My Vertical World: Climbing the 8000-Metre Peaks

Rating:
Summary: 14 times eight: Jurek`s excellent adventures in Himalaya.
Review: A well written, personal account from one of the strongest Himalayan climbers ever. Having read Messners "14x8" it is interesting to compare and contrast western and east european climbing culture. Jurek`s achievements were truly great.

Rating:
Summary: 14 times eight: Jurek`s excellent adventures in Himalaya.
Review: As most of us I have always wondered what on earth makes those guys climb to "the top of the world", suffer bitter cold, dehydration and often death. Kukuczka's book does not provide an explanation of the motives ( these have to be gained by first hand experience) but in depth understaning of the process. The untold suffering, days without a tent and sleeping in the snow. Hallucination and euphoria produced by brains depraived of oxygen. Where the only force that matters is human will and that will proves to be more powerful than all the cold, wind and altitude. Very, very personal and straigforward book by, I don't hesitate to say, the greatest climber of our times.

Rating:
Summary: This book helped me understand the thrill of climbing
Review: As most of us I have always wondered what on earth makes those guys climb to "the top of the world", suffer bitter cold, dehydration and often death. Kukuczka's book does not provide an explanation of the motives ( these have to be gained by first hand experience) but in depth understaning of the process. The untold suffering, days without a tent and sleeping in the snow. Hallucination and euphoria produced by brains depraived of oxygen. Where the only force that matters is human will and that will proves to be more powerful than all the cold, wind and altitude. Very, very personal and straigforward book by, I don't hesitate to say, the greatest climber of our times.

Rating:
Summary: Great true adventure story
Review: Jerzy writes an excellent climbing book. He writes about struggling not only with the forces of nature in the Himalayan Mountains, but about his struggles to mount an expedition in Communist Poland. He not only did miraculous climbs, but he pulled miracles in organizing expeditions on a shoestring budget and against roadblocks from Communist bureaucrats. I am amazed at what the man pulled off, not only did he climb all of the world's 8,000 meter peaks, he did them in the winter and / or by new routes! He was barely beaten by Meisner. The only issue I have with this book (and it is minor, otherwise I would have given it five stars), is the translation is not perfect, but the book is still an easy read.

Rating:
Summary: Great true adventure story
Review: Jerzy writes an excellent climbing book. He writes about struggling not only with the forces of nature in the Himalayan Mountains, but about his struggles to mount an expedition in Communist Poland. He not only did miraculous climbs, but he pulled miracles in organizing expeditions on a shoestring budget and against roadblocks from Communist bureaucrats. I am amazed at what the man pulled off, not only did he climb all of the world's 8,000 meter peaks, he did them in the winter and / or by new routes! He was barely beaten by Meisner. The only issue I have with this book (and it is minor, otherwise I would have given it five stars), is the translation is not perfect, but the book is still an easy read.

Rating:
Summary: Jerzy REALLY wanted to climb
Review: This book is not so much excellent because of expert wordsmithing, but because of the content. Kukuczka wanted to climb in the Himalaya so badly, he'd do anything to get there. And he was one of the best ever on difficult, high altitude routes. This book is required reading for mountaineers, armchair and back country.

Rating:
Summary: Moving and honest reporting from the greatest climber of all
Review: This is a great work. Leaves you in awe of Jerzy. He is a pure mountaineer, untrapped by the modern fad and not the one in search of fame or glory. His love of the Himalaya shines through. The amount of untold suffering and privation that he underwent to summit the hardest and the highest peaks in the world. He is a heroic and doomed figure, like some norse god. As you read the book and go through the chapters and read him talk of his friends that died on the mountains, you realise that it is only a matter of time before he will meet the same fate. One thinks that maybe Anatoly Boukreev might have been something like him. The hardship that Jerzy had to undergo to even get to the peaks is amazing. He was unsparing on himself, braving all that the mountains had to throw at him. A great man.

Rating:
Summary: A great book by a great climber
Review: This is one of those rare autobiographies that manages to perfectly convey the incredible experiences that the author went through without self-aggrandization. Kukuczka is very modest in his accounts, telling the stories as if the events that befell him were the most normal in the world. The book gives great insight into what made Jerzy go forth and climb and also provides a great account of his day-to-day reality of organizing expeditions and the thrill of being in the mountains again.

Rating:
Summary: An overlooked treasure
Review: This overlooked book by the second man (after Reinhold Messner) to climb the world's fourteen 8000m peaks is a treasure. I found this a more emotional book than Jon Krakauer's /Into Thin Air/. This book gave me a better sense of what it's like to climb the highest mountains in the world, and a better sense of the unavoidable tragedies that occur there.