Touching My Father's Soul: A Sherpa's Journey to the Top of Everest

Rating:
Summary: A spiritual jouney to the top
Review: A book on loan from a friend who returned my DVD movie of Vertical Limit with this book as "interest on the loan." And what a payback! Throughout the whole book we are treated to not only a story of climbing a mountain, but we are given insight into a spiritual quest and a peek at the lives of the Sherpa people.

The story starts out to chronicle the IMAX filming expedition of Everest in 1996 lead by David Breashers. And while that goal is accomplished, we also learn of the superstitions, faith, and spirituality of the Sherpa people. We learn too that the modern world has taken its toll on those people in the same way that it has affected most of our world.

But Jamling Norgay tells us his own story as well. We learn of his lost faith as he studies here in the US and then how he regains respect for the religion of his youth as he prepares for the expedition. We are privileged to learn of the ritual offerings, and given insight into the "forecast" of the lamas. All of this is done in a spell-binding, can't put the book down way. An entertaining and informative read.

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Summary: Three books in one
Review: Excellent book! The way I view it, it's 3 books in 1: a book about Tenzing's climb and personal life told by his
son, a book about his son's 1996 climb and his life and thoughts, and a book on Sherpa's life and Buddhist
customs. I really enjoyed reading it. The photographs include some photos of Tenzing as well.

Rating:
Summary: Norbu's reading voice makes Sherpa world come alive
Review: Four audio tapes read by Norbu Tenzing (Jamling's older brother) energize this inspiring tale of a son's search for his father's spirit. Norbu, an experienced film narrator, brings a smooth, authentic Darjeeling Sherpa accent to Broughton Coburn's beautifully written text.

We learn that Tenzing was 51 when Jamling was born in 1965. Although Tenzing's six living children enjoyed a good education and family closeness, Father Tenzing was distant. When Tenzing died at age 72 in 1986, Jamling was a college student with many unanswered questions about his father's life and values. Jamling became a capable mountaineer & a father himself. He struggled to overcome doubt in his parents' profound Nyingmapa Buddhist values while retaining his own educated worldview.

That struggle ended during the disasterous 1996 Everest season. After many setbacks, while climbing through fierce winds past the dead bodies of failed climbers, Jamling's heart opened to his father's protectress: Miyolangsangma, goddess of Chomolangma. Jamling not only summitted Everest, his father's mountain; he also entered the inner heart of his father's Buddhist reality. Listeners who love the Himalaya. Buddhism, and Sherpa Culture will thrill this compelling interior and exterior adventure. (...)

Rating:
Summary: His dad would be proud.
Review: Jamling Tenzing Norgay is many things. He is a husband, father, climber, Buddhist, featured star of the IMAX film Everest and last, and by no means least, son of the Tenzing Norgay, the Sherpa who in 1953 summated Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary. His book, Touching My Father's Soul: A Sherpa's Guide to the Top of Everest (told with Broughton Coburn), is his successful attempt to relate and reconcile these identities.

Throughout this is a very personal account in every sense. It is a tale of his life, his father's life, his climb to the top of Everest, his father's climb to the top of Everest and his attempts to address his feelings about his upbringing, family and flagging religious beliefs. Added to this mix is the literal and emotional climate of the Everest summit attempt during the tragic spring of 1996.

He relates his story in a manner which makes for a very interesting, inspirational and insightful read. He moves fluidly from his climb to his father's, from his life to his family's, from his spiritual issues to the material world, from the tragedy to his personal investment in being a climbing Sherpa, without losing the overarching narrative.

The famous and fateful climb of the IMAX and other teams in 1996 during and after the tragic events of that climbing year are well known, but Jamling gives us some further insight and perspective into those events.

Rating:
Summary: Three books in one
Review: Nor what I expected and rather a disappointment, this books seems to be a local writer and a son cashing in on the family name. There is little excitement or depth of character exhibited here and the work seems unlikely to be that of a man Himalayan born and bred. Who actually wrote these words ? Whose thoughts are they ? Not Sherpa thoughts I think.
Far better is another book I have just read - Tenzing and the Sherpas of Everest by Tenzing's grandson, Tashi - an uplifting and honourable book about the Sherpas. It is simple and seems to me to truly represent the Sherpa viewpoint. This guy seems to be a true climber and talks like one. A far better book than Jamling's.

Rating:
Summary: More offensive than informative
Review: Norgay did a good job giving us a glimpse into the culture and religion of living at the bast of Mt Everest. It gave great perspective on the Sherpas and is a great follow-up, if you've already read Krakauer.

