Rating: 
Summary: Don't bother
Review: One of the more recent entries to the Everest Disaster of '96 Publishing Industry, this book is one to avoid.The premise sound promising: he decided that everyone who was climbing Everest was cheating, and he was going to do it himself, the right way. He put all his climbing gear (and food) onto a bike and bicycled from Sweden to Nepal, climbed Everest without bottled oxygen, avoiding fixed ropes and prepared trails, and bicycled home again. He happened to do this in 1996, so he was there in the middle of the debacle so well documented by Jon Krakauer and others. Now, I'm a cyclist, and a climber, so that sounds like the sort of story I'd really get into. But it isn't nearly as interesting or rewarding as it sounds. I was put off, first, by the claim on the book jacket that he was only the 2nd person to climb K2 without bottled oxygen, which is garbage. Of four Americans who summitted in the 1978 Wickwire expedition, three summitted without bottled oxygen. Secondly, I was put off by his defensive, self-righteous tone, his constant litany that everyone's cheating but him, and no one believes in him, everyone's trying to take advantage of him. I don't have a lot of patience for the "fair means" discussion in the first place. Is it right or wrong to use bottled oxygen? Is it fair or not to use fixed ropes put up by others? Is it fair to wear clothing that you didn't weave yourself? If bottled oxygen is wrong, is caffeine okay? He hauled all his food from Sweden, but did he freeze-dry it himself? Did he plant the wheat and grind the flour and bake the bread? Crampons used to be considered 'not sporting' but Kropp apparently gives them his benison. He agonizes over having to take a ferry, and whether that constitutes "cheating" but doesn't consider that the roads and bridges he rides on are as much the work of others as the fixed ropes on Everest are. The fact that you're relying on others' experience and knowledge of the mountain means that you're not doing it yourself. No one can approach Everest (or Rainier or the Matterhorn or any other documented peak) today in the same way that they were first climbed. Read 'Annapurna' by Maurice Herzog for a real hero's quest: these folks set out to climb one of two mountains, depending on which one they could get to. They didn't have accurate maps, they knew nothing about the approach, or possible routes, or the conditions. THAT'S fair means, Goran! This isn't to deny that Kropp didn't accomplish a feat: anyone who makes it up Everest, by whatever means, has done something physically far harder than I'll ever do in my life. But to put up the pretence that he's the only one who really does it right and honestly, is rot. There are a couple of bits of juicy gossip in there - Boukreev is the one who was sleeping with a female sherpa, angering the gods, and Carlos Carsolio, who claims to be the first Mexican to climb the 14 8000m peaks, didn't actually summit on K2 'I was there and I know.' Benoit Chamooux didn't actually summit on Shisha Pangma, either, he turned around 30 vertical feet below the summit. Everyone knows that. Everyone's a liar and a cheat, it seems, except him.
Rating: 
Summary: A good book to read for people who too easily give up
Review: Personally I think the part of the book that was most interesting to read was the struggles to just to come to Mount Everest B. C. Slightly another story were told about whats happened during the Everest tragedy of spring 99. Especially some gossips from basecamp.
Rating:
Summary: Rest in Peace
Review: Swedish adventurer Göran Kropp was killed Sept. 30, 2002 when he fell while rock climbing at Frenchman Coulee, a popular climbing area near Vantage, Washington, 135 miles southeast of Seattle. Full article on MountainZone.com. My condolences to Renata and his admirers.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing new.
Review: This book is affected by a malady that seems to infect all mountaineering books in that it references countless other climbs and climbers (half of which have met a tragic end). I suppose this does set some context, but the endless name dropping gets tiresome. Kropp's retelling of his bicycle journey from Sweden to Everest is forgettable. 7,000 miles is compressed into 1 chapter where the author has some rocks thrown at him, has his bike fixed a couple times, and is occasionally scared. That's about all the information we get about the bike trip. I've read more thrilling accounts of a chicken crossing the road. When the author does get to Everest we're presented with the now familiar characters that we've all come to know and love. Hall is still the charmer, Fischer the thinker, and Pittman always the villain. Kropp is the 1st to make an attempt on the mountain in 1996, but is turned around at high altitude by a storm. While he is recuperating at base camp, the tragic events of May 10th unfold. This section seems lifted directly out of "Into Thin Air" (especially since the author had no direct role in the events). After nearly everyone else leaves, Kropp makes another attempt at the summit (after all, he didn't ride his bike 7,000 miles for nothing) and this time is successful. After a predictable near-death experience on the descent, Kropp is reunited with his girlfriend for a return bicycle trip to Sweden where I assume they live happily ever after. Throughout the book Kropp takes great pains to point out that his expedition is entirely self-supported and that he isn't 1 of the "65,000 tourists" just looking to get Everest for his trophy case. To this end we're treated with Kropp accounting for every bit of food (down to a cup of tea and candy bar) that he didn't carry to Everest. But at the end of the book we're shown a chart listing the tallest mountains in the world and the ones that Kropp has climbed are checked off. Trophy hunting indeed. Kropp also informs us of his next adventure. He plans to sail from Sweden to Antarctica and then trek to the South Pole. All self-supported of course. The only hitch in his plan is that he doesn't know how to sail. He plans to do this by 2004, and I think I'll be skipping that book. "Ultimate High" deserves 2 stars. I'm giving it 3 stars only because cycling some 14,000 miles is pretty dang impressive.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This is most definitely one of the best books i have read next to Into Thin Air. It is full of excitement, and always keeps you reading it until the end. It is an excellent book, and I suggest that you read it! (Posted by: Brian Rosenschein, Lisa's son...)
Rating:
Summary: A must read!
Review: Ultimate high is a very well written book. The story of the bike ride alone is enough to sell it, but the rest makes it an outstanding work! Great job!
Rating:
Summary: Great book.!
Review: Well... I'm from Sweden (same country as Göran). And when I read the book I got the feeling that Mr.Kropp is insane :). I mean...Do you guys out there know that he tried to ski to The North Pole? And soon he will sail to the South Pole. Well..about the book.....Mr.Lagerqrantz does a really good job when he describes the trip from Sweden to Nepal. And the way up to the top.. GREAT BOOK!... I will buy Into Thin Air now :)
Rating:
Summary: Ultimate Read
Review: What an incredible addition to an incredible series of stories. Just when you thought that each installment of the 1996 tragedy would begin to sound the same, along comes another fantastic version. Being a cyclist and an avid hiker I can appreciate the drama of Goran's adventure. I can only dream of coming anywhere close to his accomplishment, that's why this story I will read over and over again.
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