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Dark Summit: The True Story of Everest's Most Controversial Season
The inside story of the deadly 2006 climbing season on Everest
On May 15, 2006, a young British climber named David Sharp lay dying near the top of Mount Everest while forty other climbers walked past him on their way to the summit. A week later, Lincoln Hall, a seasoned Australian climber, was left for dead near the same spot. Hall's death was reported around the world, but the next day he was found alive after spending the night on the upper mountain with no food and no shelter.
If David Sharp's death was shocking, it was hardly singular: despite unusually good weather, ten others died attempting to reach the summit that year. In this meticulous inquiry into what went wrong, Nick Heil tells the full story of the deadliest year on Everest since the infamous season of 1996. He introduces Russell Brice, the commercial operator who has done more than anyone to provide access to the summit via the mountain's north side—and who some believe was partly accountable for Sharp's death. As more climbers attempt the summit each year, Heil shows how increasingly risky expeditions and unscrupulous outfitters threaten to turn Everest into a deadly circus.
Written by an experienced climber and outdoor writer, Dark Summit is both a riveting account of a notorious climbing season and a troubling investigation into whether the pursuit of the ultimate mountaineering prize has spiraled out of control.
On May 15, 2006, a young British climber named David Sharp lay dying near the top of Mount Everest while forty other climbers walked past him on their way to the summit. A week later, Lincoln Hall, a seasoned Australian climber, was left for dead near the same spot. Hall's death was reported around the world, but the next day he was found alive after spending the night on the upper mountain with no food and no shelter.
If David Sharp's death was shocking, it was hardly singular: despite unusually good weather, ten others died attempting to reach the summit that year. In this meticulous inquiry into what went wrong, Nick Heil tells the full story of the deadliest year on Everest since the infamous season of 1996. He introduces Russell Brice, the commercial operator who has done more than anyone to provide access to the summit via the mountain's north side—and who some believe was partly accountable for Sharp's death. As more climbers attempt the summit each year, Heil shows how increasingly risky expeditions and unscrupulous outfitters threaten to turn Everest into a deadly circus.
Written by an experienced climber and outdoor writer, Dark Summit is both a riveting account of a notorious climbing season and a troubling investigation into whether the pursuit of the ultimate mountaineering prize has spiraled out of control.
271 pages, Hardcover
First published April 29, 2008
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7743 people want to read
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December 20, 2013
What I've learned: mountain climbers are crazy. Really crazy. Everest used to be my Everest. In my youth, I'd think, "someday I'll conquer that, the nearly unconquerable". The thought of climbing an icy mountain to the highest point on Earth was exhilarating to me, as was the idea of pushing myself to my physical limits, to possibly come back with fewer fingers. But I've no ambition or desire for that anymore. Not after reading this book.
And the thing is, climbing Everest isn't even that remarkable anymore. About 1,500 people have climbed Everest to date. (And that figure most likely ignores lots of Sherpas who do it with no recognition, carrying all of their white clients' belongings on their backs.) So why do so many people risk their lives to become one of the club of a thousand and a half crazy people who have climbed Everest?
Now, to make a name for yourself, you have to do something to make the climb crazier than it already is. You could do it without oxygen, but lots of people have done that already, so that's not even that remarkable. You could hang-glide off the summit, which is exactly what I would do, so that I could skip the grueling hike down, which is not too much easier than the trek up. But that's becoming popular, too; if you want to hang-glide, do it soon before it becomes so passé. If you're a double amputee, it would be quite a feat to summit Everest, but you wouldn't be the first to do it. Even if you chose to do it without your prosthetics, you still wouldn't be doing something someone hasn't done before. I just read about some old man who is carrying his mountain bike to the top of Everest, not because he's going to ride it back down. Just because he likes his bike a lot.
So if you want to do something really cool on Everest, you better think up something good. Possibly something involving a unicycle and juggling torches.
But I realize that I'm not talking about the book very much. This book is a vastly interesting, quick read. It's very much like Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster, which recounts the details of a terrible season on Everest in 1996 in which eight people died. Dark Summit is the Into Thin Air of 2006's disastrous season. Eleven people died in one month. One man laid on the trail for more than a day, dying while people just traipsed past him, a casualty of the "it's me or you" mindset that causes many climbers to be unwilling to help those in need. To act like a freaking human being and lend someone a hand.
So, read this if you're at all interested in people doing crazy things like climbing crazy mountains. Read it if you like to learn about people in extreme situations.
And read it to cure yourself of your desire to do self-destructive and ridiculous things like climbing crazy mountains.
And the thing is, climbing Everest isn't even that remarkable anymore. About 1,500 people have climbed Everest to date. (And that figure most likely ignores lots of Sherpas who do it with no recognition, carrying all of their white clients' belongings on their backs.) So why do so many people risk their lives to become one of the club of a thousand and a half crazy people who have climbed Everest?
Now, to make a name for yourself, you have to do something to make the climb crazier than it already is. You could do it without oxygen, but lots of people have done that already, so that's not even that remarkable. You could hang-glide off the summit, which is exactly what I would do, so that I could skip the grueling hike down, which is not too much easier than the trek up. But that's becoming popular, too; if you want to hang-glide, do it soon before it becomes so passé. If you're a double amputee, it would be quite a feat to summit Everest, but you wouldn't be the first to do it. Even if you chose to do it without your prosthetics, you still wouldn't be doing something someone hasn't done before. I just read about some old man who is carrying his mountain bike to the top of Everest, not because he's going to ride it back down. Just because he likes his bike a lot.
So if you want to do something really cool on Everest, you better think up something good. Possibly something involving a unicycle and juggling torches.
But I realize that I'm not talking about the book very much. This book is a vastly interesting, quick read. It's very much like Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster, which recounts the details of a terrible season on Everest in 1996 in which eight people died. Dark Summit is the Into Thin Air of 2006's disastrous season. Eleven people died in one month. One man laid on the trail for more than a day, dying while people just traipsed past him, a casualty of the "it's me or you" mindset that causes many climbers to be unwilling to help those in need. To act like a freaking human being and lend someone a hand.
So, read this if you're at all interested in people doing crazy things like climbing crazy mountains. Read it if you like to learn about people in extreme situations.
And read it to cure yourself of your desire to do self-destructive and ridiculous things like climbing crazy mountains.
February 24, 2009
Well, finally getting around to making a few notes about this book which I read at the same time as a bunch of other Everest-summiting books. All are pretty good, and I'm about to order some others I ran across, including K2, The Savage Mountain,K2 Triumph and Tragedy, The Last Step The American Ascent of K2, and The Endless Knot K2, Mountain of Dreams and Destiny: i.e., it's time to switch mountains.
The literature of mountaineering has evolved. It used to be they were stories of teamwork and assistance. Now, it seems, the treks to the top have become lines (literally) of people hanging on to ropes preset by Sherpas -- the real heroes imho-- just waiting their turn to get on top so they can have bragging rights the next time they head for the bar. Every imaginable disability from double amputees(one guy's prosthesis fell off so a Sherpa had to climb up several thousand feet with a new one) to a fellow with only one lung, to the oldest, or first MD, or first moron, a guy with multiple bones screwed together from a motorcycle accident, etc. has to make the climb now. Everest has become a veritable traffic jam of upper middle-class hero wannabes. And people die. And they no longer help each other. The picture presented by recent books is one of dismal back-biting, chaos, and catastrophe. But they are great fun to read for slugs like me sitting in front of the fire.
Dark Summit portrays the 2006 climbing year, second in tragedy only to 1996 -- see Into Thin Air A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster. Personally, I think they should shut the mountain down and leave it alone. Problem is, as with everything, there is too much money to be made.
The literature of mountaineering has evolved. It used to be they were stories of teamwork and assistance. Now, it seems, the treks to the top have become lines (literally) of people hanging on to ropes preset by Sherpas -- the real heroes imho-- just waiting their turn to get on top so they can have bragging rights the next time they head for the bar. Every imaginable disability from double amputees(one guy's prosthesis fell off so a Sherpa had to climb up several thousand feet with a new one) to a fellow with only one lung, to the oldest, or first MD, or first moron, a guy with multiple bones screwed together from a motorcycle accident, etc. has to make the climb now. Everest has become a veritable traffic jam of upper middle-class hero wannabes. And people die. And they no longer help each other. The picture presented by recent books is one of dismal back-biting, chaos, and catastrophe. But they are great fun to read for slugs like me sitting in front of the fire.
Dark Summit portrays the 2006 climbing year, second in tragedy only to 1996 -- see Into Thin Air A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster. Personally, I think they should shut the mountain down and leave it alone. Problem is, as with everything, there is too much money to be made.
June 20, 2008
Mount Everest is a cold and inhospitable place. After what happened on the mountain in 2006, a lot of people were saying the same thing about the hearts of many of those who climb Mount Everest. Ten people died on Mount Everest that year, but no death provoked more controversy and outrage than that of David Sharp. Sharp is remembered in the public consciousness as the young British climber who "lay dying near the top of Mount Everest while forty other climbers walked past him on their way to the summit." Cold, inhuman and selfish, right?
Dark Summit tries to answer that question. It turns out that like a lot of difficult questions and issues that have grabbed the public's attention, it isn't simple as the first reports made it seem to be. Sir Edmund Hillary framed the choice confronting the other climbers as the decision between deciding to try for the summit, or to save a man's life. This book explains why the choices weren't that simple or easy.
Dark Summit tells the story of the deadly 2006 season on Everest, putting it in historical context and examining some of the thorny problems caused by the increasingly large number of inexperienced climbers being guided, tugged, dragged and pushed to the summit by commercial outfitters. It also paints a vivid portrait of the pain and sacrifice it takes to climb Mount Everest, as well as the hazards, dangers and brutal conditions involved in a summit attempt. At the same time, it provides insight into the psyches of those who willingly risk their lives, limbs and health to get to the top.
