Rating: 
Summary: Breashears is a bit much.
Review: I developed a passion for reading true accounts of climbing Mount Everest when my brother accidently left his copy of "Into Thin Air". I then bought "Left for Dead" and "High Exposure". David Breashears' account is not what I was looking for in a book about Mt. Everest. He writes with passion about that which he knows best...himself. This is more an autobiography and discription of his life than adventure story. What I didn't like is his failure to explore why he climbs. He doesn't drag the reader into the kind of madness that propels you to the top of the world, it's more like he sits you in his living room and shows you his slides. If you want something more Jack London, read Jon Krakauer's books, all of them.
Rating: 
Summary: Great to read how he became who he is
Review: The book focus on and has greater depth in the subject of climbing and filming. It felt a little too narrative and superficial sometime. One aspect I find lacking is the expression of his feelings and character. We know that David is not perfect, he admitted to be very demanding and could be rather explosive in temperament. But we do not get much insight on that but have to read between the lines to find out.Strangely, he talked much about his father, who appeared to be just an unpleasant distant memory, someone he had little feelings, yet he hardly mentioned his mother and how close was their relationship. He said that he had a great time with Veronique when working side by side with each other and he worked her very hard, but no details to illustrate. His marriage failure told much about a man whose passion for the mountains was much greater than his love for his wife. There is no right or wrong, everyone makes choices and bears the responsibility of such choices. This book is about how a man became what and who he is now. It has much details on how he climbed higher each time and how his skills evolved to be who he is today. But if you want to see the man beyond his achievement, you only get some clues, which only whet your appetite for curiosity. Maybe that's the angle of the book, to focus on how and what he achieved, than on anything too personal.
Rating:
Summary: Exciting stories, weak context
Review: This book reads like an exciting diary, but no more. My problem with the book is that it never provides much context, much history. It provides a linear description of the author's exciting life. It would be better if he would use the various historical benchmarks - perhaps the Mallory attempt - to provide some broader context. Even understanding the differences between climbing in 1924 and 1986 are ignored. This is perhaps because no significant research was put into this book. It appears lifted straight out of his diaries or memory. Mind you, I admitt it is an EXCITING story, but the writing is somewhat less than polished. Contrast my comment with A Walk In the Woods. In this story, Bryson takes time to explain the detailed context of the AT's history. He provides information on the Deleware Water Gap, for example that goes beyond his own diary experience. This is what is lacking in High Exposure.
Rating: 
Summary: excellent
Review: Some people will say that David Breashears is trying to capitalize off the May '96 Everest disaster. No way. Breashears was an accomplished mountaineer and filmaker before that fateful day and will continue to achieve long after the general public has moved on to the next big thing. 'High Exposure' tells us about a boy who loved something (mountaineering), went after it, and grew up to be one of the best at what he does. Breashears is who he is in spite of what happened in May of 1996, not because of it.
Rating:
Summary: excellent read
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's well-written, and flows easily. It contains a nice mix of descriptions of Breashears climbing experiences, his feelings and motivations for his climbing, and insights into the climbing clan and their camaraderie. Heartily recommended
Rating:
Summary: Scaling the Inner Peaks
Review: As a non-climbing fan of mountaineering stories who has read quite a few in the genre, I found Breashears story particularly compelling as much a true expression of his life as his vocation. The tale of a young man, overcoming personal adversity without the bitterness we, in the latter part of the last millennium, have come to associate with such stories, pitting body and soul against rock and sky is an inspiration and a great read.
Rating:
Summary: Realising your dreams
Review: This is a good book about somebody who ends up in life doing just what he wants to, to climb and film.
He tells the whole story about how his life ended up the way it did with a lot of fun and interesting stories and experiences.
He is just as good of a writer as he is a climber/photographer.
Rating:
Summary: A VIEW FROM THE SUMMIT
Review: This is David Breashears' autobiographical account of his life. At age twelve he became
enthralled by the photo of Tenzing Norgay on the summit of Everest which began a
lifelong attraction to Mount Everest that didn't end until 1997. After the family left a
harsh and abusive father (a career army officer), the family returned to Cheyenne,
Wyoming where the author attended public school and started to develop rock climbing
skills. The text narrates his development of rock climbing skill and describes several climbs
as he progressively made more difficult climbs. The author notes "In the American
climbing system, climbs are rated not only by the degree of difficulty....but also by length
and commitment...."and reveals that there is a well defined "pecking order" among rock
climbers with your climbing social position determined by the ratings of the climbs that
you have completed. While this may appear narrow minded and prejudiced, mutual trust
and respect between climbing partners is critical and the author notes "The most
fundamental aspects of climbing are trust, respect and self-reliance. A tacit understanding
with your companion is that you are experienced enough to know your limits and to not
endanger others." After the family moved to Colorado, he wrecked his mother's car returning from a climb.
