Customer Reviews

K2 the 1939 Tragedy

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book has an agenda: to once and for all clear the name of team member Jack Durrance of any negligence for the disastrous results of this expedition. Briefly stated, leader Fritz Wiessner was the only member of this six-man team who had any business setting foot on savage, unforgiving, unrelenting K-2. Yet Wiessner handpicked the team himself, except for one-Jack Durrance, who was a last-minute replacement. That is the crux of the controversy. Wiessner, who never admitted mistakes, was all too willing to make Durrance the fall guy. The odd part is with the exception of Wiessner; Durrance had the most mountaineering ability. The other members either had no experience, or only had climbed with the assistance of guides. After enjoying unusually good weather, Wiessner and the doomed Dudley Wolfe were within 800 meters of the summit. The mystery was why with two men at this level, were all the camps below stripped of tents and all equipment, leaving them totally exposed on the descent? Why did Wiessner leave the helpless Wolfe alone and unattended? Why were three Sherpas the only ones to attempt Wolfe's rescue? What happened to the four of them who were never seen again?

The book has some excellent photos depicting the team in their suits and ties, a luncheon served with great elegance in the heart of the Himalayas, and some very clear pictures of their primitive climbing equipment and clothing. It truly makes you realize what odds they overcame to be so high with leaky boots, soggy woolens, and waterlogged tents.

The authors have the advantage of Jack Durrance's diary, heretofore unseen and unknown. This is also a disadvantage because the Kaufman & Putnam seem to rely entirely on the veracity of this diary. It is given far too much weight in making their conclusions.

The book is maddeningly repetitious. Whenever Wiessner is faulted, the authors assure you (in detail) what a fine mountaineer Wiessner was---over and over again. Though the authors are not shy about projecting psychological insights onto the team members, they make no efforts to explore and recreate the violent disagreements that took place. Wiessner and first assistant Eaton (Tony) Cromwell started out as the best of friends. Yet in the aftermath of the climb, Cromwell bitterly attacks Wiessner as a "murderer." Why? What happened to the four men who disappeared? Were they ever found?

The book has merit for it's strong descriptions of the personalities involved and being able to interview living men. However, the style is stilted and the impartiality suspect. Recommended for die-hard mountaineering fans only.

An absorbing review of the facts and circumstances surrounding the tragic 1939 K2 expedition and its aftermath. Weaving a newly discovered, first hand account by one of the expeditioners, with already known, heretofore, controversial historical data from others on the expedition, the authors masterfully reconstruct the events which led to the deaths of four individuals, three Sherpas and one American, on K2 in the wild Karakoram range.

After many weeks in the mountains, overcome by altitude sickness and inexperience, only three members of the expedition are physically able or willing to push on to the summit. The only ones so inclined are its expedition leader, Fritz Wiessner, the rich American who bankrolled part of the expedition, Dudley Wolfe, and the plucky Sherpa porter, Pasang Lama.

Dudley Wolfe, with whom Fritz Wiessner seems to have developed a client-guide relationship, is unable to continue past camp VIII, limited by his own inexperience. Fritz, a superb climber, continue along towards the summit with Pasang Lama. They set up Camp IX and continue on towards the summit, where they manages to make it up to within 8oo feet of the summit. There, the plucky Pasang Lama is unable to continue. They decide to return to Camp IX with the intention of resting and returning the next day for a new assault on the summit.

It was not to be. On their descent, they lost their crampons. After they rested in Camp IX, they realized that they needed more supplies, so they went down to Camp VIII. There they found Dudley, but no new supplies had been brought up from the lower camps. So, they all decide to go down to Camp VII to investigate and restock.

On the way down, Dudley's inexperience causes them to have an accident on the ropes. They fall but manage to survive. Pasang Lama, however, is seriously injured, and the sleeping bag and air mattress that Dudley carried is lost to the mountain. Fritz, having left his bedding in Camp IX, expecting to find some in the lower camps, is disappointed when they manage to reach camp VII, only to find it in disarray and stripped of all bedding and sleeping bags! Remarkably, both Dudley and Fritz had by this time spent nearly a month in the dead zone without supplementary oxygen. Therein lies the tale.

Read on! The account is at times mesmerizing. This remarkably well researched chronicle manages to paint a riveting picture of the the travails of this expedition from its confused beginnings to its tragic end. It shows what can happen when all members of the expedition are clearly not on the same page.

This book uses the Diary of Jack Durrance as the principle (and only) truth. The amazing thing is this diary was NOT released to the public until 1989, just after Fritz Wiessner passed away in 1988. Coincidence? Or assurance that Jack's diary wouldn't be challenged?

This book tries to pass the blame from Durrance to others, including Fritz for the tragedy, based solely on the diary. The authors state that the Diary showed that Durrance was sane of mind in those critical days on K2, yet how do the authors know this was indeed written on K2 and not written at some later date by Durrance to defend himself? Yes handwriting analysis does show that Dorrance wrote it, but WHEN did he write it? Where's the proof to that?

The authors wave off the note that Fritz says he received from Durrance based on the fact that no one else says they saw the note. (Which Fritz says he turned in to the American Alpine Club and never got back from them.) Yet they believe this diary that surfaced 50 years later which has only been seen by Durrance, is true.

The authors are both past high ranking members of the American Alpine Club (past president and past vice president) who wrongly blamed Fritz for the Tragedy back in 1939... coincidence? Makes me wonder...

If you want an unbiased account of the events of K2 in 1939, look elsewhere. "High : Stories of Survival from Everest and K2 (Extreme Adventure)by Clint Willis" includes this K2 story from another viewpoint, check that out first.

If however you are a Jack Durrance fan and are looking to erase blame from him and pass more of it to Fritz Wiessner, this is the book for you.

While "disaster" may be more usually applied to events which take the lives of more than the few people who climb mountains in any given expedition, the word seems well-applied to Weissner's 1939 expedition to K2. In light of more recent understanding about altitude sickness and the pernicious effects of "thin air" on rational function the description of this expedition's strategy for summitting and the sheer number of days members of this party spent at what we would now call killing altitudes boggles the mind.

The 1939 K2 expedition remains a milestone in the mountaineering literature for the cautionary tale it represents. Reading about the differences between challenging a mountain then versus challenging a mountain now is fascinating. Especially interesting to me was the discussion of how only newly available information illuminates one of the critical controversies surrounding the expedition.

As a climber and a Gunkie, I read this book because I was interested in the character of Wiessner. I has not disappointed. Some interesting aspects of Wiessner's personality are revealed. The story is basically the 1996 Everest expedition in 1939. A guided client dies due to poor, hypoxia affected, decisions. This story proves the rule, 'history repeats itself'. The fact that K2 was almost climbed, by practically one man, before nylon ropes, Gore-Tex etc just boggles the mind. A truly amazing achievement.

I don't understand these Nit-Picky reviews by the grammar police. This is a good book and an excellent assembling of newly discovered information. The authors have answered the challenge to assemble this information in a way that both entertains and informs. Wiessner was a man driven by desire and motivation and stregnth he himself emanated drove and bolstered his entire team. As has happened all to often since 1939, poor weather, poor circumstance, egos, images and desire all played a part in this disaster. The fact that Weissner and Wolfe got as far as they did (within 800 feet) is simply amazing. They were all men of unbelievable stregnth and drive. There is alot of reality in this book and alot of adventure. Only drawback was too many footnotes which had me flipping back and forth to get "more" details throughout the entire read.

I don't understand these Nit-Picky reviews by the grammar police. This is a good book and an excellent assembling of newly discovered information. The authors have answered the challenge to assemble this information in a way that both entertains and informs. Wiessner was a man driven by desire and motivation. And the stregnth he himself emanated drove and bolstered his entire team. As has happened all to often since 1939, poor weather, poor circumstance, egos, self-image and desire all played a part in this disaster. The fact that Weissner and Wolfe got as far as they did (within 800m) is simply amazing. They were all men of unbelievable stregnth and drive. There is alot of reality in this book and alot of adventure. Only drawback was too many footnotes which had me flipping back and forth to get "more" details throughout the entire read.

Full disclosure: Oliver Eaton (Tony) Cromwell was my grandfather. I grew up in Europe in the 60's spending winters with him in Zermatt, and as a young officer commanding a border camp spent quite a bit of time with him in the 70's and early 80's when he moved to Interlaken before he and Georgia's death in the mid-80's. He willed me his personal notes and book collection.

The book is an excellent study in leadership or the lack thereof. The strength of the work is its focus on the personalities and the authors do a very nice job, presenting some interesting information re: Weissner, Durrance, Cromwell and the others members as well. After reading "K2: the 1939 Tragedy", you would be well served if you read "Last Man on the Mountain".

The authors appear to make a real effort to avoid biases. They do a very nice job of helping the reader understand the relative backgrounds of the tream members. In the attempt, four people died, one of which was Wolfe, the other three were Sherpa's, who died heroically trying to bring Wolfe down, for which role they were not trained, equipped or being paid to do. While there is plenty of blame to go around, Wolfe's death needs to be laid at Weissner's feet.