But the heart of the book is the story of Sharp's death and the questions it raised. The truth is not as simple as most people were led to belive by the many sensational accounts which appeared in the media. The book presents a thoughtful examination of the issue of morality on the mountain. And it shows why you can't and shouldn't always believe everything you read in the papers or see on TV.
The widely held public perception is that dozens of climbers callously stepped over Sharp's body, deciding that it was more important to achieve their dream of summitting than to save a life. Sharp's story was contrasted with that of Lincoln Hall, also stranded on the upper reaches of Everest, and left for dead, but who was ultimately rescued.
To say that those who did not (or could not) save Sharp were callous and selfish, and that those who helped Hall were unselfish and heroic is ignore the complexity of high altitute death and rescue. It ignores the fact that some climbers did try to help Sharp, dragging him into the sun and giving him oxygen. But by the time Sharp was found, he had already spent the night on the mountain at over 8,000 meters, and was comatose and catatonic, unable to walk, and indeed hardly able to move. It also ignores the fact that Lincoln Hall, like Beck Weathers in 1996, was able through an incredible effort of will or a physiological quirk, to rouse himself and become active. Many climbers who have collapsed in the snow and been unable to muster that last resolve not to die have indeed been abandoned on Everest, and left to their fate.
No climber who was not ambulatory had ever been rescued from that height, and to carry a climber down from that height would have been extremely dangerous and probably impossible. As Heil put it, fifty years of Everest history warned against a rescue attempt under these circumstances.
David Sharp was an experienced climber. He tried to climb Mount Everest with minimal supplies, little oxygen, no radio
and no support system in place to help him in case he got into trouble. That was his choice, and he made it with full awareness of the dangers it involved. David's parents said they held no one accountable for his death, and spoke of his lifelong love of adventure. No doubt David himself was aware of the risk, and of the realities of climbing at extremely high altitude, in the so-called "Death Zone."
The Death Zone is indeed unforgiving, putting those who go there under unbelieveable stress. This book shows just how unforgiving Everest is. As well, it is a revealing look at how people perform under pressure, the simplistic nature of much of what passes for news these days, and the ambiguity of difficult moral choices, made not from the comfort of the living room, but in harsh circumstances.
Dark Summit tries to answer that question. It turns out that like a lot of difficult questions and issues that have grabbed the public's attention, it isn't simple as the first reports made it seem to be. Sir Edmund Hillary framed the choice confronting the other climbers as the decision between deciding to try for the summit, or to save a man's life. This book explains why the choices weren't that simple or easy.
Dark Summit tells the story of the deadly 2006 season on Everest, putting it in historical context and examining some of the thorny problems caused by the increasingly large number of inexperienced climbers being guided, tugged, dragged and pushed to the summit by commercial outfitters. It also paints a vivid portrait of the pain and sacrifice it takes to climb Mount Everest, as well as the hazards, dangers and brutal conditions involved in a summit attempt. At the same time, it provides insight into the psyches of those who willingly risk their lives, limbs and health to get to the top.
But the heart of the book is the story of Sharp's death and the questions it raised. The truth is not as simple as most people were led to belive by the many sensational accounts which appeared in the media. The book presents a thoughtful examination of the issue of morality on the mountain. And it shows why you can't and shouldn't always believe everything you read in the papers or see on TV.
The widely held public perception is that dozens of climbers callously stepped over Sharp's body, deciding that it was more important to achieve their dream of summitting than to save a life. Sharp's story was contrasted with that of Lincoln Hall, also stranded on the upper reaches of Everest, and left for dead, but who was ultimately rescued.
To say that those who did not (or could not) save Sharp were callous and selfish, and that those who helped Hall were unselfish and heroic is ignore the complexity of high altitute death and rescue. It ignores the fact that some climbers did try to help Sharp, dragging him into the sun and giving him oxygen. But by the time Sharp was found, he had already spent the night on the mountain at over 8,000 meters, and was comatose and catatonic, unable to walk, and indeed hardly able to move. It also ignores the fact that Lincoln Hall, like Beck Weathers in 1996, was able through an incredible effort of will or a physiological quirk, to rouse himself and become active. Many climbers who have collapsed in the snow and been unable to muster that last resolve not to die have indeed been abandoned on Everest, and left to their fate.
No climber who was not ambulatory had ever been rescued from that height, and to carry a climber down from that height would have been extremely dangerous and probably impossible. As Heil put it, fifty years of Everest history warned against a rescue attempt under these circumstances.
David Sharp was an experienced climber. He tried to climb Mount Everest with minimal supplies, little oxygen, no radio
and no support system in place to help him in case he got into trouble. That was his choice, and he made it with full awareness of the dangers it involved. David's parents said they held no one accountable for his death, and spoke of his lifelong love of adventure. No doubt David himself was aware of the risk, and of the realities of climbing at extremely high altitude, in the so-called "Death Zone."
The Death Zone is indeed unforgiving, putting those who go there under unbelieveable stress. This book shows just how unforgiving Everest is. As well, it is a revealing look at how people perform under pressure, the simplistic nature of much of what passes for news these days, and the ambiguity of difficult moral choices, made not from the comfort of the living room, but in harsh circumstances.
February 18, 2020
"Above 8,000 meters is not a place where people can afford morality."We've seen countless stories of the commercialization of Everest and the increasing number of deaths due to, among other things, deadly bottlenecks en route to the summit at the perilous altitude of the Death Zone. In 2019, eleven people died (mostly) because of these issues, the same number of people that died in Jon Krakauer's timeless Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster. It only received publicity because of the photo that famous mountaineer Nims Purja posted of the massive lines.
In 2006, eleven climbers also died on Everest. However, it wasn't because of a bad freak storm like in 1996, or not even really because of the bottlenecks. The two climbers who received the most attention that year - David Sharp and Lincoln Hall - were at risk because of exhaustion, HACE/HAPE, and other physical illnesses common when you're climbing at such high altitudes. The real "controversy" came when laypeople observing through Explorers Web and other sites found out that David Sharp lay in the snow, still alive but unconscious, while 40 people passed him on the way to the summit, few stopping to help. Same thing with Lincoln Hall - a couple of climbers on his expedition tried to stop and help, but he was left for dead near the summit. After the fact, other climbers, expedition leaders, and Sherpas were met with intense scrutiny on why they didn't stop to help these two men. Where were their morals? Were they so obsessed with making it to the summit that they lost all their humanity? Why is there no code of ethics on Everest?? This is still a question that's brought up today, and will probably increase in importance as more and more inexperienced climbers die en route to the summit.
To me, I don't understand this question. I didn't (and still don't) understand the controversy of the 2006 season. At that altitude, your body is in such stress that you can barely take care of yourself, let alone undertaking the very risky activity of trying to save someone else. When you're on your way up, there are lots of people who are stopped on the line or laying in the snow - you don't know who's just taking a rest and who's not okay. It's also not your responsibility to save someone who should not be on the mountain and insists on summiting even when they are stretched far past their limits - and are told by their guides and Sherpas that they need to turn around. The hubris that you read about in Everest books is insane and shameful. I also think that summiting Everest (particularly when you are inexperienced) is a very risky affair, and you need to go into it knowing there's a pretty good chance you won't make it down alive. Sherpas and guides and other climbers should not have to risk their lives saving someone who a) didn't listen when it was prudent to listen and b) has a pretty high chance of dying and can take their rescuers down with them. Maybe my opinion is a controversial one, but I also think learning a lot about Everest has made me increasingly cynical as to why anyone would want to go up there at all. (Side note: One of the climbers on the main expedition highlighted, Tim Medvetz, suffered a crazy motorcycle accident and basically lost function in both his legs - they were stapled together to his torso. He was a totally inexperienced climber who read Into Thin Air while recovering, which made him abandon everything and go try to climb Everest. WHAT??! How can Into Thin Air make you want to climb Everest as an inexperienced climber? It's literally about how inexperienced climbers led to the death of eleven people and how the commercialization of Everest is ruining the mountain.)
Another thing that detracted from my enjoyment of this book is all of the history. When you read other books and articles about Everest, you're usually inundated with at least a chapter of Everest history - the British surveyors, Mallory, Hillary and Tenzing, Messner, and all the mountaineers who have come after. Dark Summit is no different. I grew extremely bored of rereading all of these stories. Heil also blends a lot of these stories with the story of the 2006 expedition, so it was tough keeping track of what was history and what was "present" in the narrative. This is on me, but I listened to the audiobook, which made it even harder to keep track of names and dates, in addition to making the climax(es) of the book way less exciting and dramatic.
Overall, you can't beat Into Thin Air. Just save yourself some time and read that again.
December 3, 2012
I love Nick Heil’s writing. The details, perspective, and voice he brings to *Dark Summit* - a reflection on Everest’s controversial 2006 climbing season – are thought-provoking and compelling. I could not put this book down (and I don’t mean this figuratively – I literally had to finish this book before I could go to sleep).
Heil’s word choice is exquisite. When comparing the mountaineering of earlier years with modern climbing, he describes “the tweedy gentlemen climbers of yesteryear” with today’s “high altitude playground where conga lines of novice clients clogged the route, where deep-pocketed dilettantes of dubious ability were short-roped to well-compensated Sherpas and guides.” When describing the process of death from hypoxic-hypothermia , Heil writes: “At last the pump shuts down, and with that the limited circulation ceases. Internally, there is perfect stillness, equilibrium returning between a delicately calibrated but dissonant energy field in the form of a man and the larger energy field around him – the mountain, the air. The only movement now is wind, ice crystals skittering over rock and snow, a jacket flap-rustling, a clump of hair, stiff with rime, flicking across the forehead.”
I began this book with a bias that I wasn’t aware I had. When I started reading *Dark Summit* I had acquired the belief that the “bad guys” in the 2006 disaster on Everest were climbers who had walked past dying men without giving them a thought – their only aim to reach the summit. By the time I finished *Dark Summit*, my thoughts about the 2006 climbing season had been revised. With careful objectivity, Heil presents the history, the sequence of events, the timing, the eye witness accounts, and the personalities involved, and then trusts his readers to reach their own conclusions. The conclusion I reached when I got to the end of the book was that an uninformed and sensationalistic media – ignorant of the challenges of high altitude expeditions – was too eager to cast judgment and point fingers where there shouldn’t have been any finger-pointing, and to editorialize about something of which they knew little. If high-altitude climbing has changed in the last 50 years, so has the media. Objective, researched, fact-based reporting often seems to be replaced with subjective opinion in modern journalism. And it often seems to take an independent writer, such as Nick Heil, to pick up the media’s slack in reporting news-worthy events.
My dad, Dee Molenaar, was a member of the 1953 American K2 Expedition (and author of *Memoirs of a Dinosaur Mountaineer*). Maybe it’s my desire to better understand what my father experienced on K2, and to connect with him, that draws me to books about expedition climbing. My own experience with mountaineering has been limited to much less challenging climbs in the North Cascades (Rainier, Adams, Baker, Hood), made years ago when Dad was still guiding me up the snowfields – but I’ve had just enough climbing experience to be able to relate, in a small way, to the expedition climbing Heil describes in *Dark Summit*. And when Heil reflects on his own attitude about climbing Everest, he perfectly captures my own thoughts about the whole enterprise: “A few days earlier, I had stood at the North Coo, gazing up at the ridge, wondering if I could make it to the top. Ever since I had seen Everest for the first time a couple of years earlier, my unwavering opinion had been: No way, no way, no way. But as I stood on the col, the summit so close it seemed as though I could reach out and touch it, suddenly, surprisingly, a different thought materialized: Hell, yes, I can. It must have been the hypoxia talking. Now, crunching across the gravel in the middle of the night, lightless, tired, my wet foot quickly going numb, all I wanted to do was get back to camp, don dry socks, and crawl into my sleeping bag. Looking up at the ridge only made me shudder.”
Near the beginning of *Dark Summit*, Heil quotes George Mallory (who had died on Everest in 1924): “What we get from this adventure is sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for.” I’m really glad Heil includes this quote in his book, and at the beginning of it. I think it helps put everything that follows into perspective for the reader. No one who climbs Everest is forced to be there. Those who are on Everest are there because they choose to be. As I read *Dark summit* it became clear to me that, ultimately, each individual climber must claim responsibility for his own choices and his own life.
Heil’s word choice is exquisite. When comparing the mountaineering of earlier years with modern climbing, he describes “the tweedy gentlemen climbers of yesteryear” with today’s “high altitude playground where conga lines of novice clients clogged the route, where deep-pocketed dilettantes of dubious ability were short-roped to well-compensated Sherpas and guides.” When describing the process of death from hypoxic-hypothermia , Heil writes: “At last the pump shuts down, and with that the limited circulation ceases. Internally, there is perfect stillness, equilibrium returning between a delicately calibrated but dissonant energy field in the form of a man and the larger energy field around him – the mountain, the air. The only movement now is wind, ice crystals skittering over rock and snow, a jacket flap-rustling, a clump of hair, stiff with rime, flicking across the forehead.”
I began this book with a bias that I wasn’t aware I had. When I started reading *Dark Summit* I had acquired the belief that the “bad guys” in the 2006 disaster on Everest were climbers who had walked past dying men without giving them a thought – their only aim to reach the summit. By the time I finished *Dark Summit*, my thoughts about the 2006 climbing season had been revised. With careful objectivity, Heil presents the history, the sequence of events, the timing, the eye witness accounts, and the personalities involved, and then trusts his readers to reach their own conclusions. The conclusion I reached when I got to the end of the book was that an uninformed and sensationalistic media – ignorant of the challenges of high altitude expeditions – was too eager to cast judgment and point fingers where there shouldn’t have been any finger-pointing, and to editorialize about something of which they knew little. If high-altitude climbing has changed in the last 50 years, so has the media. Objective, researched, fact-based reporting often seems to be replaced with subjective opinion in modern journalism. And it often seems to take an independent writer, such as Nick Heil, to pick up the media’s slack in reporting news-worthy events.
My dad, Dee Molenaar, was a member of the 1953 American K2 Expedition (and author of *Memoirs of a Dinosaur Mountaineer*). Maybe it’s my desire to better understand what my father experienced on K2, and to connect with him, that draws me to books about expedition climbing. My own experience with mountaineering has been limited to much less challenging climbs in the North Cascades (Rainier, Adams, Baker, Hood), made years ago when Dad was still guiding me up the snowfields – but I’ve had just enough climbing experience to be able to relate, in a small way, to the expedition climbing Heil describes in *Dark Summit*. And when Heil reflects on his own attitude about climbing Everest, he perfectly captures my own thoughts about the whole enterprise: “A few days earlier, I had stood at the North Coo, gazing up at the ridge, wondering if I could make it to the top. Ever since I had seen Everest for the first time a couple of years earlier, my unwavering opinion had been: No way, no way, no way. But as I stood on the col, the summit so close it seemed as though I could reach out and touch it, suddenly, surprisingly, a different thought materialized: Hell, yes, I can. It must have been the hypoxia talking. Now, crunching across the gravel in the middle of the night, lightless, tired, my wet foot quickly going numb, all I wanted to do was get back to camp, don dry socks, and crawl into my sleeping bag. Looking up at the ridge only made me shudder.”
Near the beginning of *Dark Summit*, Heil quotes George Mallory (who had died on Everest in 1924): “What we get from this adventure is sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for.” I’m really glad Heil includes this quote in his book, and at the beginning of it. I think it helps put everything that follows into perspective for the reader. No one who climbs Everest is forced to be there. Those who are on Everest are there because they choose to be. As I read *Dark summit* it became clear to me that, ultimately, each individual climber must claim responsibility for his own choices and his own life.
October 28, 2018
Nick Heils Buch, das die dunkle Seite des Mount Everests, ja sogar den großen Skandal der Expeditionsmafia im Himalaya aufdeckt, ist eine geradezu lächerliche Übertreibung des Verlags, um Leser anzulocken. Man nehme einfach die groß anmutenden Wörter "Skandal", "Gemetzel" und "Mafia" und wupps wirkt das Buch interessanter, vor allem für Leute, die sonst nie Bergsteigerliteratur lesen. Das ist wahrscheinlich mein größtes Ärgernis mit diesem Werk. Denn ich lese regelmäßig in diesem Genre und ich wähle ein Buch nicht wegen einer hohen Opferzahl, sondern wegen des Abenteuers, den Anstrengungen der Protagonisten beizuwohnen, ihre psychischen wie physischen Kämpfe zu verfolgen und mir die Bergrouten und Widrigkeiten jenseits der 8000-Marke vorzustellen.
Heil hat stattdessen die Geschehnisse an der Nordseite des Mt. Everest im Jahre 2006 unter die Lupe genommen, als elf Bergsteiger den Berg nicht lebend verließen und vor allem der Tod des Alleinkletterers David Sharp eine weltweite kontroverse Diskussion auslöste. Und genau diese oberflächlichen, unnützen Schuldzuweisungen (nicht vom Autoren, sondern von den Medien) nervten mich beim Lesen. Ich finde es sinnfrei, Expeditionsleiter und Bergsteiger anzukreiden, wenn sie auf einem 8000er in der Todeszone nur begrenzt oder gar nicht zur Hilfe eilen, wenn ein Bergsteiger aus einer anderen Gruppe kraftlos oder mit einem Lungen- bzw. Hirnödem zusammenbricht. Es gibt keine Bergrettung in diesen extremen Höhen. Kein Bergsteiger wird gezwungen sich dort aufzuhalten und inzwischen müsste bis zum letzten Menschen durchgedrungen sein, welche lebenswidrigen Zustände dort herrschen. Die Frage muss anders gestellt werden: was haben dort unerfahrene Möchtegern-Helden zu suchen? Am besten noch mit Prothesen, blind und null Kletter- und Höhenerfahrung? Sie sind es, die andere Bergsteiger in Gefahr bringen, weil sie die Routen blockieren. Es wird eben ein hübsches Sümmchen gezahlt und dutzende Sherpas hieven mich auf den Berg. Permits werden grenzenlos herausgegeben. So lange dies sich nicht ändert, kann man auch die Diskussion beilegen, ob Moral in der Todeszone existiert. Der höchste Berg der Welt ist zur öffentlichen Bühne der Eitelkeiten geworden. Er wird kommerziell ausgeschlachtet. Das ist der einzige Skandal, wenn wir bei diesem Wort bleiben wollen.
Zweites Ärgernis war für mich die fehlende Struktur. Das Buch ist laut Inhaltsverzeichnis in zwei Teile untergliedert, wobei der erste mit "David Sharp" betitelt ist, obwohl es ab Seite 134 erst wirklich um ihn geht. Zuvor erzählt Heil von Tsewang Paljor, bekannt als Green Boots, dessen Körper seit 1996 zwischen First und Second Step unter einem Felsvorsprung liegt, direkt neben der Kletterroute. Anschließend folgt ein historischer Abriss über die Erstbesteigungen und misslungenen Versuche sowie über die Auswirkungen der sauerstoffarmen Luft in der Höhe. Das langweilte mich schon etwas. Hinzu kam, dass er permanent Nebenerzählungen über andere Bergsteiger und deren Leben einflocht, die für das Thema nicht relevant waren.
Es war für mich nicht gerade der Brüller, aber im zweiten Teil immerhin flüssig und interessanter zu lesen.
