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Tarfumes.com - The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest
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List Price: $7.99
Our Price: $7.99
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.522095496
EAN: 9780312965334
ISBN: 0312965338
Label: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 297
Publication Date: 1998-07-15
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Studio: St. Martin's Paperbacks
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Editorial Reviews:
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As the climbers of the 1996 Mt. Everest disaster vanished into thin air, one man had the courage to bring them down alive...
On May 10, 1996, two commercial expeditions headed by expert leaders attempted to scale the world's largest peak. But things went terribly wrong. Crowded conditions, bad judgement, and a bitter storm stopped many climbers in their tracks. Others were left for dead, or stranded on the frigid mountain. Anatoli Boukreev, head climbing guide for the Mountain Madness expedition, stepped into the heart of the storm and brought three of his clients down alive. Here is his amazing story-of an expedition fated for disaster, of the blind ambition that drives people to attempt such dangerous ventures, and of a modern-day hero, who risked his own life to save others..
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Makes Into Thin Air seem very questionable
Comment: Having read Krakauer's book, seen the movie and watched the PBS doc, I read this, purported to be the closest to the ten sides of the truth in this adventure/disaster.
In a nutshell, Krakauer looks bad from this perspective, Sandy Hill Pittman still looks like a phony new money weasel, and Fischer looks much better than anywhere else; he is unfairly slammed in the tv movie if this book is at all true, and it does ring truer than the other projects (though the PBS doc Storm Over Everest is a must-see).
Worth reading for anyone into climbing and/or this incident, which says so much about our massive egos and small brains.
Customer Rating:
Summary: What a waste of time this book was
Comment: This book appears to be written primarily to rebut certain incidents mentioned in Jon Krakauer's book, Into Thin Air. I have no doubt that Boukreev was an experienced and dedicated climber but this book is presented as if he did nothing wrong up on Everest in 1996.
I have read almost every book published about the deaths on Everest in 1996 and the concensus of opinion is that everybody did something that contributed to the disaster. Boukreev made his share of mistakes and I would have been more impressed with this book if that concession had been made.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The 1996 Disaster From Another View Point
Comment: In 1996 one of the worst mountain climbing disasters that ever occurred on Mt. Everest took place. This tale of death and near death has been told and retold a number of times. With too many people who have paid large sums of money trying to reach the top, disastrous weather conditions, and bad judgments, loss of life was inevitable. It can be argued, that some of these deaths were needless, and that other actions would have brought other outcomes. If you are going to read only one book about this disaster, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer is considered one of the best, and if I had to choose between Krakauer's book and Anatoli Boukreev's The Climb, I would choose Into Thin Air. Still, there are often two sides to a story, and Krakauer heavily criticized the actions of Boukreeve in his telling. The Climb gives you another perspective on what happened, showing Anatoli Boukreeve as more of a hero than someone who could have done more as Krakauer alleges. He stepped into the storm and rescued three of his own clients, bringing them down alive in a raging storm. Yet, could he have saved others? People who were not part of his expedition? This is the crux of the criticisms levied against Anatoli. This book, in many ways, feels like Anitoli trying to defend himself against Krakauers criticisms, but if you would like to hear more of the story, from another point of view, then I would recommend reading this book. When you are done, you can try to make your own judgment on what really happened.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Must read this together with Into Thin Air
Comment: After i read Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, i thought i knew all there was to know about the 1996 Everest tragedy. Was i wrong.
In Jon's book, Toli (Anatoli) was cast as a villian who knowingly put his clients at risks. After reading this book, i felt that Toli was the real hero in the tragedy. A few things strucked me:
1. Toli came across as a humble and private person who just wanted to be in the mountains. This almost spiritual tie with the mountains shone throughout this book. Climbing mountains was all he ever wanted to do.
2. Unlike Jon's book, this one didn't indulge in any conjectures. This gave Toli's account an air of honesty and somewhat more credibility.
3. Toli was a superb climber (probably the best on both expeditions) trained in the best Soviet traditions whose actions on Everest were made based on what he thought was best for the safety of the clients. It was way too easy for Jon and others, especially amateurs, to restrospectively point fingers at him.
4. Quite a number of people owed their lives to his personal bravery. I thought that this fact is the most telling point in the entire tragedy.
5. Toli's poor command of English hampered him in his work in the expeditions and prevented him from explaining why he did certain things. This unfortunate fact alone could have cast him in a bad light on everyone's account of what happened.
Read both books to find out what happened in 1996 but be wary of Jon's biased and ungrounded conjectures. Jon's book is by no means the official account of what happened. Read Toli's account to get a balanced view. Personally, i'm more inclined to believe in Toli's account. I was sad when i found out that this heroic man died in his beloved mountains in 1997.
Read both books and see if you agree with me.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A good report on some excellent reportage
Comment: I was informed of Boukeev and DeWalt's THE CLIMB by a friend of mine who is an avid high altitude climber. Having read Krakauer's INTO THIN AIR, I was interested in other points of view of the May, 1996 Everest climb. Krakauer does a fine job in his self identified "personal account", but I felt that both a differing view and a less "personal" examination might go a long way to explaining the problems of the climb, the philosophy of commercial climbing, and enhance my understanding of that year's terrible loss of life on Everest. THE CLIMB did not disappoint me. I came away with all that I sought. Reading both books (INTO THIN AIR & THE CLIMB) provided me with a better understanding and a more well rounded viewpoint than reading either book to the exclusion of the other. I would highly recommend that those who are interested read both titles back to back to obtain the full informational effect. Then, make up your own mind about the danger and death encountered on that May in 1996.
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