Rating: 
Summary: The Decline of British Mountaineering
Review: As I read Stephen Venables story of folly in the remote Himalayas I couldn't but help feel a certain contempt, if not sadness at the decline of British mountaineering. From Edward Whymper to Sir Christopher Bonington (a far better climber than Venables who nevertheless gets stabbed in the back by the author after he saved his life) the British climbing establishment was world renowned for good sportsmanship, positive attitude, and grace under pressure. Now, British alpinism seems to have been taken over, like so many other things in British society, by a yob mentality. This book is a case in point: It would not have been too long ago that a similar collection of whiney tales of questionable heroism where one's own mistakes are palmed off on one's teammates would have been met with scorn from the fair-minded British climbing establishment. No longer. This book actually got decent reviews in some UK climbing magazines (though, to be sure, a few "outed" Venable's inconsistencies with the facts). Future climbing historians, when examining how Britain ceded its leadership role in mountaineering, will be tempted to cite Venable's contemptible attempt at self-glorification by denigrating other climbers and celebrating his own mountaineering foibles as a milestone in poor attitude and even poorer taste.
Rating:
Summary: Another Venables-needs-rescuing tale
Review: I am not sorry I read ths book. Venables is a fine writer--one of the best in his genre working today. Having read one too many accounts of the Everest region (and a number of books on the west, K2, region), I appreciate Venables's description of the less-written-about middle Himalaya. The writer's account of the Panch Chuli climb itself is also fine.Unfortunately, after Venables's accident, there is little left to sustain the narrative. He simply sits around in his tent with his two partners, discussing food and British lit., waiting for the helicopter to come rescue him. In reality, I'm glad his rescue was easier than, say, Joe Simpson's was in Peru, but it makes for some rather boring reading. To sum, the book is well worth reading, but expect a let down around two-thirds of the way through.
Rating: 
Summary: Two-thirds a good read
Review: I am not sorry I read ths book. Venables is a fine writer--one of the best in his genre working today. Having read one too many accounts of the Everest region (and a number of books on the west, K2, region), I appreciate Venables's description of the less-written-about middle Himalaya. The writer's account of the Panch Chuli climb itself is also fine. Unfortunately, after Venables's accident, there is little left to sustain the narrative. He simply sits around in his tent with his two partners, discussing food and British lit., waiting for the helicopter to come rescue him. In reality, I'm glad his rescue was easier than, say, Joe Simpson's was in Peru, but it makes for some rather boring reading. To sum, the book is well worth reading, but expect a let down around two-thirds of the way through.
Rating:
Summary: Yawn yarn
Review: I was looking forward to reading this book, as some of Venable's previous books have been pretty funny. Somewhere along the line, he seems to have lost his sense of humor, and without that, this story of his misadventures up high reads hollow and rather sad. If you're going to mess up while climbing with a team, and need to get rescued all the time (the other reviewers are right;Venables seems to have created a genre for his own "help, save me!" tales on mountains)you better be funny about it. However, this book is far too serious and self-righteous for its own good. In fact it reads more like a teenager's diary than a climbing tale--right down to the nasty things Venables prints about the very people who rescued him! The 300-foot fall in the beginning is the only interesting part in the whole book, and then it's literally, downhill from there. I'm sorry to say that this book reveals the author as more of a poor sport and poor writer than his previous books.
Rating:
Summary: A Slender Story
Review: Mr. Venables writes once again about getting rescued from the high Himalayas. Although I liked his first book, Alone on Everest, the "save me" formula doesn't work for this book. For starters, how many times does someone get to be rescued from up high before they're credibility as a writer and climber gets shot? For another, the story ends about halfway through when Venables takes his spill and needs to be heli-vaced. The second half of the story is merely waiting for him to be evacuated while he banters with his pals in camp. Hardly cliffhanger material. Skip this one.