Heil hat stattdessen die Geschehnisse an der Nordseite des Mt. Everest im Jahre 2006 unter die Lupe genommen, als elf Bergsteiger den Berg nicht lebend verließen und vor allem der Tod des Alleinkletterers David Sharp eine weltweite kontroverse Diskussion auslöste. Und genau diese oberflächlichen, unnützen Schuldzuweisungen (nicht vom Autoren, sondern von den Medien) nervten mich beim Lesen. Ich finde es sinnfrei, Expeditionsleiter und Bergsteiger anzukreiden, wenn sie auf einem 8000er in der Todeszone nur begrenzt oder gar nicht zur Hilfe eilen, wenn ein Bergsteiger aus einer anderen Gruppe kraftlos oder mit einem Lungen- bzw. Hirnödem zusammenbricht. Es gibt keine Bergrettung in diesen extremen Höhen. Kein Bergsteiger wird gezwungen sich dort aufzuhalten und inzwischen müsste bis zum letzten Menschen durchgedrungen sein, welche lebenswidrigen Zustände dort herrschen. Die Frage muss anders gestellt werden: was haben dort unerfahrene Möchtegern-Helden zu suchen? Am besten noch mit Prothesen, blind und null Kletter- und Höhenerfahrung? Sie sind es, die andere Bergsteiger in Gefahr bringen, weil sie die Routen blockieren. Es wird eben ein hübsches Sümmchen gezahlt und dutzende Sherpas hieven mich auf den Berg. Permits werden grenzenlos herausgegeben. So lange dies sich nicht ändert, kann man auch die Diskussion beilegen, ob Moral in der Todeszone existiert. Der höchste Berg der Welt ist zur öffentlichen Bühne der Eitelkeiten geworden. Er wird kommerziell ausgeschlachtet. Das ist der einzige Skandal, wenn wir bei diesem Wort bleiben wollen.
Zweites Ärgernis war für mich die fehlende Struktur. Das Buch ist laut Inhaltsverzeichnis in zwei Teile untergliedert, wobei der erste mit "David Sharp" betitelt ist, obwohl es ab Seite 134 erst wirklich um ihn geht. Zuvor erzählt Heil von Tsewang Paljor, bekannt als Green Boots, dessen Körper seit 1996 zwischen First und Second Step unter einem Felsvorsprung liegt, direkt neben der Kletterroute. Anschließend folgt ein historischer Abriss über die Erstbesteigungen und misslungenen Versuche sowie über die Auswirkungen der sauerstoffarmen Luft in der Höhe. Das langweilte mich schon etwas. Hinzu kam, dass er permanent Nebenerzählungen über andere Bergsteiger und deren Leben einflocht, die für das Thema nicht relevant waren.
Es war für mich nicht gerade der Brüller, aber im zweiten Teil immerhin flüssig und interessanter zu lesen.
February 27, 2020
Why do people endeavor to climb a mountain as dangerous as Everest? To what extent are people responsible for one another in a dangerous situation? What is the moral imperative when survival is inherently threatened?
This book attempts to address some of these issues primarily by reporting on the events of the 2006, one of the deadliest seasons on the mountain. David Sharp, an individual climber, ended up incapacitated (but still alive) on the mountain, and numerous other climbers passed him on the way to the summit, but did not offer aid. Heil does a nice job of neutrally uncovering why that happened, the media storm that followed, and the people who were impacted. As part of his investigation, he also relates the story of Lincoln Hall, an experienced climber who experienced cerebral edema on his way down. These stories tie together in interesting ways.
The initial half of the book introduces the major characters and relates some of the history of climbing Mt. Everest, but it is really the second half of the book that is more gripping and that has more to say about the human condition.
This book attempts to address some of these issues primarily by reporting on the events of the 2006, one of the deadliest seasons on the mountain. David Sharp, an individual climber, ended up incapacitated (but still alive) on the mountain, and numerous other climbers passed him on the way to the summit, but did not offer aid. Heil does a nice job of neutrally uncovering why that happened, the media storm that followed, and the people who were impacted. As part of his investigation, he also relates the story of Lincoln Hall, an experienced climber who experienced cerebral edema on his way down. These stories tie together in interesting ways.
The initial half of the book introduces the major characters and relates some of the history of climbing Mt. Everest, but it is really the second half of the book that is more gripping and that has more to say about the human condition.
May 21, 2012
I wish I could add a half-star. The book was good. Riveting, full of fascinating stuff. But it was confusing. The layout for a book like this is always going to be tricky, but there's way too much going back and forth in time. There was too much information given about the other hikers on the various expeditions, and most of them didn't have a real role in the story. I found myself relying on a chart in the beginning showing who belonged with what expedition company, and sometimes I had to use the index to remind myself who certain people were and what their story was.
The conclusion was more than a little lame. There was great build-up to the controversy from that hiking season, but when the reader actually GOT to the controversy itself, it was anti-climactic. I have my own opinions now, too, and they vary slightly from the author's.
It's a good read for anyone interested in Everest, but bookmark the index and the guide in front. You may need it.
The conclusion was more than a little lame. There was great build-up to the controversy from that hiking season, but when the reader actually GOT to the controversy itself, it was anti-climactic. I have my own opinions now, too, and they vary slightly from the author's.
It's a good read for anyone interested in Everest, but bookmark the index and the guide in front. You may need it.
November 18, 2025
Dark Summit is non-fiction about the 2006 climbing season on Mount Everest, focusing on the death of British climber David Sharp near the summit. Sharp died while dozens of climbers passed him on their way up and down the mountain, which led to more controversy about the ethics of high-altitude mountaineering. Heil reconstructs the events of that season through interviews and expedition logs. He covers multiple climbing teams as they ascend and descend the mountain. He also relates the circumstances of the ten other deaths in 2006 on Everest around the same time, and the many obstacles to performing any rescue over 8000 meters (26,000 feet).
Heil is attempting to provide the facts of what happened. He acknowledges the difficulties in establishing facts when witnesses were oxygen-deprived and exhausted. We learn about high-altitude physiology, weather patterns, and climbing techniques. He notes the changes that have occurred over time, with the proliferation of commercial expeditions. Heil does a good job of balancing the decisions made at the time with an assessment of risks, ethics, and personal responsibility. It is a most enlightening read, especially for those of us who enjoy reading about mountaineering to try to understand what drives people to tackle such extreme goals.
Heil is attempting to provide the facts of what happened. He acknowledges the difficulties in establishing facts when witnesses were oxygen-deprived and exhausted. We learn about high-altitude physiology, weather patterns, and climbing techniques. He notes the changes that have occurred over time, with the proliferation of commercial expeditions. Heil does a good job of balancing the decisions made at the time with an assessment of risks, ethics, and personal responsibility. It is a most enlightening read, especially for those of us who enjoy reading about mountaineering to try to understand what drives people to tackle such extreme goals.
January 1, 2022
Loved this. It was referenced in The Third Pole by Mark Synnott and I found it to be an excellent entry in "disasters on Everest" canon. Heil doesn't insert himself into the narrative at all, and so it will appeal to those looking for "objective" narratives where the author themselves is not a figure in the story (I personally like both). Heil covers many angles of the 2006 climbing season with multiple "main characters," of course with the primary lens of the man who made it off the mountain vs. the one who didn't--and why it happened. I appreciated the in-depth context and nuance, and how there were some answers, but no definitive or easy ones.
Heil has a gift for pinning down people as characters. I felt like I knew them, which in turn made it easier to understand the complicated metric of decision making on the mountain that season. I appreciated how Heil broke down and explained stretches of the terrain/climb, and what it FEELS like to climb so high. I've read a lot of these books, including by experienced mountaineers, but Heil went into detail on things I haven't seen as often. The in-depth as-close-as-we-can-get description of what it FEELS LIKE to die from HAPE was both harrowing and enlightening. It gives you insight into what it is like for someone in that condition and WHY it's so hard to help those climbers. So upsetting.
I was also able to supplement the book by watching the Discovery series that was being filmed that season, and it really augmented how candid and in-depth Heil was and where Discovery heavily editorialized.
So a really strong one for me within the canon of mountaineering disaster books, especially about Everest. I would recommend this alongside Into Thin Air and the Third Pole--a trilogy of the rise of tourism and disaster on Everest.
Heil has a gift for pinning down people as characters. I felt like I knew them, which in turn made it easier to understand the complicated metric of decision making on the mountain that season. I appreciated how Heil broke down and explained stretches of the terrain/climb, and what it FEELS like to climb so high. I've read a lot of these books, including by experienced mountaineers, but Heil went into detail on things I haven't seen as often. The in-depth as-close-as-we-can-get description of what it FEELS LIKE to die from HAPE was both harrowing and enlightening. It gives you insight into what it is like for someone in that condition and WHY it's so hard to help those climbers. So upsetting.
I was also able to supplement the book by watching the Discovery series that was being filmed that season, and it really augmented how candid and in-depth Heil was and where Discovery heavily editorialized.
So a really strong one for me within the canon of mountaineering disaster books, especially about Everest. I would recommend this alongside Into Thin Air and the Third Pole--a trilogy of the rise of tourism and disaster on Everest.
March 23, 2024
British climber David Sharp lays along a ridge near the top of the highest point in the world. He is dying, but he isn't dead...yet. Still, forty other climbers walk past him on their way to the summit and not one of the stops to help. A week later, veteran climber Lincoln Hall is also left for dead in the same spot. His death is reported around the world. However, the next day he is found still alive and heroically brought down off Everest. He survives. In a thorough investigation into the events of the deadly 2006 Everest climbing season - as season that would claim 11 lives - Nick Hall attempts to get to the bottom of what went wrong and exposes the peril of greed and ambition colliding at the top of the world.
Every year mountaineers from around the world are drawn to the base of Everest - whose peak reaches 29,035 feet into the sky - to attempt to reach the summit. Many have died climbing Everest, but perhaps no single death had created more controversy than the death of British climber David Sharp during the 2006 climbing season. In all, the 2006 season resulted in 11 deaths – the second deadliest season on record. In Dark Summit, author Nick Heil writes a comprehensive account of the events of 2006 that took place on the north side of Everest, including David Sharp’s death, the miraculous rescue of Lincoln Hall and the ethical questions being raised as more and more people with less and less experience attempt to climb the highest peak on earth.
Nick Heil is an experienced climber, but he was not on Everest in 2006. Rather than handicapping him as an outsider, it actually enhances his credibility because, unlike Jon Krakauer’s book Into Thin Air, Nick doesn’t have any loyalties to the people involved nor is he trying to paint himself as a hero. Instead, the book creates a comprehensive review detailing exactly what happened on the mountain and allows the reader to draw their own conclusions about the industry that has formed on the side of Everest. Dark Summit is also very accessible. Heil eschews the technical nomenclature of hardcore climbers, instead utilizing a more approachable language that allows those with limited knowledge of the climbing world to appreciated the difficulties involved.
In addition to being well researched, Dark Summit is also a very compelling read, told with a story telling knack that any reader should appreciate. This is necessary reading for anyone who has ever wondered what goes on at the top of the world.
“The two climbers looked at each other, a glance that bored all the way down to Medvetz's DNA - not desperate or pleading or frightened but resolved, almost at peace. Here were two men, united in their obsessive enterprise, their trajectories intersecting for just an instant, but an instant that contained some fundamental understanding: the long journey full of failures and setbacks, injuries and disfigurement and pain, propelled by a commitment beyond reason. Here were two men in this inhospitable place, the wind raking across the ridge, the shadows lengthening - one departing his life, the other walking back into it.
"God bless you," Medvetz murmured. "Good-bye."
And then he faced down the mountain and resumed lumbering along the route, toward Brice and Brett Merrell and Mogens Jensen and all the others waiting for him in the world below.”
Every year mountaineers from around the world are drawn to the base of Everest - whose peak reaches 29,035 feet into the sky - to attempt to reach the summit. Many have died climbing Everest, but perhaps no single death had created more controversy than the death of British climber David Sharp during the 2006 climbing season. In all, the 2006 season resulted in 11 deaths – the second deadliest season on record. In Dark Summit, author Nick Heil writes a comprehensive account of the events of 2006 that took place on the north side of Everest, including David Sharp’s death, the miraculous rescue of Lincoln Hall and the ethical questions being raised as more and more people with less and less experience attempt to climb the highest peak on earth.
Nick Heil is an experienced climber, but he was not on Everest in 2006. Rather than handicapping him as an outsider, it actually enhances his credibility because, unlike Jon Krakauer’s book Into Thin Air, Nick doesn’t have any loyalties to the people involved nor is he trying to paint himself as a hero. Instead, the book creates a comprehensive review detailing exactly what happened on the mountain and allows the reader to draw their own conclusions about the industry that has formed on the side of Everest. Dark Summit is also very accessible. Heil eschews the technical nomenclature of hardcore climbers, instead utilizing a more approachable language that allows those with limited knowledge of the climbing world to appreciated the difficulties involved.
In addition to being well researched, Dark Summit is also a very compelling read, told with a story telling knack that any reader should appreciate. This is necessary reading for anyone who has ever wondered what goes on at the top of the world.
April 1, 2019
Decided to revisit this one as an audiobook while packing for a move, and...impressed me a whole lot less than the first time around. Most of this book is effectively a summary and synthesis of other media sources (first person accounts of climbers, TV shows) to which Heil doesn't really have much of his own to add. Beyond that, the book consistently assumes a male audience and presumes that all climbers or potential climbers are male, and unquestioningly recounts imperialist narratives around Everest's "discovery" and "conquest," as well as treating "Western" clients as the only individuals whose stories are worth telling (to the extent that they feature at all, Sherpas are generally nameless and featureless, with a couple of minor exceptions). If all you're going to do is synthesize other sources, it seems like the least you could do is examine some of these tired narratives and attitudes and try and come up with something new to say about a tired subject, but at the end of the day this just reads like a bloated magazine article.
September 17, 2016
In 2006, Mount Everest saw it's deadliest season since 1996 (the year Jon Krakauer wrote about in Into Thin Air). But this time around, weather was not the cause. One man died after being passed by numerous climbers while he was still alive; another was left behind when they thought he was a lost cause (he was “left for dead”, similar to Beck Weathers in 1996); miraculously, he lived.
Another really good mountaineering book. The beginning, while looking back at history and – at the same time – introducing us to the “players” in 2006, I had a bit of hard time following, with so many people, years, stories. But, once we got going and focused on 2006, the story was riveting. I don't remember crying while reading Into Thin Air (but I'd be surprised if I didn't; I likely just don't remember), but I cried at a couple of places reading this one.
Another really good mountaineering book. The beginning, while looking back at history and – at the same time – introducing us to the “players” in 2006, I had a bit of hard time following, with so many people, years, stories. But, once we got going and focused on 2006, the story was riveting. I don't remember crying while reading Into Thin Air (but I'd be surprised if I didn't; I likely just don't remember), but I cried at a couple of places reading this one.
March 25, 2025
3.5 Stars
August 22, 2008
This was a really interesting look at ethics and community at high altitude. It makes you think about what level of responsibility high-altitude mountaineers can be expected to have for each other. Answers vary widely; it is pretty chilling.
October 18, 2017
Nick Heil is not a mountaineer, he is a journalist and writer, and with that knowledge and the quote on the front cover of Dark summit ("On Everest morality stops at 8000 metres"), I wasn't holding great hopes for this title. Ever since Jon Krakauer's Into thin air, there has been a genre of Everest books that concern themselves with the ethics of modern guided trips to the top of the world, most of which haven't reached the high bar set by Krakauer, and some of which have been as shameful as the events they purport to portray.
Thankfully Heil's book is quite a few rungs above those depths. His book is a description of the disastrous 2006 season on Everest, when eleven people died on the mountain (not all deaths occurred above 8000 metres). That makes the 2006 season one of the most deadly, in fact more people died than in the infamous 1996 season that forms the basis of Into thin air. Krakauer's book centred around the then novel notion of guided mountaineering trips up Everest, and the ethics and morality of that process. Since Krakauer's time the guided ascent has become an industry, and Heil jumps right into the centre of it. As with many of these types of books, the nub of the story is not quite enough to flesh out a whole book, so we are given the usual potted history of attempts on Everest, with a concentration on the North Face, where most of Heil's action is set. While this background is useful and in formative, for me - and I think Heil - this was going through the motions a little bit.
The "meat" of this book concentrates on the climbers on the North Face, and in particular Russell Brice's Himex group. Heil deftly explains the advances made in modern technology since 1996, which make planning a climb easier (better weather forecasts and communication), and has pushed Everest into the twenty-first century (the battle between groups to get clients, animosities between people fought out on the web). The inherent danger of very inexperienced people high on Everest (for some climbers in 2006 Everest was their first 8000 metre climb) is always in the background, and is well portrayed.
While the drive that sends people to attempt Everest may be difficult to articulate, the drive that leads the legion of armchair mountaineers (my sister has lent me this book, and when I'm done I'll lend it to my brother-in-law) to read books such as this is simple: the subject of human beings being pushed to their limits is inherently both gripping and fascinating. Thankfully Dark summit is relatively well-written, with only a modicum of cliche, so the story is free to breathe.
The apogee of the tale is the description and discussion of the death of David Sharp, a lone climber who was found in a near-death state high on the mountain by members of Brice's expedition. Brice, and double amputee Inglis (who was one of the people who found Sharp), got a lot of flack from the press over the decision to leave Sharp. Heil treats this incident fairly, showing both that Brice and his expedition did what they could, and pointing out that some of the more, shall we say "cowboy"expedition managers at Everest don't really do their job properly.
The death of Sharp was put into high relief by the amazing survival and rescue of Australian climber Lincoln Hall during the same climbing season. Hall was an experienced climber, who collapsed and was left for dead. He survived a night in the open near the summit and was rescued by other climbers. Heil speculates that the rescue of Hall was one of the drivers of the criticism of the people who left Sharp to die, but goes on to point out that whereas Sharp was mostly passed by "amateurs", Hall was lucky enough to be discovered by a team of very experienced mountaineers.
As the industry of Himalayan climbing develops year-on-year, we can expect more tragedies to occur in the death zone - since 2006 we've had 11 deaths on K2, described in One mountain thousand summits by Freddie Wilkinson (which is not at the same standard as Heil's book), and 2012 saw another 10 people die on Everest - and no doubt more controversy to come.
This book is well worth reading if you're into mountain literature.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
Thankfully Heil's book is quite a few rungs above those depths. His book is a description of the disastrous 2006 season on Everest, when eleven people died on the mountain (not all deaths occurred above 8000 metres). That makes the 2006 season one of the most deadly, in fact more people died than in the infamous 1996 season that forms the basis of Into thin air. Krakauer's book centred around the then novel notion of guided mountaineering trips up Everest, and the ethics and morality of that process. Since Krakauer's time the guided ascent has become an industry, and Heil jumps right into the centre of it. As with many of these types of books, the nub of the story is not quite enough to flesh out a whole book, so we are given the usual potted history of attempts on Everest, with a concentration on the North Face, where most of Heil's action is set. While this background is useful and in formative, for me - and I think Heil - this was going through the motions a little bit.
The "meat" of this book concentrates on the climbers on the North Face, and in particular Russell Brice's Himex group. Heil deftly explains the advances made in modern technology since 1996, which make planning a climb easier (better weather forecasts and communication), and has pushed Everest into the twenty-first century (the battle between groups to get clients, animosities between people fought out on the web). The inherent danger of very inexperienced people high on Everest (for some climbers in 2006 Everest was their first 8000 metre climb) is always in the background, and is well portrayed.
While the drive that sends people to attempt Everest may be difficult to articulate, the drive that leads the legion of armchair mountaineers (my sister has lent me this book, and when I'm done I'll lend it to my brother-in-law) to read books such as this is simple: the subject of human beings being pushed to their limits is inherently both gripping and fascinating. Thankfully Dark summit is relatively well-written, with only a modicum of cliche, so the story is free to breathe.
The apogee of the tale is the description and discussion of the death of David Sharp, a lone climber who was found in a near-death state high on the mountain by members of Brice's expedition. Brice, and double amputee Inglis (who was one of the people who found Sharp), got a lot of flack from the press over the decision to leave Sharp. Heil treats this incident fairly, showing both that Brice and his expedition did what they could, and pointing out that some of the more, shall we say "cowboy"expedition managers at Everest don't really do their job properly.
