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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
Audiobook
Not as gripping or well-written as Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, but certainly an interesting counterpoint to Krakauer's viewpoint and it better fleshes out some of the events on Everest. I remember getting the feeling that Krakauer was a bit envious of Boukreev when reading Into Thin Air and that he was projecting some of his survivor's guilt on to Boukreev.
It's clear that a lot of expectations for adventure companies were still in flux and that the balance between "customer service" and "responsible climbing" had not been fully established at this time. Boukreev had served as a guide for other adventure companies (and was initially committed to guide for one of those companies for the '96 Everest season, before he elected to sign on to Mountain Madness) and was hired with his guiding philosophy established and stated, according to his account. Fisher is unable to verify this.
The Climb clearly responds to Krakauer throughout, with varying success. Boukreev's advance plan to climb without supplemental oxygen is still confounding, though it gets slightly more understandable why he wouldn't decide to use it at the last minute (since MM had been using far more O than anticipated and he was feeling good). All in all, the faults tend to lie with the heads of the expeditions, since the majority of problems were due to poor planning and/or poor execution - not having ropes put up in advance, not sticking to the turn-around times, etc.
It's intriguing, honestly, how closely Boukreev's philosophy on mountaineering expeditions aligns to what Krakauer suggests would be best practices - only assisting capable climbers, not using supplementary oxygen unless in an emergency, etc. Boukreev was not a hand-holder but he took care of the necessary preparations (including several that were supposed to be completed by others, including people not associated with Mountain Madness) and provided expert advice to clients. He also (according to him, purposely) was poised to assist in an emergency.
If I remember correctly, Krakauer also criticized Boukreev for being aloof and/or arrogant. First off: everyone basically agrees that Boukreev was an incredible mountaineer and certainly one of the strongest on Everest that day. Everyone else was incapacitated after summitting and Boukreev successfully completed three rescue trips. If he was arrogant, he kind of deserved to be. However, I get the feeling the language barrier was a huge challenge for Boukreev. In the section discussing the rescue, Boukreev's exact wording is used. Even at the time of writing, when he had been working on his English, he has difficulty expressing concepts and has strange grammar and word choice.
Not as gripping or well-written as Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, but certainly an interesting counterpoint to Krakauer's viewpoint and it better fleshes out some of the events on Everest. I remember getting the feeling that Krakauer was a bit envious of Boukreev when reading Into Thin Air and that he was projecting some of his survivor's guilt on to Boukreev.
It's clear that a lot of expectations for adventure companies were still in flux and that the balance between "customer service" and "responsible climbing" had not been fully established at this time. Boukreev had served as a guide for other adventure companies (and was initially committed to guide for one of those companies for the '96 Everest season, before he elected to sign on to Mountain Madness) and was hired with his guiding philosophy established and stated, according to his account. Fisher is unable to verify this.
The Climb clearly responds to Krakauer throughout, with varying success. Boukreev's advance plan to climb without supplemental oxygen is still confounding, though it gets slightly more understandable why he wouldn't decide to use it at the last minute (since MM had been using far more O than anticipated and he was feeling good). All in all, the faults tend to lie with the heads of the expeditions, since the majority of problems were due to poor planning and/or poor execution - not having ropes put up in advance, not sticking to the turn-around times, etc.
It's intriguing, honestly, how closely Boukreev's philosophy on mountaineering expeditions aligns to what Krakauer suggests would be best practices - only assisting capable climbers, not using supplementary oxygen unless in an emergency, etc. Boukreev was not a hand-holder but he took care of the necessary preparations (including several that were supposed to be completed by others, including people not associated with Mountain Madness) and provided expert advice to clients. He also (according to him, purposely) was poised to assist in an emergency.
If I remember correctly, Krakauer also criticized Boukreev for being aloof and/or arrogant. First off: everyone basically agrees that Boukreev was an incredible mountaineer and certainly one of the strongest on Everest that day. Everyone else was incapacitated after summitting and Boukreev successfully completed three rescue trips. If he was arrogant, he kind of deserved to be. However, I get the feeling the language barrier was a huge challenge for Boukreev. In the section discussing the rescue, Boukreev's exact wording is used. Even at the time of writing, when he had been working on his English, he has difficulty expressing concepts and has strange grammar and word choice.
After reading Into Thin Air and feeling that Anatoli had been given a raw deal I felt compelled to read his version of events. I was not disappointed.