Something touched on but not really explored is that as Kaufman noted, Cromwell - at least in terms of quantity (Weissner was undoubtedly more skilled) - had more experience than anyone except Weissner -there's at least one mountain named after him (Mt. Cromwell) in Canada. Cromwell was also mature (47-the rest were MUCH younger) and well-educated and again, as Kaufman notes, discussed with Weissner his (Cromwell's) concern about prolonged exposure to high altitude for human health and performance - which is why Cromwell made it clear from the very beginning that he would be glad to join the K2 expedition - help lead the effort - and help fund the effort ($1,700 then was like $45,000 today) - but that he was not interested in going any higher than the base camp. Cromwell, with decades of experience, had a better perspective on maintaining health than the younger men - who had the approach that they would simply "gut thru" any discomfort - which is fine for an afternoon's climb but not so practical for weeks on end. Cromwell's personal observations re: prolonged exposure to high altitudes was not widely accepted until much later - and Weissner and the younger member simply paid it no attention. As Kaufman notes, Weissner subscribed to the opposite theory that remaining at extremely high altitudes allowed the human body to gradually adjust - something we now know to be untrue - with significant impact on the expedition.

The author's comments re: the Counsul's observation that Weissner's characteristic central European "bluntness" did not wear well with the American's is spot-on. That characteristic has softened a bit since WWII, but it's still a valid observation - and is especially true for central and east Europeans. It's quite possible for an eastern German to completely offend an American/Englishman without realizing that his form of address is the culprit. "K2: the 1939 Tragedy" does a good job of exploring the impact of the different cultures- western and Sherpa - on the actions that ultimately doomed the 1939 expedition.

Cromwell was a seasoned, experienced, mature mountaineer, who found that Weissner`s unwillingness to accept any team input other than money and physical labor (ie. Weissner refused to even appear to consider ANY advice Cromwell tried to give him, be it mountaineering, or the best approaches for leading Americans, and then tried to order him up K2 after promising him that he would ONLY be the base camp commander - health concerns be damned) - put the expedition at risk, with tragic consequences. As the authors note: the American's essentially mentally "checked out" with regard to Weissner - they were perfectly happy as long as he was anywhere but where they were.

In 1939, an American climbing expedition came achingly close to summiting then-unclimbed K2, the world's second highest peak, only to lose four members during the descent. The expedition's failure had multiple causes. In 1992's "K2: The 1939 Tragedy", Andrew Kaufman and William Putnam put together the evidence, including the newly available diary of one of the key climbers, to try to lay to rest the resulting controversies.

The 1939 Ameican K2 Expedition was dogged by poor fortune almost from the start. Expedition leader Fritz Wiessner chose a large and capable team, only to have the best climbers drop out at the last minute. Upon reaching remote K2, both climbers and sherpas experienced injuries and illness. Bad weather delayed the team's advance and dampened morale on a rugged and even terrifying route that was probably beyound the climbing ability of all but Wiessner himself. The relentless Wiessner drove himself and a Sherpa climbing partner to less than 800 vertical feet from the summit, while the team fell apart without him in the lower camps. On the descent, one member was left behind at a high camp. He and a rescue party of three sherpas never returned. Acrimony among the team members lasted for years afterward.

Kaufman and Putnam's indepth examination of the expedition includes the diary of Jack Durrance, who did yeoman work in pushing the expedition up the mountain despite attitude sickness and poor gear, but who was later blamed by Wiessner for the failures. Kaufman and Putnam argue that Wiessner's team was inadequate to the task, and Wiessner himself took on too many responsibilities. Kaufman and Putnam further reasonably suggest that the effect of prolonged stay and supreme effort at high altitude may have affected Wiessner's judgement. Durrance is shown to have behaved responsibly and followed the guidance he was given. The deaths of four climbers becomes in this narrative the result of a chain of events involving actions by a number of people.

The book has its best moments in describing the exciting story of the climb itself. The prolonged discussion of the expedition's failure offers many useful learning points but tends to be repetitive. The authors spent overly much time speculating about a number of matters, including the relationships between certain key players, which at this remove of time are probably impossible to resolve.

"K2: The 1939 Tragedy" is highly recommended both as a lesson in expedition dynamics and as a cautionary tale of why K2 is such a deadly mountain to climb.

This interesting story was lost to me in a tangle of technical writing and constant references to notes located at the back of the book. Granted, I am an armchair mountaineer and one who likes to be entertained by such books, but Kauffman did not keep me riveted as some similar stories have (Touching the Void, Into Thin Air).

However, this is an interesting story and allows the reader to peer into some of the history of mountaineering.