The death of Sharp was put into high relief by the amazing survival and rescue of Australian climber Lincoln Hall during the same climbing season. Hall was an experienced climber, who collapsed and was left for dead. He survived a night in the open near the summit and was rescued by other climbers. Heil speculates that the rescue of Hall was one of the drivers of the criticism of the people who left Sharp to die, but goes on to point out that whereas Sharp was mostly passed by "amateurs", Hall was lucky enough to be discovered by a team of very experienced mountaineers.
As the industry of Himalayan climbing develops year-on-year, we can expect more tragedies to occur in the death zone - since 2006 we've had 11 deaths on K2, described in One mountain thousand summits by Freddie Wilkinson (which is not at the same standard as Heil's book), and 2012 saw another 10 people die on Everest - and no doubt more controversy to come.
This book is well worth reading if you're into mountain literature.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 15, 2012
Picked this up at 10 last night and didn't put it down until I was done. What I especially enjoy about reading about Everest is just how bloody uncomfortable it always makes me. Like several people say, morality is different on the mountain. And it is, but should it be? I'm tempted to be curmudgeonly with Sir Edmund and close the mountain to one expedition/year, with the entire focus on not losing anyone. At the same time, reading the stories of these people who are driven to get to the top, I know that's impossible. This book adds more characters to that list, both the ones who made it and the ones who didn't.
Although this one didn't have nearly the suspense of the books around the 1996 season, I think in a way it was more striking because this was not a bad season for climbing - it was cold but clear, they didn't have nearly the logjams they have on the south side, etc. - and yet it was still fucked. People die on Everest. Period.
IIRC, this is also the most informed book I've read about the operational aspects of Everest's expeditions. Whereas so many others are told through a single guide's perspective, this gave me a peek into how the summit groups compare. Himex is pricey, sure, but going it alone? (And I know that this book can't be considered unbiased, it was pretty obviously pro-Himex, but when Brice called David Sharp's parents to tell them about their son - and then built a cairn memorial for them himself! - I was incredibly moved. Who would ever go with Asian Trekking after that?)
So now my "what would I do there?" nervestrings have been plucked again, and I'm going to add those who walked past David Sharp early and the teams that mutter "no English" as they scoot past to the list of horrible souls that includes those who shoved Beck Wethers in his tent alone a decade earlier, and get all judgey with the single-minded focus on the summit, and savour that uncomfortable wonder over if I'd be one bit different.
Although this one didn't have nearly the suspense of the books around the 1996 season, I think in a way it was more striking because this was not a bad season for climbing - it was cold but clear, they didn't have nearly the logjams they have on the south side, etc. - and yet it was still fucked. People die on Everest. Period.
IIRC, this is also the most informed book I've read about the operational aspects of Everest's expeditions. Whereas so many others are told through a single guide's perspective, this gave me a peek into how the summit groups compare. Himex is pricey, sure, but going it alone? (And I know that this book can't be considered unbiased, it was pretty obviously pro-Himex, but when Brice called David Sharp's parents to tell them about their son - and then built a cairn memorial for them himself! - I was incredibly moved. Who would ever go with Asian Trekking after that?)
So now my "what would I do there?" nervestrings have been plucked again, and I'm going to add those who walked past David Sharp early and the teams that mutter "no English" as they scoot past to the list of horrible souls that includes those who shoved Beck Wethers in his tent alone a decade earlier, and get all judgey with the single-minded focus on the summit, and savour that uncomfortable wonder over if I'd be one bit different.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 25, 2011
A follow-up of sorts to Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer's classic account of the deadly 1996 climbing season on Mount Everest. Nick Heil covers the equally deadly 2006 season, especially the controversial death of David Sharp. Over 40 climbers climbed past Sharp as he lay dying near the summit after spending a night alone on the mountain. Heil argues that it was understandable: at so high an altitude, rescue was virtually impossible, and Sharp had chosen to climb with no partners and no support.
As even Nick Heil admits, it's impossible to think of Dark Summit without Krakauer's work and all the follow-up books on Everest, so here's the comparison:
Krakauer is an accomplished technical rock climber and summited Everest during his ill-fated trip. Heil visited one of the mountain base camps but has no high altitude climbing experience.
Krakauer's book was at heart a very personal story. Heil's tale is more from the point of view of a detached reporter, though he admits to a bias in favor of one of the people he wrote about.
Dark Summit isn't going to displace Into Thin Air in people's minds, but it's an interesting, occasionally harrowing, story. Worth the read.
As even Nick Heil admits, it's impossible to think of Dark Summit without Krakauer's work and all the follow-up books on Everest, so here's the comparison:
Krakauer is an accomplished technical rock climber and summited Everest during his ill-fated trip. Heil visited one of the mountain base camps but has no high altitude climbing experience.
Krakauer's book was at heart a very personal story. Heil's tale is more from the point of view of a detached reporter, though he admits to a bias in favor of one of the people he wrote about.
Dark Summit isn't going to displace Into Thin Air in people's minds, but it's an interesting, occasionally harrowing, story. Worth the read.
August 26, 2011
I get drawn into mountaineering books at certain times and this was another one of those phases. When I heard of the Englishman was passed by 40 climbers on Everest I was appalled. How could so many people be so inhumane? Recently I found this book and thought, this might explain how this could happen. In reading it I felt the author gave an objective as possible account of the circumstances surrounding this awful tragedy and I did feel I understood how this man was left to die by 40 people.
I still have a nagging feeling that at some point it will be possible to rescue people in the dead zone as people have ascended higher than they ever imagined possible without oxygen. Nevertheless it is clearer how his family could say that they understood that it was no one's fault.
This true event is more evidence to me that we ARE social beings and we DO need each other to survive. I am so sad this occurred but I am also reassured that there are good people in the world and in mountaineering it isn't simple enough to say these people are all totally selfish. A few people did everything they could and that restores my faith in humanity.
I still have a nagging feeling that at some point it will be possible to rescue people in the dead zone as people have ascended higher than they ever imagined possible without oxygen. Nevertheless it is clearer how his family could say that they understood that it was no one's fault.
This true event is more evidence to me that we ARE social beings and we DO need each other to survive. I am so sad this occurred but I am also reassured that there are good people in the world and in mountaineering it isn't simple enough to say these people are all totally selfish. A few people did everything they could and that restores my faith in humanity.
June 15, 2021
Books about high-elevation mountaineering are about death. Either the suffering of or escape from. Sure, there is a lot about courage, preparation, luck, cruel mother nature, and such, but if there is not death, then it seems few climbers will write about it, especially if there is not some controversy to throw in. And Everest has provided a lot of death and controversy, as well as mystery, to be sure. Herewith another account of climbing gone astray, but in this instance there is a mix of miraculous survival and disputed decision making that may have led others to their demises. Although I realize the danger of attempting to get some people off the highest heights, in one case I seriously wondered if perhaps one (or maybe a couple) climber could have been saved. There seems to be too many people on the mountain at the same time, as well as an array of equipment, devices, and attitudes. Not only is there glory involved, but lots of money to be made, both in guiding and in post-climb activities (lectures, books, fame). So climb on, you crazy folk.
December 5, 2009
In spring 1996, over ten climbers died in a storm while climbing Mt. Everest, including the accomplished leaders of two commercial expeditions, Rob Hall and Scott Fischer. The story of that terrible season was told, not without controversy, by Jon Krakauer in his best-selling book Into Thin Air. In spring 2006, over ten climbers again died climbing Mt. Everest, but this time in relatively fine weather. Nick Heil explains what went wrong in his book Dark Summit: The True Story of Mt. Everest's Most Controversial Season, published in 2008.
Read the rest of my review
Read the rest of my review
September 6, 2010
Heil does not, and cannot, answer the question of where to draw the line of climbers' and guides' responsibility to help other climbers and/or climbers not under their corporate wing. It isn't clear whether David Sharp could have been saved, though it does seem clear that climbers passed him, saw the shape he was in, and kept going, their eagerness to summit outweighing their humanity. The explanations/rationalizations/excuses are there. For the most part, these folks are cold, both literally and figuratively.
What is missing here, what was so prominent in "Into Thin Air," is the visceral sense of what it is to climb Everest. This book is more analytic and less passionate.
What is missing here, what was so prominent in "Into Thin Air," is the visceral sense of what it is to climb Everest. This book is more analytic and less passionate.
February 13, 2015
Nick Heil writes well about this controversial subject. The subject is how climbers are often 'left' to die high up on Everest and others will walk by them. After having read a few of these kind of books being a very keen armchair mountaineer it is a familiar pattern of driven people taking huge risks and the inevitable consequences.
The stories can still be heart wrenchingly sad though.
I think that if you haven't been up that high and experienced the mental and physical exhaustion and stress then you can't judge to morality of anyone's behaviour up there.
It's a fine read.
The stories can still be heart wrenchingly sad though.
I think that if you haven't been up that high and experienced the mental and physical exhaustion and stress then you can't judge to morality of anyone's behaviour up there.
It's a fine read.
July 28, 2012
Engrossing detail account of the 2006 season on Everest. You know the season where the media focused on the people who died after others climbed by?
Heil does an excellent job of showing the reader what extactly the sitution was and raises questions of the rights and wrongs of the choices made. While he is sympathic to the climbers, he is not awed and does call into question stories that do not seem right.
Heil does an excellent job of showing the reader what extactly the sitution was and raises questions of the rights and wrongs of the choices made. While he is sympathic to the climbers, he is not awed and does call into question stories that do not seem right.
July 4, 2022
This book inadvertently recreates what I imagine is the modern Everest experience: Being surrounded by self-important rich people who treat wealth (and especially its outward trappings) as synonymous with authority and moral superiority and who value ego and personal achievement at the expense of absolutely everything else. Everest, in this book, exists solely as a place to overcome your perceived personal limitations and increase your standing in the Western cultural hierarchy. Any moral, ethical, or political complexities raised by the modern business of Everest are either papered over or dismissed as irrelevant or unfair.
