Ascent: The Spiritual and Physical Quest of Legendary Mountaineer Willi Unsoeld

Rating:
Summary: Why climb? Why die?
Review: Having devoured numerous books on mountaineering and exploring, and having found many to be inspiring as well as informative, I began this volume with a similar anticipation. Very quickly, I found myself disappointed, even angry.

The author presents an obsequious paean to a mountain climber - Willi Unsoeld - certainly one of the best (as witnessed by his first ascent - with Tom Hornbein - of the West Ridge of Mt. Everest) in which he fails to critically examine what seem inexplicable lapses of judgment, which ultimately cost the lives of Unsoeld, and others.

Leamer presents Unsoeld as a philosopher, one who uses his beliefs to justify risk-taking, yet the author does not (or cannot) explicate those beliefs in a way that either illuminates or justifies Unsoeld's actions.

The story of his daughter, Nanda Devi, and her death on the mountain after which she was named is poignant but again the author offers only platitudes to explain the incredible obsession of her father for her to reach the summit. Perhaps her death was unavoidable (so few details of her illness are given that we are left to wonder) but absent is a father's (and expedition leader's) concern for her well-being. Equally disturbing - and not addressed by the author - was the endless romanticizing of her death in countless lectures by Unsoeld.

A similar blind acceptance of the "guru" in Unsoeld taking precedence over the responsibilities of the "guide" is evident in the telling of his last climb, a winter ascent of Mt. Ranier with a group of college students who were largely novice climbers. Having climbed Mt. Ranier myself, I fully appreciate the objective dangers (severe weather, avalanches, crevasses) they encountered. What I cannot understand - and which the author makes little effort to explore - is the disregard that Unsoeld appeared to have for those dangers. A philosophy of accepting personal risk to achieve a higher (literally and figuratively) goal seems to have blinded him (and the author) to the utter selfishness of risking the lives of others in pursuit of his egocentric image.

A (relatively) minor criticism: the photographs are of terrible quality and sometimes mis-captioned (e.g. The "Wind River" is actually the Snake River) in Ansel Adam's famous photograph of the Tetons).

This overly fawning biography left a bitter taste: there was much that the author could - and should - have explored in order to truly understand Unsoeld. Leamer's objectivity was left by the wayside, just a few steps up a trail the difficulty of which demanded a far tougher analysis than what we find in this volume.

Rating:
Summary: Leamer is the best non-fiction writer in America
Review: I read this book several years ago in hardback, which I loaned to someone who never returned it. When I saw it in a bookstore in paperback, I just had to buy and read it again. Ascent is better than Into Thin Air. It's a fabulous story--not only an adventure classic but a philosophical manifesto, dealing with the whole idea of placing one's life at risk while striving to reach a particular goal. This is one you have to read!

Rating:
Summary: WILLI UNSOELD...AKA....PETER PAN
Review: Legendary mountaineer, Willi Unsoeld, led an extraordinary life. A self styled guru of mountaineering, he was selfish, egotistical, and narcissistic. He was a modern day Peter Pan who just never grew up, with tragic consequences for some who crossed his path.

The author is a devoted admirer of Willi Unsoeld and does not question some of those moments in Willi's life which should be questioned or reflected upon. This is the one criticism of what is otherwise a very interesting, compelling book about a flawed individual who made mountaineering history. His amazing ascent of the West Ridge of Everest to the summit and his subsequent traverse and descent on the South face will live on forever in the annals of mountaineering lore.

Willi Unsoeld was a passionate man for whom mountaineering was life itself. He was positively joyous when atop his beloved mountains. It is something which is to be admired. Yet, Willi had a darker side, as well. It is this apparent dichotomy in Willi's life which makes the book such an interesting read. One of the most tragic episodes in Willi's life involved his beautiful daughter, Nanda Devi, named after the mountain of the same name. She was taken by her father on an ill-fated expedition to that same mountain. It was there that she tragically died and was consigned to the mountain. The cause of her death is not made clear by the book, but what is clear to any discerning reader is that Willi bore some responsibility. He acted as no father would nor as any responsible expedition leader would have under the circumstances.

What made Nanda Devi's death more appalling is that Willi would later romanticize her death in innumerable lectures, exploiting what should have remained private. How he could bring himself to do this is beyond belief. It is no wonder that his wife blamed him for their daughter's death and that this tragedy caused a rift in their marriage.

This self-styled guru needed the constant worship of acolytes in order to thrive. As he aged, he sought the adoration of college students, spouting his parboiled life philosphy on the subject of risk taking. It was this self styled, sophomoric philosophy that drove him to take a group of students up Mount Ranier in the dead of winter, when other, more level heads, argued against it. Would that he had listened. He and the student who died in an avalanche with him might today be alive. Alas, it was not to be.

Peter Pan finally went to Never-Never Land.