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The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest
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| List Price: | £7.99 |
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Product Description
The real mountaineer's story behind the fatal Everest climbs of Into Thin Air. In May 1996 a number of expeditions attempted to climb Mount Everest on the Southeast Ridge route. Crowded conditions slowed their progress and late in the day 23 men and women, including the expedition leaders, were caught in a ferocious blizzard. Disorientated and out of oxygen, climbers struggled to find their way to safety. Alone and climbing blind, Anatoli Boukreev rescued a number of climbers from certain death. This honest and gripping account includes the transcript of the Mountain Madness debriefing, recorded five days after the tragedy, as well as G. Weston de Walt's response to Jon Krakauer.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #11261 in Books
- Published on: 2002-09-06
- Original language: English
- Binding: Paperback
- 400 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review
'Powerful...a breath of brisk, sometimes bitter clarity...Boukreev did the one thing that denies the void. He took action. He chose danger, and he saved lives.' New York Times Book Review; 'The best book l've read this year... The Climb has a story that will grip and haunt you.' Alex Garland, author of The Beach and The Tesseract
About the Author
Anatoli Boukreev was one of the world's foremost high-altitude mountaineers. For his heroic actions in May 1996, he was awarded the American Alpine Club's highest honour, the David A. Sowles Memorial Award. He died in an avalanche whilst climbing in Nepal in 1997. G. Weston Dewalt is a writer and documentary filmmaker.
Customer Reviews
A Heroic Man
If you are looking for a fair view of what happened on the mountain on that dreadful day 10th May 1996 then this is the book to read, but if you are after a book that takes you on a rollercoaster ride of those fateful hours then i'm afraid you will be very disappointed.
After reading this book I have an awful lot of admiration for Anatoli Bourkreev. The heroic effort he made to rescue as many eople off that mountain must never be forgotten.
The Climb is split into effectively 2 books. The first explains how Antoli was chosen for the expedition, the preparation that was involved and also the detail of what actually happened when the two teams of Rob Hall and Scott Fischer got tangled deep into the death zone.
The 2nd part of the book is spent justifying Anatoli's decisions, and defending the wild and mostly misdirected accusations directed at him by Jon Krakauer. This in it's self is very important, but unfortunately the same accusations are covered time and time again, but only from a different perspective. I found myself willing to get to the end of the book for this reason, which did slightly ruin the whole book for me.
Please make your own mind up, but be warned that the last half of the book can become a little tedious.
So good, i'm reading it again
When i bought this book i had no idea that it would keep my gripped for more than a 24 hours on a flight, reading without a pause but it did. Great book, well written (i am currently reading it for a second time). In addition it also provides a counter view to the contentious views that are expressed in 'into thin air'. A true story of human endurance, bravery, extreme conditions and business competition in a world where the price of failure is death. A truely human story about one of the great mountaineers of all time, who climbed without O2. Great read and everyone i know who has read it say the same, you just can't put it down until the story has been told in full.
A compelling read... Hard to put down...
This is one of the best book I have ever read - in it G.W. DeWalt and Boukreev, one of the legendary climbers of his time, have combined to make this book a gripping, compelling read. It was immensely difficult to tear myself away from it. Having read Into Thin Air by John Krakauer, which gives Krakauer's version of events on that fatal day, this book contrasts heavily to Krakauer's style of writing, in as good a way as possible. G.W. DeWalt has put Boukreev's account forward so well, I am moved to feel for Boukreev - who pulled off one of the most astounding mountaineering rescues of all time without oxygen - because he is unjustly villified over his actions on that fatal day by the media. In reading this, I have been compelled to change my mind over certain things - showing how well his account has been put across.
