You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
I feel like this should be a compulsory companion book for anyone who reads Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. Krakauer’s book is more novelistic and gripping, but I felt reading this book gave me a more balanced view of the tragedy overall and how cultural differences and language barriers, as well as differing personal values, abilities and knowledge of climbing eight-thousanders, may have played a part in the different perspectives each has on what happened that day.
adventurous
sad
tense
slow-paced
The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev is an another book written about the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, but in the perspective of Anatoli. When comparing “Into Thin Air” by Krakauer, this book felt a bit slower, but had more of a focus on details and the challenges of the climb.
Boukreev’s focus on the events leading up to and during the disaster, but the ending goes into Krakauer’s criticism of Boukreev’s actions during the disaster, particularly the claim that Boukreev descending fast from the summit without assisting other climbers. Throughout the book, Boukreev defends his decisions, arguing that he acted in the best interest of the team. Whether I agree or not, Boukreev’s book felt like he only wrote it to talk about that only and now share his story.
I appreciate him sharing his story but this didn’t hit as hard as I thought it would
adventurous
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
informative
tense
fast-paced
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
adventurous
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
Like many readers I felt that this book was an excellent companion book to "Into thin air", reading "Into thin air" without reading "The Climb" would have only given one side of the story and left me with a very differing outlook of the events of May 1996. This book would have less general appeal to those not interested in climbing but I found it more thorough than "Into thin air" as you see a lot more of what goes into climbing the tallest mountain in the world and taking amateurs with funds up the mountain. I loved the book and felt that it quenched my thirst for information on the event. I also liked that it gave a small account at the end of a subsequent Everest climb to compare against.
A really great companion to the books on the May 1996 tragedy on Everest. It's always interesting to get another point of view.
SICK BURNS ON KRAKAUER ABOUND.
There's always another side to a story.
There's always another side to a story.
The 1996 Everest disaster was a beginning for me - the start of my love of non-fiction. There was something in the accounts of that devastation that even now, almost 30 years later, continues to pull my attention towards athletic, endurance and extreme ventures of all kinds.
But the entire Everest disaster embodies a classic example of "The truth takes the stairs". As soon as this disaster happened, Jon Krakauer wrote his personal account of the incident and had it published in Outside magazine 4 months later (Outside having footed the bill for his summit attempt). The pre-Twitter world was dying to know what had happened at the top of the world and this biased, prideful article was consumed as The Truth.
In his article and again in [b:Into Thin Air|1898|Into Thin Air A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster|Jon Krakauer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1631501298l/1898._SY75_.jpg|1816662], Krakauer demonized Anatoli Boukreev, making him sound arrogant and irresponsible. Boukreev was made out to be the key reason that Hall, Fischer and Namba all died after summiting on that fateful day. Krakauer picked him as scapegoat and heaped him with blame.
But this book sets so much straight. Boukreev was one of 2 guides working under Fischer for Mountain Madness. In the pre-summit preparations, their key Sherpa developed HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema) and had to be removed from the mountain, accompanied by a second Sherpa from the team. As a result, Boukreev's role shifted more towards filling the gap of the 2 missing Sherpas and supporting the Sherpa team in their summit preparations. His role moved away from client comforting and pre-climb encouragement.
In a high-altitude fog himself, Krakauer couldn't have known the conversations that Boukreev had with his boss, Fischer, high above the South Col - conversations which directed Boukreev to descend quickly and prepare to rescue the failing climbers.
Walton (ghost writer) does a fabulous job of piecing together Anatoli's play-by-play of those critical 48 hours through interviews, journals and deep research. The heroic actions of Boukreev both on the mountain and in his subsequent rescue operations ended up saving about 10 lives, all while Krakauer lay prone in his tent, unable to assist his own teammates. Boukreev not only saved his own company's clients but also many from Krakauer's team and the Taiwanese team. And this was all done after Boukreev had set the ropes, established Camp 3 & 4 and summited Everest himself.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who has read Into Thin Air. Give Boukreev, in memoriam, the credit he deserves for his part in saving so many lives that brutal day.
But the entire Everest disaster embodies a classic example of "The truth takes the stairs". As soon as this disaster happened, Jon Krakauer wrote his personal account of the incident and had it published in Outside magazine 4 months later (Outside having footed the bill for his summit attempt). The pre-Twitter world was dying to know what had happened at the top of the world and this biased, prideful article was consumed as The Truth.
In his article and again in [b:Into Thin Air|1898|Into Thin Air A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster|Jon Krakauer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1631501298l/1898._SY75_.jpg|1816662], Krakauer demonized Anatoli Boukreev, making him sound arrogant and irresponsible. Boukreev was made out to be the key reason that Hall, Fischer and Namba all died after summiting on that fateful day. Krakauer picked him as scapegoat and heaped him with blame.
But this book sets so much straight. Boukreev was one of 2 guides working under Fischer for Mountain Madness. In the pre-summit preparations, their key Sherpa developed HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema) and had to be removed from the mountain, accompanied by a second Sherpa from the team. As a result, Boukreev's role shifted more towards filling the gap of the 2 missing Sherpas and supporting the Sherpa team in their summit preparations. His role moved away from client comforting and pre-climb encouragement.
In a high-altitude fog himself, Krakauer couldn't have known the conversations that Boukreev had with his boss, Fischer, high above the South Col - conversations which directed Boukreev to descend quickly and prepare to rescue the failing climbers.
Walton (ghost writer) does a fabulous job of piecing together Anatoli's play-by-play of those critical 48 hours through interviews, journals and deep research. The heroic actions of Boukreev both on the mountain and in his subsequent rescue operations ended up saving about 10 lives, all while Krakauer lay prone in his tent, unable to assist his own teammates. Boukreev not only saved his own company's clients but also many from Krakauer's team and the Taiwanese team. And this was all done after Boukreev had set the ropes, established Camp 3 & 4 and summited Everest himself.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who has read Into Thin Air. Give Boukreev, in memoriam, the credit he deserves for his part in saving so many lives that brutal day.