Rating:
Summary: Raises troubling questions
Review: On one level 'A Slender Thread: Escaping Disaster in the Himalayas' is a standard mountain expedition book, with the focus on Steven Venables' own experience. But throughout there is a dark undercurrent of premonition and doubt. Venables has a bad feeling about the expedition from the start : "there was a sense of unease, even doom when I set off for India". There is also a sense of futility, that the golden age of mountain exploration is long past, as he implicitly compares past expeditions to the area (the Panch Chuli group near the border of India and Nepal) with the one he is on. Gone is the conviction of purpose and the "gentlemanly camaraderie" of earlier times. In fact Venables shows himself to be anything but gentlemanly on this trip. Often out of sorts, half-wishing he were back home with his wife and child, Venables indulges in tantrums and verbally attacks Chris Bonington, the team leader, when Bonington suggests retreat.. As for the accident, it is the breaking of the Slender Thread that all mountaineers depend on at many time during a climb. A well-tested anchor pulls out below the top of Panch Chuli V, sending Venables on a steep fall that breaks both his legs and which he is lucky just to survive. This combination of bad and good luck, and his utter dependence on his companions for making it down the mountain, is the real story of this expedition for Venables as he recognizes that in climbing he is gambling with more than just his own life. This is my least favorite of the three book by Venables I've read, though I did enjoy it. There is little of the excitement and freshness of 'Painted Mountains' or the combination of great accomplishment and fascinating route finding in 'Everest: Alone at the Summit'. However, it raises troubling questions about mountain climbing and faces them directly, and these questions, along with the detailed description of a remote and rarely climbed range, make this a book worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Difficult to read
Review: Overall, I found this book to be a good look into Himilayan climbing. My only complaint was that it was written in British English and is a little difficult to read. The climbing terms are a little techincal as well. Being a non-climber, I sometimes can't picture what the author is describing when using climbing lingo. Beyond that, it seems like a good book, not quite like Karkauer's or Boukreev's books.
Rating:
Summary: Difficult to read
Review: Overall, I found this book to be a good look into Himilayan climbing. My only complaint was that it was written in British English and is a little difficult to read. The climbing terms are a little techincal as well. Being a non-climber, I sometimes can't picture what the author is describing when using climbing lingo. Beyond that, it seems like a good book, not quite like Karkauer's or Boukreev's books.
Rating:
Summary: Another Venables-needs-rescuing tale
Review: There must be limits to how many times Stephen Venables needs to get rescued on mountains and then write long-winded essays on it. First it was Everest, now it's the Panchu Chuli V--an obscure variation to almost freezing to death on top of the Big E. Unfortunately, the writing is far drier here, and the obscure references to English culture seem slightly smug. In general, I would give this story a miss unless you're a glutton for mountain trivia. Next time, I hope this poor guy makes it up and down without help!
Rating:
Summary: I'VE FALLEN AND I CAN'T GET UP...
Review: This book is well written, but much of it is decidedly dull. The author writes with all the passion of a dead fish. There are, however, some interesting passages about the history of a remote section of the Himalayas known as the Pancha Chuli massif which are actually five peaks close to India's border with western Nepal. It is to this region that the author went in 1992 as part of an expedition led by world reknowned British climber, Chris Bonnington. Quite frankly, the author makes himself out to be a less than ideal climbing partner. He apparently had choice words for everyone, including Chris Bonnington. He is lucky that they are apparently better men than he, or he would never have survived his accident, a three hundred foot fall 19,000 feet up the mountain. But for his fellow expeditioners, the author would still be up there, a silent, frozen reminder to other climbers of the peril that may sometimes await one while climbing. His account of what happens both before and after his accident, and upon his return home, as well as what occurs on his next expedition, gives the reader a measure of the author as a person. There are certainly those who may find him wanting. Yet, notwithstanding his readily apparent, personal shortcomings, his dispassionate account of his travail high up on a remote Himalayan peak is still a worthwhile read, if you are a devotee of mountaineering literature. If you are not, deduct one star from my rating.
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