Customer Reviews

Dark Shadows Falling

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Joe's style and sensitive nature keeps you looking for the next book. His wealth of real life experience together with his ability to write permeate thoughout his books. As a climber he makes me think of my own ethics and and morals when it comes to climbing and the people I do it with I too believe that Joe is right about the decaying ethics that have permeated the very fabric of our mountains and the culture of people that climb and live in these parts. I too can empathise with Joe to some extent of the lonileness of being lost or injured in these wild place. I now have read all of Joe's books some of them twice and eagley await the next instalment from a writer and climber that I would one day love to meet. Keep on writng Joe but more importantly keep the cimbing community honest with your stark revalations and blinding truths about what is going on in our mountains today.

The book is only remotedly about an attempt to climb a magnificent peak of Bumori. It is rather a philosophical debate over mountains and people climbing them.

Joe Simpson gives examples of climbers tragedies and shows how the others around react to them. Some people show remarkable effort to save their colleagues while others show no interest whatsoever. Simpson is wondering what motivates people do react the way they react and also tries to define some kind of a standard ethic that climbers should follow.

Simpson criticizes the commercialization of mountaineering. This is a point where you might disagree with him. It is understandable that the commercialization annoys the orthodox climbers since it brings devastation of mountains, garbage to what used to be a virgin land, unnecessary deaths, etc. On the oher hand, mountains do not belong exclusively to the real mountaineers and the trend would be almost impossible to stop.

In any case, the book should be on the shelf of every man or woman interesting in mountains. I would recommend to combine this book with Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer.

I first cme into contact with Simpson when my father convinced me to read "Touching the Void." Although I haven't read all of them the ones I have read have been Unputdownble in every sense. If you have read into thin air by Jon Krakauer then this is an excellent follow up book. The harrowing first chapter introduced me to an element of climbing that I had never seen and do not want to ever see. Again, if you are a climber then you must read this book!

Joe Simpson starts out his book "Dark Shadows Falling" with an eerie and troubling tale of a mountaineer who was left out in the cold to die within a few hundred feet of his companions tents. Simpson uses this story to dramatize how far mainstream mountaineering has strayed from its original adventurer roots. The book's main drawback is Simpson's analysis of the 1996 Everest disaster which has been over reported and covered far more completely by those who were actually there. Simpson closes the book with an interestting but relatively uneventful recent climb of his own that seems to have little to do with the rest of the book.

Overall, Simpson is an important figure in mountaineering and he does have plenty to say. Those with an interest in the subject should enjoy this book very much.

Let's face it, Touching The Void is such a fantastic story that it has to be Simpson's best book. It's certainly his most famous.

But this one is my favorite, I think because it is more about "climbing" than about "Joe Simpson".

Simpson makes a compelling case for the idea that the ethics of mountaineering have been harmed by the commercialization of climbing.

I usually figure that any story about "the good old days" when people were noble is likely BS. But that's not really what Simpson is claiming here. Instead, he is really talking more about the differences between a small and self-selected community (like "climbing" 30 years ago) and a large and public activity (like "climbing" today).

I'm not sure if non-climbers would really appreciate this book, but as a climber I have found it invaluable for helping me to frame my own questions about what it means to be a climber, and ultimately a human being.

Quite surprised I was (as a dutchman) to read a book about the scandalous behaviour of Ronald Naar, a famous dutch climber. On the other hand, I should say that the other examples of wrong behaviour of the new generation of mountain climbers were much more ashtonishing for me. Like backpackers doing a trek in Nepal, leaving their Sherpa's behind in bad weather just to save their own souls. I mean, starting an Everest climb is something different than just hiking in the area; you should know the dangers and decided to take the risk. In his own way Simpson is very clear in his opinion about this and after reading this book I am convinced he's right!

Great book again by Joe.I read all his books and although this one is a bit different from the others in that it's more about the ethics of climbing than the actual climbing it's great to see a climber being so honest and daring to tell the nasty stuff that unfortunately goes on in the climbing-"business"...

Joe Simpson writes from the heart. He is clearly a man, as well as a mountaineer, of conscience. It is about time someone put into words, what many people are undoubtedly thinking. He explores the ethics of some of the bad behavior being exhibited today by some so called mountaineers. While the writing may be a little choppy at times, his message is a powerful one.

Conservationists should take heart. The author is disgusted by the conditions found on formerly pristine mountains. The once unsullied beauty of many of nature's wonders is being fouled by human detritus. The amount of garbage being left behind on Mount Everest by expeditioners is disgusting. Get off Everest, if you cannot or will not clean up after yourselves. There is no maid service on Mount Everest!

The author tackles head on the deplorable way that Sherpas and other native peoples are treated by expeditioners. Often ill clothed and ill equipped for the harsh climatic conditions found at higher altitudes, there is evidence of little regard for their welfare. In catering to an expeditioner's needs, however, these are the very people who make it possible for expeditioners to attain a certain level of physical comfort. Yet, when disaster strikes, they are often left to die by the mountainside by members of a throwaway society. How quickly some forget that it is the Sherpas who make expeditions possible, and who are oftentimes the unsung heroes when a calamity occurs. Talk about a thankless job!

It is incredible that human beings are so easily discarded, as if they were nothing more than a disposable can of soda. Putting a higher value on material goods, which can easily be replaced, or on a so called thrill over the life a fellow human being is one of Joe's pet peeves and rightly so! It is always startling to read that a climber has passed over or by the body of a still living, sentient human being, who is in distress or at the cusp of death, and not offered any assistance or succor to that person, but instead has raced on to try and summit or even just returned to one's relatively warm tent under the premise that there isn't much one can do. You have to wonder at the total self-absorption and lack of humanity inherent in that person. Joe calls these people to task in no uncertain terms.

Joe Simpson's feelings about mountaineering recall to mind some of those voiced by world class climber and Chamonix guide, Gaston Rebuffat, in his book "Starlight and Storm'. They both seem to share the same purity of vision and exultation in the climb itself. They both seem to share a belief in the brotherhood of the rope. Unfortunately, Gaston Rebuffat is no longer amongst us. One can only hope that Joe Simpson is not a lone voice crying in the wilderness.

There's no denying that Joe Simpson is rather unique in the mountaineering community, in that he is a very talented wordsmith--although there is always an assumption that the reader is familiar with climbing terms. I'm not a climber but I've always been fascinated with literature about mountaineering. I bought this book because Into The Void literally took my breath away in places. However, I found Dark Shadows Falling to be a bit of a disappointment.

Joe's story of a climb of his is interspersed with his opinion of the mountaineering society in general. In reading the book, I felt as though he didn't have enough of a story to pad out the experience of his own climb, so he decided to interweave it with descriptions of the climbs of others and his feelings about today's mass market mentality with regards to mountaineering. This approach frustrated me no end - I would have preferred the book to be about one or the other, or for there to be a clear delineation between the two subjects. There appeared to me to be no clear link between Joe's story of his climb and Joe's opinion of other climbers. As a result, Dark Shadows Falling doesn't strike me as a cohesive book.

After finishing Dark Shadows Falling, I almost felt as though the whole book was a justification to include the (admittedly, jawdropping) 1989 photo by Karl Huyberechts of the South Col at Everest.

An Excellent book, so honest. It's great to read a climbing book by someone not entrenched in all the commercialism, someone who is able to offer honest and thoughtful opinions on the tragic state of Himalayan climbing today. The book reads very well, a must for everyone interested in Himalayan climbing today. Joe Simpson is a genius.