keep climbing, subjecting myself to such risk in the face of all those good friends dead - and for what?  I had spend my life striving to make my existence, if not unique, at least above the ordinary.  After losing so many friends, mountain summits seems an absure target for my ambitions, yet I could not break the habbit.  I thought a lot about the role dealth played in my climbing.  Was I pursuing some kind of death wish?  I concluded I climbed not becuase I wanted to die, but because I wanted to know death, to understand it.”

Adventure Rating: 2.5/5.  Maybe I’m just on overkill with reading these books, but Wickwire’s memoir comes off as repetitive and uninteresting.  He seems confused when writing about the past, and as a reader that translates to confusion as to what he’s trying to communicate.  It’s also easy to become frustrated with his constant wavering between committment to and the quitting of climbing.  As with the other books, it has exciting moments and does lend insight into the soul of a climber  except with Wickwire you get the sense that he’s perhaps not the brightest crayon in the box.

Left For Dead

In this memoir, Beck Weathers describes his harrowing ordeal on Mount Everest in the 1996 disaster.  Having been left for dead, Weathers managed to rouse himself and miraculously stumbled into salvation at the high camp. 

Quotable: “I thought I was inured to the idea of dying on the mountain.  Such a dealth may even have seemed to me to have a romantic and noble quality. But even though I was prepared to die, I just wasn’t ready….I knew at that instant, with absolute clarity, that if I did not stand at once, I would spend an eternity on that spot.”

Adventure Rating: 2/5.  This book is interesting and lends some insight into Beck’s struggles on the mountain, but his story has basically already been told in Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air.  Weathers’ book is light on the adventure and heavy on background and family information.  Seeing as images of his family got him through his worst moments, his nostalgia is understandable, yet dull.  He also doesn’t speak much about recovering from his life-changing injuries.  Overall, Dead is an interesting read, but lacks the insight and urgency that make books of this genre so hard to put down.