Near Death in the Mountains: True Stories of Disaster and Survival

by Cecil Kuhne (Editor)

“He wrapped the rope around his body, got ready to rappel and leaned back. Standing about five feet from him, I heard a sharp scraping, Suddenly Ed was flying. I could see him fall, wordless, fifty feet free, then strike the steep ice below…he was sliding and bouncing down. He passed out of sight, but I heard his body bouncing. There wasn't a chance of his stopping for 4,000 feet.” —From David Robert's The Mountain of My Fear   In these thrillingly true tales of narrow brushes with death, Cecil Kuhne has amassed a wide range of stories that show the awesome power of the mountains. Spanning five continents, from the frosty tip of Mount McKinley in the dead of the winter, to the unexplored vastness of the Himalayas and beyond, this is a pulse-pounding collection of disaster and survival at the top of the world.

Also • Joe Simpson's Touching the Void —An inspiring story of a climber who topples into a icy crevasse and, though crippled, starving and frostbitten, still manages to crawl to rescue. • Jon Krakauer's Eiger Dreams —Reaching the limits of his own climbing skills, the author makes a crucial decision whether to brave the treacherous higher altitudes or return to base. • Nando Parrado's Miracle in the Andes —The stunning first-person account of a Peruvian rugby team's airplane crash in the Chilean Andes and their harrowing journey down the mountain for help.

Genres: Nonfiction, Mountaineering, Adventure, Survival, Climbing

496 pages, Paperback

First published July 8, 2008

Reviews

[Mary Morford · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories were really good, I discovered I don't enjoy short stories.

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of short (30-50 page) stories of mountain climbing adventures and disasters. I came across this book in my search for the book "Touching the Void" which I really wanted to read. This book had a chapter relating that story, so I decided to give the book a try. Each chapter is written by a different author, so there were some chapters I was very bored with and just skimmed, but a couple stories were fantastic!

I eagerly anticipated the Touching the Void chapter, but was sorely disappointed. Even the introduction to that chapter describes how the author falls, breaking his leg, and then later falls into a crevasse. The story in the book "Touching the Void" then describes the author's experiences surviving in the crevasse and eventually climbing his way out, all with a shattered leg. I was excited to read such a fascinating story, but the Touching the Void chapter in this book only talked about their precarious climb to the summit and the break of his leg, and then the chapter ends! It was very unsatisfying.

In fact, many of the chapters were like that... they told very detailed stories of their climbing experience, but only touched briefly on the actual tragedy or disaster that occurred and how that trial was survived and overcome. The one chapter that made the book all worth it though was "Minus 148 Degrees: The Winter Ascent of Mt. McKinley"--absolutely fascinating! The Annapurna chapter was also pretty good. The rest of the book had exciting moments, but I found myself skimming over a lot of boring climbing details and lingo.

I also looked forward to the chapter "Miracle in the Andes" about the rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes (since that book is on my to-read list as well), yet that story left me wanting more too. It only told about two men from the crash who worked to climb to a nearby summit to determine where they were. I really wanted to read more about the crash and how all the rest of them survived for so long in the mountains and how they eventually got rescued.

I guess I just expected too much from a book knowing that it was a compilation of condensed stories. I just thought if they condensed each of these stories, they would have included some of these most vital and exciting parts of each story. Overall, this book was a bit tedious and repetitive, yet a couple chapters were excellent enough to give it a 3 star rating.

[Flora · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed "minus 148°" and of course "miracle in the andes" (I read the whole book by Nando Parrado). I tried to read the rest but got bored quickly... I love mountaineering books usually but this one was disappointing to me

[Dporterw1 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is an amalgum of several other books. I thought the editing was poor, and often found myself asking what the he** was going on. Source material is probably better.

[Monical · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoy stories about mountaineering (e.g. "Into Thin Air") but this group of stories was both too technical (with no explanations) and boring (amazingly!). The stories may be true but the book was disappointing.

[Kevin Vanderwal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intense stories about survival and death in the mountains. Depending on what you are looking for some stories will definitely interested you more than others.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this book. Reading this book is like watching Hawaii 5-0--it's an adrenalin rush. I'm always on the edge of my seat. The suspense keeps me turning pages. I'm almost finished and have been introduced to many books on this topic through these short accounts taken from them.

I spend my evenings above 18,000 feet--in the death zone at below zero temperatures--and never leave my reading room. This is what reading is all about--story and vicarious learning. Experiencing some facet of life --which I will never myself live--through the eyes of another person.

I highly recommend this book as a sampler of the many books on this subject.

[Maygan · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're considering doing any alpine climbing of any degree of intensity... read this first.

[June · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many mountains; so much death!

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book! Well, since it's a collection of stories, it's difficult to rate this book, but since I love stories about climbers and adventures, I loved this book.

[Raghavendra Vadali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really nice read.

[Dhruti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of climbing accounts- loved it!