Needing money to repair the car, he worked in the Wyoming oil fields. While not directed
related to his climbing career, Breashears account of his oil field experience is intriguing.
However, he was glad to return home when spring arrived. Over half of the text is devoted to his learning the art of film making and to his
increasingly more difficult climbing experiences. He first was involved with Everest when
he served as an assistant cameraman for ABC-TV's American Sportsman. Later, he got a
taste of Hollywood working in the Italian Alps on the movie "Cliffhanger" where he once
had to perform a stunt for Sylvester Stallone; unfortunately due to camera failure his work
was not recorded. His climbing and film experience drive the text; however, his
descriptions of the society and culture of the people in Nepal and Tibet are both
fascinating and educational. His account of filming the award winning documentary "Red
Flag Over Tibet" is informative. Breashears' earlier experience in Tibet was when it was
first occupied by China; however, when filming Red Flag Over Tibet, Tibet was being
colonized by the Chinese and the Tibetan culture was being destroyed. Much text is devoted to his climbing and film experiences in the Himalayas, however, the
high point of the book is his account of the May 10, 1996 tragedy on Mount Everest.
Using an IMAX camera, Breashears was to shoot a full length film of climbing to the
Everest summit. His expedition arrived at the 17,600 feet Base Camp in late March 1996.
Along with the IMAX team, ten other teams would be climbing the south side of Everest,
a virtual Everest traffic jam. The author provides interesting comments regarding the two
major commercial expeditions whose clients paid to be guided on Everest by professional
climbers. On May 10, having postponed his summit climb due to weather conditions, at five P.M. he
received the first dire news of the nightmare unfolding below the summit. The next
morning there were desperate calls for help, but their was little the IMAX team could do.
The author narrates the unfolding tragedy. While not judgmental in his observations, the
author provides many insights to the tragedy. His account of the miracle survival and
evacuation of Beck Weathers, who survived almost by shear will power, is inspiring. If
the reader has read Jon Krakauer's book "Into Thin Air", they should read this book for a
balanced account.
The IMAX team was given the option to terminate the project, but they decided to go
back up and complete the film. In spite of the many technical difficulties of film making on
top of Everest together with the idiosyncrasies of the IMAX camera, the IMAX team
reached the summit on May 23, 1996 and completed the camera work using their last
500-foot roll of film, good for just ninety seconds of filming. The author returned to Everest in 1997 to film a documentary for the PBS science series
NOVA. He reached the summit one year to the day after he had scaled it in 1996. After
narrating the 1997 Everest climb, he closes the book writing "....in this moment of pure
clarity I realized that ascending Everest had been for me, both a personal declaration of
liberty and a defiant act of escape. Now, suddenly, I felt an inexpressible serenity, a
full-blooded reaffirmation of life, on Everest's icy ridges. At last, I was ready to descend
the mountain and go home."
Rating: 
Summary: Too Technical
Review: It seems that everyone wants to profit from the recent Everest disaster. I did a lot of research on it, and in my opinion, the best book written about it is still Into Thin Air. Skip this book, as well as Ken Kamler's Doctor on Everest (who was on Camp II all the time), both of which are filled with tremendous conceit and lack of flow. This book was especially a pain to read, because of a lot of technical info that resembles an instruction manual. The stories of the childhood are especially clichéd and melodramatic. I think the audiovisual media is still the best way to depict the excitement and dangers of mountain climbing.
Rating:
Summary: Great book - Well Written
Review: David Breashears talks about his life, about dificult climbings and about climbing high mountains in a easy way to read that is very rare to find in the climbing literature. This realy is an excelent book to read, about a very interesting subject, with some great insights. The 1996 disaster is also covered in the book and is more accurate in some points than Into Thin Air, but the highlight of the book is Breashears journey in life and in climbing . Definetely a must read.
| 