I have been fascinated with mountaineering and climbing for a long time but have never attempted anything of the sort myself. I have a lot of respect for Anatoli. I was particularly captivated by how he clearly respected the ferocity of nature, his almost religious reverence of the mountains and his struggles to gain footing in a world that was so different after the break up of the Soviet Union.
I have been fascinated with mountaineering and climbing for a long time but have never attempted anything of the sort myself. I have a lot of respect for Anatoli. I was particularly captivated by how he clearly respected the ferocity of nature, his almost religious reverence of the mountains and his struggles to gain footing in a world that was so different after the break up of the Soviet Union.
I really enjoyed reading this book after reading "Into Thin Air". I read it for what it is - a defensive response to Krakauer's judgment of Boukreev's part in the Everest story. Reading "Into Thin Air" first provided a more encompassing backdrop of the story which helped me piece Boukreev's version into the bigger picture of the situation.
I have an outside interest in mountaineering (just reading about it) and read Into Thin Air quite a while ago. I enjoyed this book. It was an interesting insiders view of the 96 Everest events. I didn't like the afterward though. Too much about the Krakaouer feud.
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Liked this slightly better than Into Thin Air, but recommend reading Into Thin Air first.
I don't think I am picking sides. I do think Anatoli did great things in his climbing career. Especially on Everest. That being said, I do like Into Thin Air more because it was an easier read. I wanted to continue. After about 150 pages of The Climb I just wanted it to end which honestly, isn't a good thing. I do like the transcripts and seeing another side, especially getting more info about Scott Fischer. But maybe it's because I haven't read the first article Krakauer wrote, but I feel like apart from the oxygen thing, I didn't get a negative vibe of Anatoli? So this book makes it seem like a bit... overreacting. But I wasn't around during. I haven't read those things. So maybe it was worse. Anyway, if I just look from book to book I feel that Into Thin Air was better
The story is very interesting and shows what happened with the other group climbing with The Adventure Consultants group, as the movie Everest (2015) brings to cinema.
But besides telling some thrilling facts, the author (DeWalt) is a terrible writer, and the work on editing the contents is horrible, to say the least. They almost made me dislike the book. Text is confusing, chapters repeat themselves, footnotes are sometimes useless or repetitive if you read the whole book. I'm assuming they put together some articles that might had been published separated for the first time, but let us be honest: if you're going to release a "full version", the minimum expected is that you spend some time making the "whole" look like a "whole".
But no, that was not done, for sure. Which is too bad, as the facts the book describes are so interesting and deserved a better teller.
I would not recommend the book because it pisses me off to read something people did not care enough to compose, but if you want to risk yourself on the reading be aware of the hard time you'll have on the next pages.
But besides telling some thrilling facts, the author (DeWalt) is a terrible writer, and the work on editing the contents is horrible, to say the least. They almost made me dislike the book. Text is confusing, chapters repeat themselves, footnotes are sometimes useless or repetitive if you read the whole book. I'm assuming they put together some articles that might had been published separated for the first time, but let us be honest: if you're going to release a "full version", the minimum expected is that you spend some time making the "whole" look like a "whole".
But no, that was not done, for sure. Which is too bad, as the facts the book describes are so interesting and deserved a better teller.
I would not recommend the book because it pisses me off to read something people did not care enough to compose, but if you want to risk yourself on the reading be aware of the hard time you'll have on the next pages.
Anyone reading Krakauer's Into Thin Air should also read this book. Anatoli Boukreev is a super human and A TRUE HERO!!!
adventurous
informative
tense
slow-paced
This book had me on the edge almost the whole time. A year or so ago I read Krakauer's Into This Air, which chronicled the events of the 1996 Everest climbing season and the push to the summit that lost 8 lives in one night.
This book was written by Anatoli Boukreev, a Russian guide that was hired to consult and guide a new team, Mountain Madness, under the main guide of Scott Fisher. Anatoli helped guide the other team that pushed for the summit with Rob Hall's Adventure Consultant team (the team that Krakauer climbed with).
There has always been an air of confusion about what went wrong that day and what really happened. It was fascinating to read another side of this heartbreaking story.
This book was written by Anatoli Boukreev, a Russian guide that was hired to consult and guide a new team, Mountain Madness, under the main guide of Scott Fisher. Anatoli helped guide the other team that pushed for the summit with Rob Hall's Adventure Consultant team (the team that Krakauer climbed with).
There has always been an air of confusion about what went wrong that day and what really happened. It was fascinating to read another side of this heartbreaking story.