Using his father's experience as a parallel was refreshing. Even if you don't have a personal interest in climbing a mountain, Norgay's desire to understand his father through his climbing experience is something we can relate to in our own lives.

Rating:
Summary: The Best of the Everest '96 Books
Review: Perspective - that's the real key this book gives one with respect to the disaster of Everest '96. Many books have been written, from the bigger than life action thriller angle of "Into Thin Air", the defensive shield of "The Climb", the horrific cringe of "Left for Dead" on through the somewhat egotistical air of Lene Gammellgard's book. But to me, "Touching My Father's Soul" is the best of the lot.

This book is not fast moving, nor impressively dramatic but it is exceedingly real. Having been born a Sherpa, raised in India and schooled in America, Jamling brings us a unique perspective on the events. I've read countless books written by westerners that attempt to describe the culture of the Sherpa, but none compare with this book.

Rating:
Summary: The Best of the Everest '96 Books
Review: Perspective - that's the real key this book gives one with respect to the disaster of Everest '96. Many books have been written, from the bigger than life action thriller angle of "Into Thin Air", the defensive shield of "The Climb", the horrific cringe of "Left for Dead" on through the somewhat egotistical air of Lene Gammellgard's book. But to me, "Touching My Father's Soul" is the best of the lot.

This book is not fast moving, nor impressively dramatic but it is exceedingly real. Having been born a Sherpa, raised in India and schooled in America, Jamling brings us a unique perspective on the events. I've read countless books written by westerners that attempt to describe the culture of the Sherpa, but none compare with this book.

Rating:
Summary: A Sherpa Man Finds his Spiritual and Family Roots
Review: This book was absorbing emotionally and stimulating intellectually. It is the only book about the 1996 Mount Everest disaster written by a Sherpa, the indigenous people who work as porters and guides for commercial expeditions. I have read about five of the books written after the disaster, and wondered about the Sherpa point of view as there was surprisingly little mention of them.

The other books only mentioned them in passing and in terms of what the Sherpas did for the expedition. Jamling Tenzig Norgay, the author, experiences this attitude. After the disaster, he and his team stay at Base Camp. He wrote, "The other Sherpas were hanging out in a depressed funk. Some of them hadn't gotten so much as a thank-you from the guided clients whom they assisted down the mountain, often after exceptional struggle. The clients simply disappeared, some without saying goodbye. We notice this kind of behavior."

Norgay was skeptical about Buddhism at the beginning of the climb- but gradually came to believe in it. He requests and receives divinations from llamas- and uses their information as part of his decision-making. The book provides fascinating beginner's information that is accessible to someone like me who is just learning about Buddhism. He describes spirituality in a practical matter.

For example, he says, "in the icefall, as in the mountains, we hope we have been imbued with enough tsin-lap to handle any situation. Tsin-lap is roughly translated as "blessing", but it really means the mental ability and strength to allow our minds to be changed in the direction of complete awareness. When we pray to the wisdom deities, to the Buddhas, we pray for tsin-lap." He talks about the fact that he and the other Sherpas who carry loads for the team hike over each trail numerous times. This improves their athletic ability and knowledge of the mountain.

Norgay, spent over a decade in the United States and was also deeply familiar the clients who were paying to climb the mountains who were mostly from industrialized countries. The author does not idealize the Sherpas. He describes the positive parts of their culture, but also tells the reader that the main reason they are on the mountain is as a profession. It is to earn money. He explains that many of the Sherpas risked their lives for their clients during the disaster. But some expected a large award to be posted on the radio. It is not clear whether they might have saved the lives of their guide had an award been offered. Wong Chu, the sirdar responsible for logistics, kept a stick in the kitchen and "would whack miscreant Sherpas on the butt when they acted up. `You came here to do work.' he would say loudly."

Norgay is the son of Tenzing Norgay Sherpa who accompanied Edmund Hillary on the first successful attempt of the summit of Mount Everest. His story is interwoven with his father's story. And by the end of the book, you can see that the son had climbed two mountains- a real one and the metaphorical on that each of us must climb to integrate our past with our present and future.

Rating:
Summary: No need to wonder any more why some people "do it"
Review: This is the story of a spiritual journey as much as a physical one. Both are fascinating, and tightly interwoven. Jon Karakaeur, in the book's forward, called it one the best of the books written after the 1996 season and tragedies on Everest. I think Krakauer, who wrote a gripping and compelling account himself, is correct. It tells the Sherpas' story of their relationship with the mountain brilliantly.

Much of it is very similar in text to Broughton Coburn's "Everest: Mountain Without Mercy", the official book of the IMAX filming expedition, of which Jamling was a team member. Yet it offers a more personal account well worth reading.