This book has the cheap veneer of objectivity that results from keeping your opinions out of the text but leaving them in the subtext. It’s useful if you want an all-in-once-place summary of several perspectives of the 2006 season and controversies, but it’s biased and incomplete and ultimately little better than the Wikipedia article on the subject.
The author kept his thumb on the scale by trying to “establish the most likely sequence of events” (per the Author’s Note) rather than noting where memories and opinions conflicted. Other books about Everest make clear that determining what really happened on summit attempts is difficult, if not impossible, because the conditions impair memory and cognition to the point that eyewitness accounts, which are fallible under any circumstances, can never be taken as conclusive. This book sacrifices nuance and uncertainty in favor of creating a simple, easy recitation of the “facts.”
The author also doesn’t disclose until the Author’s Note at the end that one of his goals in writing the book was to show that those who criticize the modern state of Everest (or, as he calls them, “the righteous”) are warping the public’s perception. In his view, “climbing Everest is an extraordinary achievement that can enrich and empower the lives of those who do it, and inspire many others who don’t.” That’s fine as a personal opinion, but a poor foundation for a book that purports to ask difficult questions about the morality of Everest and what happened there in 2006 in particular.
I didn’t need to read the Author’s Note to know the author held this view; it’s obvious throughout the book where he stands on the controversy. This passage says it all: “Osborne and Brash were crestfallen. There was no question about the course of action—the man needed help, and they were resolved to provide it—but they wouldn’t be going to the top of Everest today. Worse, perhaps, was the prospect that Hall could keel over at any moment, and they’d have to stand by and watch him die.”
Yes, “perhaps” it’s worse to watch someone die in front of you than to fail to meet a personal goal. Perhaps. Who can say? Certainly not this author, who at other points in the book tacitly endorses the idea that choosing to summit Everest is entirely an individual decision, and therefore no one bears any responsibility to anyone else up there, regardless of the circumstances.
You might protest that the author is merely stating the views of his interview subjects and it's unfair to impute any of them to him, but the way the book is written makes clear that it’s not merely a recitation of facts. Not only is there the explanation in the Author’s Note that he’s interpreting his various sources to determine what was “most likely,” but there’s also no attempt in the text to attribute many of these viewpoints to any specific individuals.
When an author presents his narrative as an objective summary and includes commentary on morality and ethics, without either explicitly stating that the commentary comes from other sources or providing another perspective, that commentary becomes a representation of the author’s own beliefs, because they are what he has chosen as important and meaningful out of the myriad available viewpoints. Weight is given to this commentary by its mere appearance in the book, and if the only intention was to add depth to the readers’ perception of specific players in the story, then the author failed to convey that. A statement so obviously biased and controversial as “worse, perhaps” should have been attributed more directly or else omitted entirely.
One also does not need to read the acknowledgements to know that Russell Brice was the most important source for this book. His opinions are presented almost entirely without criticism and the author’s fawning admiration for his wealth and accomplishments is palpable. This is possibly the most telling quote about Brice in the book: “Brice had done much, perhaps more than any other single individual, to commercialize the north side, and with that understanding came the realization that he was not entirely unaccountable for the problems that persisted there.” “Not entirely unaccountable” is truly impressive weasel-wording (and I say this as a member of one of the most weasel-wordy professions in the world, the legal profession) and summarizes the author’s attitude towards Brice’s role in 2006 in general. The epilogue even reproduces, word-for-word, a monologue from Brice about how unfair it is to hold him responsible, to which the author’s only response at the time (and in the book) is mealy mouthed agreement. If the author had no intention of questioning Brice’s narrative he should have written this from Brice’s perspective or, at a minimum, disclosed his bias at the outset. After all, there’s certainly no shortage of interest in Everest accounts, even biased ones.
This book has so many issues I can’t list them all in this review, but they include the following:
* Only one Sherpa is ever described in the book, and the focus is on his “exceptional” physiology (i.e., how he is different from typical Sherpas and therefore worthy of the reader’s attention and praise). The brief summary of his spiritual beliefs concludes with a note about how a necklace he wears would be worth a lot of money to a Western collector, as if that matters. Many of the Sherpas on the mountain that year are never even named, and the author is content to sum up their relationship with Brice as one of “awe” (making sure to note they called him “Big Boss”). Anyone who has read other Everest accounts will know that this is a woefully inadequate summary of the role Sherpas play on the mountain and the complicated relationship between them, their culture, and Western mountaineers. Four Sherpas were apparently interviewed for this book and it comes as absolutely no surprise that they’re listed last in a list that’s in descending order of importance to the author’s work.
* Non-Western expeditions are barely mentioned and exist in the book only to serve as obstacles to Brice’s team. A great example of this is how Chinese climbers ahead of one of Brice’s groups are described as “pitiful” and egregiously inexperienced – even though two of Brice’s climbers later struggled in the same way at the same place and were physically unprepared to summit. Their failures, unlike those of the Chinese climbers, are portrayed as admirable and lamentable, not dangerous and unnecessary. Another example: at one point, an Indian climber who needed medical care is mentioned; only the names of the white, Western men who assisted him are given, while his is never provided. If the name was unavailable, the author should have noted that instead of treating it as an irrelevant detail.
* The author decided, for some reason, to go into the history of naming and “discovering” Everest and of early expeditions there. This chapter was entirely unnecessary because nothing in it is ever treated as having any bearing on what happened in 2006. It’s also overly simplistic and (inadvertently?) colonialist as hell. In this retelling, Everest was never named or discovered until British people arrived in India, never mind that Everest already had a local name and Everest himself strenuously argued against naming the mountain after him because the local name, or at least something that could be written or pronounced in Hindi. The 1904 massacre of five thousand Tibetans by the British is treated as a lamentable but ultimately forgettable chapter in the British conquest of the mountain. The Wikipedia article on Everest’s history is inarguably superior, if that tells you anything about the value of this chapter of Dark Summit.
* Local places are described solely in terms of how seedy they are and what vices they offer to climbers. The availability of prostitutes is always noted.
* There’s plenty of casual misogyny, from listing the availability of attractive women as one of the benefits of Brice’s living situation when he was younger; to making sure to reproduce a patronizing comment made by one of Brice’s climbers to a female climber, in a book that’s low on verbatim dialogue; to naming the two men but not the three “females” (yes, this is some prime “men and females” content) when describing a Turkish expedition.
* Various individuals given a minor role in the narrative each described in a short paragraph summarizing their appearance (totally useful information) and notable achievements. The description of one of the other expedition leaders notes that “he was infamous among certain climbers for a dispute he had with his Sherpani wife, Lhakpa, at the north-side Everest Base Camp in 2004; with one punch he had knocked her out cold.” The author has nothing more to say about this incident so it’s unclear what he thinks it signifies, but it’s safe to say the book was not improved in any way by describing a domestic violence incident in pithy, possibly admiring tones.
* There’s a lovely garnish of ableism and disability porn. Brice is lauded for bringing disabled climbers on his expeditions and the disability of one of his 2006 climbers is heavily emphasized in a way that’s clearly meant to come across as inspiring and indicative of Brice’s magnanimity; that this climber is entirely reduced to his disability and what it might mean to able-bodied readers is never questioned. Meanwhile, a disabled Sherpa is described as living in a “legless purgatory” and is mentioned in the book solely to show how amazing and wonderful Brice and the disabled climber are for freeing him from this horrible existence by bringing him a pair of prosthetic legs.
I won’t even get into what this book says about the responsibility of Everest climbers to look out for each other, except that it more thoroughly called into question any belief I might have had about the value of climbing Everest than anything else I’ve ever read on the subject. The author does his best to shape the facts in support of his thesis (widely shared among Everest enthusiasts, to be fair) that climbing Everest is purely an individual choice and therefore no one is responsible for assisting anyone else, but by stripping away so much nuance in his narrative, he inadvertently removes most of the logical supports for this thesis as well. One cannot write a defense of Russell Brice’s actions on the theory that his contributions to expeditions on the north side made it possible for many other expeditions to take place while simultaneously making an individual responsibility defense of the choice not to assist other climbers. If a community exists on Everest – and is necessary to any efforts there – then questions of community responsibility cannot be so easily dismissed. But the author isn’t interested in challenging his own or anyone else’s conception of Everest as a noble goal, so the contradictions made so apparent in this book are entirely ignored.
This book has marginal value as a summary of how Russell Brice and others like him saw the 2006 Everest season, but is otherwise a poor addition to the Everest expedition genre.
This book has the cheap veneer of objectivity that results from keeping your opinions out of the text but leaving them in the subtext. It’s useful if you want an all-in-once-place summary of several perspectives of the 2006 season and controversies, but it’s biased and incomplete and ultimately little better than the Wikipedia article on the subject.
The author kept his thumb on the scale by trying to “establish the most likely sequence of events” (per the Author’s Note) rather than noting where memories and opinions conflicted. Other books about Everest make clear that determining what really happened on summit attempts is difficult, if not impossible, because the conditions impair memory and cognition to the point that eyewitness accounts, which are fallible under any circumstances, can never be taken as conclusive. This book sacrifices nuance and uncertainty in favor of creating a simple, easy recitation of the “facts.”
The author also doesn’t disclose until the Author’s Note at the end that one of his goals in writing the book was to show that those who criticize the modern state of Everest (or, as he calls them, “the righteous”) are warping the public’s perception. In his view, “climbing Everest is an extraordinary achievement that can enrich and empower the lives of those who do it, and inspire many others who don’t.” That’s fine as a personal opinion, but a poor foundation for a book that purports to ask difficult questions about the morality of Everest and what happened there in 2006 in particular.
I didn’t need to read the Author’s Note to know the author held this view; it’s obvious throughout the book where he stands on the controversy. This passage says it all: “Osborne and Brash were crestfallen. There was no question about the course of action—the man needed help, and they were resolved to provide it—but they wouldn’t be going to the top of Everest today. Worse, perhaps, was the prospect that Hall could keel over at any moment, and they’d have to stand by and watch him die.”
Yes, “perhaps” it’s worse to watch someone die in front of you than to fail to meet a personal goal. Perhaps. Who can say? Certainly not this author, who at other points in the book tacitly endorses the idea that choosing to summit Everest is entirely an individual decision, and therefore no one bears any responsibility to anyone else up there, regardless of the circumstances.
You might protest that the author is merely stating the views of his interview subjects and it's unfair to impute any of them to him, but the way the book is written makes clear that it’s not merely a recitation of facts. Not only is there the explanation in the Author’s Note that he’s interpreting his various sources to determine what was “most likely,” but there’s also no attempt in the text to attribute many of these viewpoints to any specific individuals.
When an author presents his narrative as an objective summary and includes commentary on morality and ethics, without either explicitly stating that the commentary comes from other sources or providing another perspective, that commentary becomes a representation of the author’s own beliefs, because they are what he has chosen as important and meaningful out of the myriad available viewpoints. Weight is given to this commentary by its mere appearance in the book, and if the only intention was to add depth to the readers’ perception of specific players in the story, then the author failed to convey that. A statement so obviously biased and controversial as “worse, perhaps” should have been attributed more directly or else omitted entirely.
One also does not need to read the acknowledgements to know that Russell Brice was the most important source for this book. His opinions are presented almost entirely without criticism and the author’s fawning admiration for his wealth and accomplishments is palpable. This is possibly the most telling quote about Brice in the book: “Brice had done much, perhaps more than any other single individual, to commercialize the north side, and with that understanding came the realization that he was not entirely unaccountable for the problems that persisted there.” “Not entirely unaccountable” is truly impressive weasel-wording (and I say this as a member of one of the most weasel-wordy professions in the world, the legal profession) and summarizes the author’s attitude towards Brice’s role in 2006 in general. The epilogue even reproduces, word-for-word, a monologue from Brice about how unfair it is to hold him responsible, to which the author’s only response at the time (and in the book) is mealy mouthed agreement. If the author had no intention of questioning Brice’s narrative he should have written this from Brice’s perspective or, at a minimum, disclosed his bias at the outset. After all, there’s certainly no shortage of interest in Everest accounts, even biased ones.
This book has so many issues I can’t list them all in this review, but they include the following:
* Only one Sherpa is ever described in the book, and the focus is on his “exceptional” physiology (i.e., how he is different from typical Sherpas and therefore worthy of the reader’s attention and praise). The brief summary of his spiritual beliefs concludes with a note about how a necklace he wears would be worth a lot of money to a Western collector, as if that matters. Many of the Sherpas on the mountain that year are never even named, and the author is content to sum up their relationship with Brice as one of “awe” (making sure to note they called him “Big Boss”). Anyone who has read other Everest accounts will know that this is a woefully inadequate summary of the role Sherpas play on the mountain and the complicated relationship between them, their culture, and Western mountaineers. Four Sherpas were apparently interviewed for this book and it comes as absolutely no surprise that they’re listed last in a list that’s in descending order of importance to the author’s work.
* Non-Western expeditions are barely mentioned and exist in the book only to serve as obstacles to Brice’s team. A great example of this is how Chinese climbers ahead of one of Brice’s groups are described as “pitiful” and egregiously inexperienced – even though two of Brice’s climbers later struggled in the same way at the same place and were physically unprepared to summit. Their failures, unlike those of the Chinese climbers, are portrayed as admirable and lamentable, not dangerous and unnecessary. Another example: at one point, an Indian climber who needed medical care is mentioned; only the names of the white, Western men who assisted him are given, while his is never provided. If the name was unavailable, the author should have noted that instead of treating it as an irrelevant detail.
* The author decided, for some reason, to go into the history of naming and “discovering” Everest and of early expeditions there. This chapter was entirely unnecessary because nothing in it is ever treated as having any bearing on what happened in 2006. It’s also overly simplistic and (inadvertently?) colonialist as hell. In this retelling, Everest was never named or discovered until British people arrived in India, never mind that Everest already had a local name and Everest himself strenuously argued against naming the mountain after him because the local name, or at least something that could be written or pronounced in Hindi. The 1904 massacre of five thousand Tibetans by the British is treated as a lamentable but ultimately forgettable chapter in the British conquest of the mountain. The Wikipedia article on Everest’s history is inarguably superior, if that tells you anything about the value of this chapter of Dark Summit.
* Local places are described solely in terms of how seedy they are and what vices they offer to climbers. The availability of prostitutes is always noted.
* There’s plenty of casual misogyny, from listing the availability of attractive women as one of the benefits of Brice’s living situation when he was younger; to making sure to reproduce a patronizing comment made by one of Brice’s climbers to a female climber, in a book that’s low on verbatim dialogue; to naming the two men but not the three “females” (yes, this is some prime “men and females” content) when describing a Turkish expedition.
* Various individuals given a minor role in the narrative each described in a short paragraph summarizing their appearance (totally useful information) and notable achievements. The description of one of the other expedition leaders notes that “he was infamous among certain climbers for a dispute he had with his Sherpani wife, Lhakpa, at the north-side Everest Base Camp in 2004; with one punch he had knocked her out cold.” The author has nothing more to say about this incident so it’s unclear what he thinks it signifies, but it’s safe to say the book was not improved in any way by describing a domestic violence incident in pithy, possibly admiring tones.
* There’s a lovely garnish of ableism and disability porn. Brice is lauded for bringing disabled climbers on his expeditions and the disability of one of his 2006 climbers is heavily emphasized in a way that’s clearly meant to come across as inspiring and indicative of Brice’s magnanimity; that this climber is entirely reduced to his disability and what it might mean to able-bodied readers is never questioned. Meanwhile, a disabled Sherpa is described as living in a “legless purgatory” and is mentioned in the book solely to show how amazing and wonderful Brice and the disabled climber are for freeing him from this horrible existence by bringing him a pair of prosthetic legs.
I won’t even get into what this book says about the responsibility of Everest climbers to look out for each other, except that it more thoroughly called into question any belief I might have had about the value of climbing Everest than anything else I’ve ever read on the subject. The author does his best to shape the facts in support of his thesis (widely shared among Everest enthusiasts, to be fair) that climbing Everest is purely an individual choice and therefore no one is responsible for assisting anyone else, but by stripping away so much nuance in his narrative, he inadvertently removes most of the logical supports for this thesis as well. One cannot write a defense of Russell Brice’s actions on the theory that his contributions to expeditions on the north side made it possible for many other expeditions to take place while simultaneously making an individual responsibility defense of the choice not to assist other climbers. If a community exists on Everest – and is necessary to any efforts there – then questions of community responsibility cannot be so easily dismissed. But the author isn’t interested in challenging his own or anyone else’s conception of Everest as a noble goal, so the contradictions made so apparent in this book are entirely ignored.
This book has marginal value as a summary of how Russell Brice and others like him saw the 2006 Everest season, but is otherwise a poor addition to the Everest expedition genre.
February 19, 2024
4.5 stars
A very well written and intriguing read about a particularly bad season on Everest.
Nick Heil writes so well. This book has the right balance between informative, engaging, objective and opinion.
My ultimate take away from it is this (and I have the same take away from watching mountaineering/extreme sports documentaries)- people who want to climb Everest have in the back of their mind a little of the death wish about them. There is a high probability of death/severe injury/losing limbs to frostbite, yet this is a risk ALL these people are willing to take. So if you want to take the risk, don't expect reams of people to drag you out of the shit at their own risk. If you choose to put yourself in a position where you will die somewhere dark and cold and alone, in a lot of discomfort, then so be it. You do that. I have very little sympathy for extreme sports followers who get injured or die. You made that risky choice, now live (or indeed die) with it.
Amazing writing.
A very well written and intriguing read about a particularly bad season on Everest.
Nick Heil writes so well. This book has the right balance between informative, engaging, objective and opinion.
My ultimate take away from it is this (and I have the same take away from watching mountaineering/extreme sports documentaries)- people who want to climb Everest have in the back of their mind a little of the death wish about them. There is a high probability of death/severe injury/losing limbs to frostbite, yet this is a risk ALL these people are willing to take. So if you want to take the risk, don't expect reams of people to drag you out of the shit at their own risk. If you choose to put yourself in a position where you will die somewhere dark and cold and alone, in a lot of discomfort, then so be it. You do that. I have very little sympathy for extreme sports followers who get injured or die. You made that risky choice, now live (or indeed die) with it.
Amazing writing.
January 25, 2025
"[...] the cavalcade of deaths during 2006 raised the highly uncomfortable possibility that, in fact, we are not all in this together—that we are simply the latest edition of a complex species tenuously drawn together into social systems that mask our genetic predilection towards selfishness and competition."
I'm a sucker for a mountaineering book, and this is a great addition to the catalogue. Heil gives great background and depth to the story, only the third act focusing on the disasters themselves. His writing is dazzling, and this book allows his journalism background to shine through.
I'm a sucker for a mountaineering book, and this is a great addition to the catalogue. Heil gives great background and depth to the story, only the third act focusing on the disasters themselves. His writing is dazzling, and this book allows his journalism background to shine through.
September 11, 2023
A book on my favorite topic, I loved it. I don't even care if people make it to the summit; the stories of everything they endure trying to get there is the impressive part.
The problem I had was that there are a lot of people in this book, so that's a lot of names. Not a big deal, but the author would switch from using their first name to using their last name, and it drove me nuts. I almost made an organizational chart to keep everyone straight.
The problem I had was that there are a lot of people in this book, so that's a lot of names. Not a big deal, but the author would switch from using their first name to using their last name, and it drove me nuts. I almost made an organizational chart to keep everyone straight.
March 8, 2025
Classic Everest story where everything goes wrong. Always worth reading these stories.
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