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Dark Summit: The Extraordinary True Story of Everest's Most Controversial Season by Nick Heil
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 18, 2023
Good but some rather extensive background so it took a while to get going. I'm also a bit sad that someone who wasn't even there has piped in saying others are lying....how do you know, you weren't there and some simple research would tell you that in low oxygen environments people's memories are not that great? Each person may be recollecting what they remember with no intention to lie whatever. Give us both/all versions and let us think for ourselves, or better yet none of us judge since we weren't there.
Poor Big Boss Brice seems to have copped a whole heap of flack over Sharp's death when Sharp was not on his team and Sharp's own travel group hadn't even noticed he was missing. Brice's main priority had to be his own climbers (shades of putting the blame on Boukreev in 1996 when he rescued every member of his own team first and the others weren't willing/able to help at all). For anything to have been done Sharp's group would have had to notice he was missing and ask for help when he went missing not wait for another team to come round asking if they were missing a climber the next day. On the ascent it was dark, they had no idea who he was or how long he had been there if they saw him at all. On the descent Phurba Tashi (Brice's lead climbing sherpa) did realise he needed help and did try giving oxygen and getting him moving but several members of his own team who he was responsible for needed help. Phurba carried Inglis down rocky sections after "his bones pierced the skin at the ends of the amputee's legs" (pg 169). Inglis was very much alive, in a lot of pain and Phurba's client so how could either have offered more help than trying to rouse Sharp by providing oxygen. Once Brice was aware of the situation he tried to find out who the climber was, notified his parents, organised moving the body and creating a memorial all for someone who was not his client. The people Sharp paid didn't even notice he was missing.
Perhaps a little more celebration of the heroic efforts of Phurba (for getting all their own clients down safely) and the other sherpas (for saving Lincoln Hall) rather than trying to find someone to blame for the choices/lack of observation made by fully grown adults who were much higher up the mountain than Brice? Yes Brice is the boss of one of the main operators but the key is that he does not run all the operators and has no control over them. Yes he got defensive and stroppy about a bunch of people who weren't there blaming him......who wouldn't?
Poor Big Boss Brice seems to have copped a whole heap of flack over Sharp's death when Sharp was not on his team and Sharp's own travel group hadn't even noticed he was missing. Brice's main priority had to be his own climbers (shades of putting the blame on Boukreev in 1996 when he rescued every member of his own team first and the others weren't willing/able to help at all). For anything to have been done Sharp's group would have had to notice he was missing and ask for help when he went missing not wait for another team to come round asking if they were missing a climber the next day. On the ascent it was dark, they had no idea who he was or how long he had been there if they saw him at all. On the descent Phurba Tashi (Brice's lead climbing sherpa) did realise he needed help and did try giving oxygen and getting him moving but several members of his own team who he was responsible for needed help. Phurba carried Inglis down rocky sections after "his bones pierced the skin at the ends of the amputee's legs" (pg 169). Inglis was very much alive, in a lot of pain and Phurba's client so how could either have offered more help than trying to rouse Sharp by providing oxygen. Once Brice was aware of the situation he tried to find out who the climber was, notified his parents, organised moving the body and creating a memorial all for someone who was not his client. The people Sharp paid didn't even notice he was missing.
Perhaps a little more celebration of the heroic efforts of Phurba (for getting all their own clients down safely) and the other sherpas (for saving Lincoln Hall) rather than trying to find someone to blame for the choices/lack of observation made by fully grown adults who were much higher up the mountain than Brice? Yes Brice is the boss of one of the main operators but the key is that he does not run all the operators and has no control over them. Yes he got defensive and stroppy about a bunch of people who weren't there blaming him......who wouldn't?
March 4, 2024
It's a good book. It jumps around the different expedition groups and time periods, which can make it hard to follow. It's worth a read but needs concentration.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews