A Slender Thread: Escaping Disaster in the Himalayas (Adrenaline Series)

Rating:
Summary: ZZZZzzzzzzzz
Review: This is one of the most cliche-ridden, naval-gazing climbing stories I've read in a long, long time. I didn't even know an audience still existed for this kind of well-worn mountaineering pablum. The story is right out of a computer format: Stephen Venables goes on a climb, gets hurt, misses his wife and kids, and needs to be rescued so he can get back and see them. In between this pre-fab "I fell and can't get up" climbing structure, there are long, tortuous adolescent musings and a stunning lack of real humility for having bombed, although, frankly, when I think of the last half of this book my mind draws a blank. I think I've read this story about a hundred times before, usually by more honest observers.