Epics on Everest: Stories of Survival from the World's Highest Peak (Adrenaline Series)

Rating:
Summary: A thoughtful collection from a variety of viewpoints.
Review: Not just "there I was in a whiteout" stories, although those are in there. The sixteen pieces represent attempts on Everest back to the Twenties when Mallory disappeared. They are in chronological order, which is helpful because many of the writers refer to past history in their work. All but three are excerpts, but as always, carefully chosen so that you enter and exit the work without feeling confused. There are selections about the early exploration of Everest and then a detailed third-person account of the first ascent in 1953. Geoff Tabin writes about the dynamics of an expedition and the labor that goes into making even an unseccessful assualt on the mountain. Willis puts an interesting spin on the idea of "survival" by including two interesting accounts - one explaining why the previously strong bond between Messner and Habeler didn't "survive" after their 1978 triumph without oxygen, and a first person account by Maria Coffey, who after losing Joe Tasker to the mountain traveled ther with Peter Boardman's widow to find closure for her own "survival". And there are the epics: Venables' near fatal overnight bivouac on the mountain, Anatoli Boukreev's rebuttal of "Into Thin Air", which cast him in a poor light, an account from Lene Gammelgaard, a less-known participant who nearly died that brutal night in 1996, and my favorite - an emotional yet self-effacing first-person story of that same disaster by Michael Groom, one of the guides, who reflects not only on his own near-death, but the helplessness of a guide who could not save his clients: it was he (among others) who walked away from Beck Weathers and left him for dead. So all in all a great read on many aspects of Everests history, and if mountaineering gets your blood going, don't overlook the earlier series volumes"Epic", "High", and "Climb", all packed with riveting tales of death and survival from mountains around the world.

Rating:
Summary: A thoughtful collection from a variety of viewpoints.
Review: Not just "there I was in a whiteout" stories, although those are in there. The sixteen pieces represent attempts on Everest back to the Twenties when Mallory disappeared. They are in chronological order, which is helpful because many of the writers refer to past history in their work. All but three are excerpts, but as always, carefully chosen so that you enter and exit the work without feeling confused. There are selections about the early exploration of Everest and then a detailed third-person account of the first ascent in 1953. Geoff Tabin writes about the dynamics of an expedition and the labor that goes into making even an unseccessful assualt on the mountain. Willis puts an interesting spin on the idea of "survival" by including two interesting accounts - one explaining why the previously strong bond between Messner and Habeler didn't "survive" after their 1978 triumph without oxygen, and a first person account by Maria Coffey, who after losing Joe Tasker to the mountain traveled ther with Peter Boardman's widow to find closure for her own "survival". And there are the epics: Venables' near fatal overnight bivouac on the mountain, Anatoli Boukreev's rebuttal of "Into Thin Air", which cast him in a poor light, an account from Lene Gammelgaard, a less-known participant who nearly died that brutal night in 1996, and my favorite - an emotional yet self-effacing first-person story of that same disaster by Michael Groom, one of the guides, who reflects not only on his own near-death, but the helplessness of a guide who could not save his clients: it was he (among others) who walked away from Beck Weathers and left him for dead. So all in all a great read on many aspects of Everests history, and if mountaineering gets your blood going, don't overlook the earlier series volumes"Epic", "High", and "Climb", all packed with riveting tales of death and survival from mountains around the world.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Put this One Down!
Review: This is one of the most exciting books on the subject of mountain climbing I have ever read. Adrenaline on full!