What do you think?
Rate this book
Snowblind: Stories of Alpine Obsession
A "gripping" collection of short fiction about mountain climbers driven by risk and adventure (Sacramento Bee).
From varied backgrounds with diverse perspectives, the characters who populate Snowblind don't feel quite whole until they've summited some of the world's most dangerous peaks--an obsession that most of us just can't fathom.
A young climber walks a hotel hallway passing rooms filled with things but no people--rucksacks, jackets, sleeping bags, crampons and ice screws strewn across the beds and floors. Later he will explain to his fellow climbers what it's like to disconnect his harness and leave his fallen partner to die alone in a blizzard. A woman climber, isolated and alone in the mountains, calculates the risks of walking back to civilization after her pilot doesn't arrive for their scheduled pickup. In seemingly quiet moments filled with satisfying tension, these stories of driven adventurers, like climbing itself, may culminate at any moment in either triumph or tragedy.
"A spellbinder . . . eight short stories and novellas [that] will appeal to fans of alpine and other extreme sports." --Booklist
"An impressive exploration of the souls of mountaineers . . . The reading is nerve-racking but well worth the trip." --Stanford Magazine
From varied backgrounds with diverse perspectives, the characters who populate Snowblind don't feel quite whole until they've summited some of the world's most dangerous peaks--an obsession that most of us just can't fathom.
A young climber walks a hotel hallway passing rooms filled with things but no people--rucksacks, jackets, sleeping bags, crampons and ice screws strewn across the beds and floors. Later he will explain to his fellow climbers what it's like to disconnect his harness and leave his fallen partner to die alone in a blizzard. A woman climber, isolated and alone in the mountains, calculates the risks of walking back to civilization after her pilot doesn't arrive for their scheduled pickup. In seemingly quiet moments filled with satisfying tension, these stories of driven adventurers, like climbing itself, may culminate at any moment in either triumph or tragedy.
"A spellbinder . . . eight short stories and novellas [that] will appeal to fans of alpine and other extreme sports." --Booklist
"An impressive exploration of the souls of mountaineers . . . The reading is nerve-racking but well worth the trip." --Stanford Magazine
290 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 13, 2015
10 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Arnold
46 books5 followersAt fifteen, Daniel Arnold began climbing the Pacific Rim volcanoes and local basalt crags of his native Portland and went on to climb throughout North and South America. He lives in Southern California, and is the author of Early Days in the Range of Light."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 3, 2016
Snowblind by Daniel Arnold is a collection of fictional short stories highlighting extreme weather conditions and how they relate to the obsessions and excesses commonly found among mountain climbers. We learn that some men and women will risk anything, from disfigurement from severe frostbite, to the life of a fellow climber, if that's what it takes to reach the summit’s top.
Arnold takes us up the highest peaks in Asia, Europe and the United States. Some stories are spellbinding. If there is a fault in this action-packed novel, it is when climbers’ behaviors become so extreme, it seems unbelievable. However, some of the dangers and risks that I’ve read in non-fiction books, such as Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, are also difficult to believe, so in Snowblind, line between fact and fiction is likely a fine one.
I found the book highly informative. For instance, when climbers run out of daylight, they often tie onto the vertical side of the mountain and sleep standing up on a narrow ledge. Also, the cost of mounting an expedition can run up to $100,000 dollars or more. A trip with a dozen climbers might use 100 sherpas whose jobs are to carry food and equipment for the climbers and themselves. Most Sherpas are ordinary men looking to make a buck, not tough, fearless mountaineers like the legendary Nepalese guide, Tenzing Norgay.
As food is consumed and equipment (for both climbers and Sherpas) is no longer needed, the Sherpas are then paid and sent back down the mountain. Unnecessary equipment is abandoned, thus leaving the mountainside looking like a garbage heap.
Snowblind js awash with death defying deeds, but Arnold is also a master at describing variable weather conditions, characteristics of certain mountains or idiosyncrasies of those who climb them.
Two examples:
“Mount Fairweather occupied the northern horizon of our minds. Child of earthquakes, mother of snow. Glaciers crawl down its shoulders like dreadlocked snakes on a Medusa. From the summit, you could see deep Pacific waves strike the edge of north America, and the black-white wilderness of the Canadian interior, and maybe even your own soul.”
