Customer Reviews

K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

David Roberts' name on a mountain climbing book is a guarantee of a good read, and this one is no exception. The first chapter grabbed me, and I ended up spending most of the weekend reading this book instead of doing other things I'd planned! Roberts has the knack of making you able to visualize what's going on during a climb, even if you've never read or seen anything else about the terrain.

Do we need another book about K2? The unique feature of this one is that it gives Ed Viesturs' slant on what went wrong (and right) in the expeditions to this dangerous mountain. There's no shortage of armchair mountaineers, but Viesturs has the credentials to make his analysis stick. His own 1992 climb doesn't get a chapter (I guess you'll have to get his other book for that), but he covers the most important years in which climbers attempted the mountain. The book is also the most up-to-date summary of the astonishing scandal behind the 1954 Italian climb, which has fully come to light only in the last couple of years.

A previous reviewer complained about lack of pictures. Actually, according to the rear jacket, the final version of the book includes 28 pages of color and B&W photos (absent, alas, from the pre-publication freebie copies).

Five AIRY Stars!! Author & mountaineer Ed Viesturs is one of the world's great climbers who has pulled off the rare feat of reaching the summit of all 14 "8000 meters and higher" peaks, topped off by Everest. This up-to-date book on the second highest mountain, K2, written along with mountaineering author David Roberts, follows Viesturs' famous book No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks. Mr. Viesturs knows K2 very well since he made a troubled ascent of this 28,241 ft monster which he barely survived. He also gives a historical view of the most important attempts at climbing this mountain with the highest fatality rates among 8000 meter peaks. Compared to Everest, which the author says has many ascents each climbing season, K2 is a unique experience with comparatively fewer ascents. Difficult to get to in the Karakoram range, avalanche-prone, plagued by bad weather, with bivouacs inadvisable, and with no winter ascents, K2 is a daunting proposition for the most experienced climbers in the best of circumstances.

Beginning with the events of August 1 & 2, 2008 which became the worst climbing disaster in the history of K2 (an accumulation of events), Mr Viesturs gives both a very frank and personal viewpoint of his own climb and experiences, juxtaposed with other major campaigns and historical events over the years. Despite many 'topical switchbacks' between different climbs which can be mildly difficult to follow, this is an engrossing and sometimes touching read that covers teams, climbing techniques, tactics, heroics and failures, lives and deaths. He also covers the routes, especially the familiar "Abruzzi ridge route" with the main features: the ridge itself, the Bottleneck couloir, House's chimney, the Black Pyramid, the ice serac, the leftward traverse, the summit pyramid, and the alternate Abruzzi spur route. For those new to K2, the map at the front is most helpful in tracking the activities of various teams & campaigns. The author has included photographs, especially the author's own K2 summit photos, to help the reader visualize the mountain, climbers, and the camps much better. Reservations aside, this book, laden with detail, contains invaluable information and remembrances. Highly recommended. Five WHITE KNUCKLED Stars! (Uncorrected paperback proof; 332 pages) *Amended 4/12/10 because the author has included photographs in the final product based on the Amazon product description. Five Stars!!*

I am reviewing a preproduction uncorrected proof. Some of the criticism may not apply to the final version.

The primary author of K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain is Ed Viesturs. In 2005, Viesturs was the first American to summit all 14 of the world's 8000ers - mountains over 8000 meters high - and has been a part of 30 expeditions to 8000ers. He's summited Everest seven times and was a member of the 1996 Everest IMAX movie team. He has been climbing for 32 years, and began guiding on Mt. Rainier in 1987. It's also notable that he has survived to write about it.

This book discusses seven of the most notable expeditions to K2:

(1) August 2008 - Notable because 11 climbers perished in a 36 hour period. Also notable because of the recency and the amount of publicity this event received.
(2) The author's 1996 first summit of K2 with Scott Fischer, detailed also in Viestur's No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks.
(3) 1938 - The first American expedition to K2. Some believed the expedition to primarily be a reconnoitering mission for an expedition the following year, but the climbers made in within 2250 feet of the peak. Chronicled in Five Miles High.
(4) 1938 - The second American expedition to K2 led by Fritz Weissner. Wiessner and Pasang Lama came within 750 feet of the summit. A logistics breakdown prevented another summit attempt and resulted in the loss of four lives. Detailed in K2: The 1939 Tragedy.
(5) The 1953 American expedition - Expeditions did not occur during the World War II years, and the 1947 split of Pakistan from India resulted in no permits being issued for a number of years. The carefully chosen team only reached 25,800 feet when they were required to return to base camp in an attempt to save team member Art Gilkey who had developed thrombophlebitis in the leg which subsequently led to a pulmonary embolism. Gilkey's life was lost in an avalanche before he could be returned to base. Detailed in K2, The Savage Mountain: The Classic True Story of Disaster and Survival on the World's Second-Highest Mountain.
(6) The 1954 Italian expedition which resulted in the first summit of K2 by Lacedelli and Compagnoni - The expedition was extremely large by all measures. So was the controversy surrounding the summit. Detailed in Ascent of K2: Second Highest Peak in the World.
(7) 1986 expeditions involving 11 teams - Notable because more climbers were lost this season than any other when 13 perished. Seven climbers summitted, of which only two survived. Detailed in K2: Triumph and Tragedy.

As seen by the references to other works, all of these missions were detailed elsewhere. However, I feel that what Viesturs mainly brings to the table, in addition to his own expertise as a mountaineer, is decades of additional information about these expeditions since these works were written. Most of these works were written by team members if not by the leaders themselves, and can certainly be colored by their own interpretation. In several cases, diaries of other team members have become available years later. Also, attitudes may have been different at the time of the writing of these books than today. For example, the author suggests that some of the criticism levelled against Wiessner by Kauffman and Putman was due to the prevailing attitude toward Germans in the years leading up to World War II. Wiessner was German-born although a naturalized US citizen. Viesturs' experience also comes into play. When Putnam and Kauffman assert that certain procedures were standard in mountaineering, for example, that the leader always leads from the rear, the author gives copious counterexamples to reject their assertion.

Viesturs never purports that this book is from the view of a detached journalist. It is made clear when he is expressing his opinion, and the book is filled with "I" and "me," although not to an egotistical extent. I consider this advantagous in that you know that the author is expressing his opinion. The author, by his own admission, claims to be a conservative climber, and says that his own summit of K2 was tarnished in his mind by his pushing ahead when his gut told him not to. He felt that he was lucky to have survived. The downside is that the author could be interjecting his own opinion as much as the authors of the other books that he is sometimes countering. However, with this experience, I have no reason to doubt him. Although he does give his opinion of what went wrong is some of these expeditions, he also says he's slow to question decisions made by people in those situations at the time. Overall, I thought Viesturs' presentation was very balanced.

As for my criticisms, I am no climbing expert, but know a few terms - crampon, self-arrest, etc. Others were new to me - couloir, traverse, serac. There's no reason that this book would not be popular for a very general audience, and I feel that the authors could have tailored it a little better for a general audience by spending a dozen sentences to provide short definitions of mountaineering terms. The book had two very crude charcoal drawings of the mountain. I don't know if these will remain in the final edition, but I wished for something much more detailed. I found a great poster on the internet that helped me see the routes and key points from the various expeditions, but I hoped this book would stand alone. I also yearned for some photos of key points so I could picture them better - House's Chimney, the Motivator, the Bottleneck, etc. The cover of the proof indicated that the final book will contain 16 black and white photos and 12 full color photos. The proof does not contain these, so I don't know if they satisfy my desire. As a final point, the MSRP seems a bit on the high side for a general interest book such as this that should appeal to such a wide audience.

The author mentions several other books in this book. For the benefit of the review reader, they are The Ascent of Everest, Annapurna, In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods, The Last Step: The American Ascent of K2, Brotherhood of the Rope: The Biography of Charles Houston (Legends and Lore), and K2: The Story of the Savage Mountain. (Amazon, after encouraging the use of product links, has limited the number to ten, so you'll have to search for the last few yourself.)

In summary, K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain is a great jumping-off point for a study of the attempts to conquer K2, providing not only the references for more detailed study, but also providing additional background to make the studying of those references more profitable.

Like other reviewers here, I'm a bit of an addict for mountaineering books, because of their inherent drama. in "K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain," I found myself completely lost in places however, not sure whether we were in a recent story of Viesturs on K2, a flashback to an earlier climb, a historical look at another expedition or just where exactly. This is the first mountaineering book in a while that I struggled to finish due to this confusion.

It may be that others with more familiarity with mountaineering history won't have as much as a snag as I did; or it may be that my background as a lifelong professional editor and writer had me frustrated at the organizational problems in "K2." Still, this is a book that would have been improved by either artful editing to create logical transitions, a simpler structure, or graphical elements to help us know what year we are in at all times.

I love mountains and I love reading about mountaineering. I generally enjoy Ed Viestur's writings about his adventures on the world's highest mountains and this book, written with David Roberts, is no exception. The authors describe the history of K2 expeditions which is an enthralling bit of history. At times, however, the book can become a bit confusing when more than one expedition is referenced on a single page. I had to stop and think about which climb was which. Confusing, but not a 'deal breaker. I would prefer to have photographs - there are a few hand drawn sketches, but no photographs. I am a visual person and my preference is for a books with photographs. All in all I recommend this book for folks who, like me, enjoy climbing vicariously and for anyone who enjoys a good " adventuring".

~ Ed Viesturs is the greatest mountain climber from the US, and not counting Messner, possibly the planet. He was in a horrible movie about K2 called vertical limit,in which people ran at 25000 feet, smoked joints at that height ,jumped across crevasses and performed Herculean acts.This book, lavishly illustrated, is jut the tonic for such nonsense. K2 is alleged to be the most difficult of the Big mountains to summit, and the trails down are littered with the debris[and bones] of those who have tried and failed. Mr Viesturs brings us inside the dizzying [literally] world, where life and death are attached to the same rope. While not quiote as good as Krakeurs masterful into thin air,it is a crackling good story of the strange things men do.

Ed Viesturs gives us the view of an experienced professional on his own and other expeditions to K2, the world's second-highest mountain, but perhaps also the world's most dangerous mountain. This is a book worth reading, no matter how high your mountains are. Mine are half K2's 28,000 feet.

Along the way, the author observes that traditionally, expedition reports do not air the dirty laundry. This has changed of late. For example, there is "Into Thin Air" and the other reports of the fatal 1996 Mt. Everest expeditions. It seems to me that there are practical reasons for not reporting the dirty laundry. How can you blame climbers for bad decisions made when they are suffering the effects of altitude, dehydration, and exhaustion? In addition, who would want to undertake another expedition with a climber who places blame on fellow climbers?

Viesturs does give us some good advice. Do not depend on the resources of others. Bring everything that you need with you. Start early for the summit. He also urges us to trust our gut feelings on decisions like turning back or going on. That last piece of advice is a little iffy if you are not thinking too well because of the previously stated altitude, dehydration, and exhaustion. I think that it does help to have a good plan when you are at sea level before you start climbing.

Ed Viesturs states that in the company of mountaineers a claim that you've summited Everest might not get you more than a shrug. If, on the other hand, you mention that you've reached the top of K2 "a hush comes over the room", followed by someone saying "Tell us about it". Viesturs' book, K2, Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain is a thorough telling of why this is so.

Strong points of Viesturs' book, and there are many, include
* Thorough, and fascinating, historical research. Viesturs goes back to source documents, some of them seldom if ever used before, to bring to life the amazing history of attempts on K2.
* Provision of just the right amount of technical climbing jargon: enough to keep the experienced climber engaged, but not so much as to bewilder a reader that is not amongst the high altitude climber's elite inner circle
* Viesturs' cogent, and never pompous, observations on what human qualities and practices lead to failure, or to triumph, in the most extreme physical undertakings that humans attempt at the highest altitudes on the planet.

Not as strong attributes of this solid contribution to mountaineering literature:
* A bit weak in the "thrill of victory, agony of defeat" category. Viesturs' steady and careful progression through the history of K2 climbing is not absent of pathos, but does not have the zing and sting of some other recountings of high altitude dramas, such as (sorry, Ed!) Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air.
* The last quarter of the book is a bit like the literary equivalent of Everest's Khumbu ice falls: impressive, but jumbled, and somewhat confusing. Jumping back and forth between the different expeditions was a bit befuddling, though persistently interesting.

K2: Life and Death cannot fail to impress the reader with the savage nature of the conditions on K2, nor with the truly unimaginable endurance and tenaciousness of some members of our human species. K2, the reader will be thoroughly convinced by the end of the telling, is truly what Viesturs calls "The Holy Grail" of high altitude climbing. Most impressive to me? Not the mountain, but the man: Ed Viesturs. His values, his judgment, his inclusiveness of women, his personal humility and honesty, his repeated insistence that the Sherpa and Hunza guides have not received the recognition that they fully deserve: all to say that if I was crazy enough to attempt an 8000 meter mountain, Viesturs would be at the head of a VERY short list of people that I would entrust my life to.

Summary: K2, Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain brings the story on home with competence, but not brilliance. A solid and worthy read, it is more likely to leave the reader well informed than transformed. Life is short, I found the time diverted to reading K2 to be well spent.

K2 is the most dramatic of the highest peaks of the world from every angle it seems to be an impossibly steep and treacherous climb. I often wondered what type of men and women risk their lives for a few moments of glory on the worlds most dramatic peaks. This book provides a glimpse into their minds by one of the world's most accomplished climbers.

Fans of the climbing genre will find the detailed accounts of his climb, fellow team members and climbers facinating.

As a non-mountaineer, I find the life and death game to be too steep of price for glory. After reading K2, I still can't say that I understand mountaineers, but it made me want to climb a mountain.

I'm not a climber, I'm not even a camper, but I got this book on a whim because I wanted to get some idea about what drives some people to do something so dangerous. Many people have hobbies or activities they enjoy, some more dangerous than others, but climbing the most difficult mountains goes a lot further. I hadn't heard or maybe I just didn't really pay attention to the news about the August 2008 climbing disaster on K2, but I can certainly feel his pain and indignation at non-climbers harsh public judgments and comments. And after all the time, dedication, training and money spent organizing both before and during the climb I can see why they might overextend themselves just to make it to the summit when it came down to the wire. And while I wouldn't call climbers heroes, for anyone to say they got what they deserved in that disaster is extremely cold and mean spirited.

Like I said I'm not a climber, but you don't have to be to appreciate this book. He does jump back and forth between different climbing campaigns, (some he was part of and some he was not) and while that could be a bit disorienting, but he did it to connect and explain both the experience and insight of past and current climbs (current meaning whatever climb he was in the process of relating.) Wow, take my breath away, through his descriptions, I got something of a feel for the experience where you have to fit yourself in and take your chances (hopefully educated choices) in very unforgiving terrain. The importance of personal training and discipline, the attitude and choice of climbing partners and the role luck of the weather plays on the overall experience. I also appreciated that while he didn't necessarily denigrate he also didn't whitewash personal interactions with other climbers. It gave a more realistic image of the experience, as did the description of a previous fellow climber's death during another campaign on another mountain while they were not climbing together. His visit to the body to pay final respects is an image that will stay with me for a long time.

I can see where this would be a book climbers of all levels would devour, but it's a worthwhile read for non-climbers as well. I will have to make a point to check out the book when it's released for the photos that are not in the version I got.