Customer Reviews

Everest: the Ultimate Hump

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

And I thought only my hairdresser knew for sure what happened on that fated mountain. Read Tami's new book to find out what everybody else in the world failed to reveal. Or make up!

Well, I agree this is the irreverence that the Everest genre was waiting for! I laughed quite a bit, and smiled at much of it.

The Dianas (Princesses that is) expedition really tickled my funny bone the most. How inspired to take two such icons, both ludicrously unattainable for most mere mortals, and marry them.

Humour is such a subjective thing, you will either love it or hate it. But don't condemn this take on Everest because of a misapprehension of what it is about. It is a cartoon book. It does actually say more about the reality of the sponsorship and money side of 'personal Everests' than all the thousands of words I have read on the subject thus far.

I've been following Tami Knight's work for years, when she used to be published in Canadian mountaineering magazines. She was our little secret for years, and whenever we saw an American sitting there bemused by some Canadian mountaineering foible, we'd laugh and laugh and laugh. Then we read Tami and really laugh.

Anyway, given recent events on the Big Momo, people might think this book rude, crude and mean. It is. So is Tami Knight. Which is why it must be read. Knight puts her finger right on the main problems with mountaineering nowadays and pushes for all she's worth. Get this book now, before the Ethics Committee has it pulled.

Tami Knight has captured, with relentless humor and a keen eye for tragedy as well as comedy, the essence of an overwrought mountain.

Knight takes nothing sacred and in the process reveals the Everest trophy hunters as unwittingly doing the same. Beau coup laughs.

For the true inside scoop on what it takes to climb the big one, this is it. For all those Everest lovers, this is better written than "The Climb" and has more pictures than "Into Thin Air". Makes a great Christmas gift, too!

Tami's book reminds me of the time when Willi Unsoeld gave a lecture on the first ascent of the west ridge of the Big E. Someone in the audience asked, "When did you reach the point of no return?" Before Willi could answer, Jolene, Willi's wife shouted: "Three months before they left the States!" If you want to know what climbing Everest is like, read Lene Gammelgaard's Climbing High. If you want to know what climbing Everest is all about, read the Ultimate Hump.

No matter how suttle or how blatantly obvious, the humour in this book will crack you up. You find something new every time you open the pages. There's always an extra laugh hidden in either the dialog or the drawings; which in the end just adds to the fun of reading about Everest.

The eagerly awaited opus from the funniest alpinist there is. Don't let it keep you indoors! (too much)

At age 70, I have read more books than climbed hills. And even though this book is all about the type of hills than I am not going to climb, I felt comfortable with the terms and references...Tami shared her joy through these clever drawings and she made it possible for me to share and laugh too. It is a book for grown-ups who want to feel good; it is a very funny book.