“Skim had found a bucket hat and a straight stemmed mahogany pipe at the church thrift. He was cousin to a stork, pale faced and gangly, with a blue vinyl storm suit draped on him like on a coat rack…”
Arnold takes us up the highest peaks in Asia, Europe and the United States. Some stories are spellbinding. If there is a fault in this action-packed novel, it is when climbers’ behaviors become so extreme, it seems unbelievable. However, some of the dangers and risks that I’ve read in non-fiction books, such as Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, are also difficult to believe, so in Snowblind, line between fact and fiction is likely a fine one.
I found the book highly informative. For instance, when climbers run out of daylight, they often tie onto the vertical side of the mountain and sleep standing up on a narrow ledge. Also, the cost of mounting an expedition can run up to $100,000 dollars or more. A trip with a dozen climbers might use 100 sherpas whose jobs are to carry food and equipment for the climbers and themselves. Most Sherpas are ordinary men looking to make a buck, not tough, fearless mountaineers like the legendary Nepalese guide, Tenzing Norgay.
As food is consumed and equipment (for both climbers and Sherpas) is no longer needed, the Sherpas are then paid and sent back down the mountain. Unnecessary equipment is abandoned, thus leaving the mountainside looking like a garbage heap.
Snowblind js awash with death defying deeds, but Arnold is also a master at describing variable weather conditions, characteristics of certain mountains or idiosyncrasies of those who climb them.
Two examples:
“Mount Fairweather occupied the northern horizon of our minds. Child of earthquakes, mother of snow. Glaciers crawl down its shoulders like dreadlocked snakes on a Medusa. From the summit, you could see deep Pacific waves strike the edge of north America, and the black-white wilderness of the Canadian interior, and maybe even your own soul.”
“Skim had found a bucket hat and a straight stemmed mahogany pipe at the church thrift. He was cousin to a stork, pale faced and gangly, with a blue vinyl storm suit draped on him like on a coat rack…”
January 1, 2020
Full of self adulating characters who are really worshipping themselves, not the mountains they climb.
The 'prose' is ridiculously lofty too. The second story, DEAD TILL PROVEN OTHERWISE, features the character Ann.
"She began down at Satan's icy asshole, where she climbed gunslinger quick, as fast as she knew how, racing the sun and the devil's daily bowel movement, when he drops a white load from a serac band two thousand feet up. Then she'd been up in his lungs, where the wind blew to tear her off the mountain and ice looked like ropes of frozen snot down over ribs of black rock. And even though she now has ol'scratch by the neck, it's only if and when she tops out his horns that she'll have passed the underworld. Then she can reclaim her place in the land of the living, wherever in hell that is. DPO."
It also has an interesting perspective of women's bodies. From the CLEANING CREW story:
"Its no wonder so few Mendozans climb the mountain, he said.
"Look at the women. Have you ever seen perfection like that? They walk around in their skintight shirts and pants, with breasts like-god-I didn't even know breasts were supposed to look like that before I came here. I'd be afraid to touch them, I'd want a debriefing from the museum curator first, you know? You don't get climbers in paradise, man."
For those not familiar with climbing but wanting to read about the process and procedures and maybe learn some insight into climbing, skip this book.
It does not go into any explanation of preparing or properly executing a climb.
For experienced climbers, it is not inspiring in any manner. The whole book feels as if it was written purely to impress other climbers. Instead, it is 271 pages of braggadocious hot air.
Not impressive.
The 'prose' is ridiculously lofty too. The second story, DEAD TILL PROVEN OTHERWISE, features the character Ann.
"She began down at Satan's icy asshole, where she climbed gunslinger quick, as fast as she knew how, racing the sun and the devil's daily bowel movement, when he drops a white load from a serac band two thousand feet up. Then she'd been up in his lungs, where the wind blew to tear her off the mountain and ice looked like ropes of frozen snot down over ribs of black rock. And even though she now has ol'scratch by the neck, it's only if and when she tops out his horns that she'll have passed the underworld. Then she can reclaim her place in the land of the living, wherever in hell that is. DPO."
It also has an interesting perspective of women's bodies. From the CLEANING CREW story:
"Its no wonder so few Mendozans climb the mountain, he said.
"Look at the women. Have you ever seen perfection like that? They walk around in their skintight shirts and pants, with breasts like-god-I didn't even know breasts were supposed to look like that before I came here. I'd be afraid to touch them, I'd want a debriefing from the museum curator first, you know? You don't get climbers in paradise, man."
For those not familiar with climbing but wanting to read about the process and procedures and maybe learn some insight into climbing, skip this book.
It does not go into any explanation of preparing or properly executing a climb.
For experienced climbers, it is not inspiring in any manner. The whole book feels as if it was written purely to impress other climbers. Instead, it is 271 pages of braggadocious hot air.
Not impressive.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews