Life and Death on Mt. Everest: Sherpas and Himalayan Mountaineering [Paperback]

Sherry B. Ortner (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0691074488 | ISBN-13: 978-0691074481 | Publication Date: May 1, 2001

The Sherpas were dead, two more victims of an attempt to scale Mt. Everest. Members of a French climbing expedition, sensitive perhaps about leaving the bodies where they could not be recovered, rolled them off a steep mountain face. One body, however, crashed to a stop near Sherpas on a separate expedition far below. They stared at the frozen corpse, stunned. They said nothing, but an American climber observing the scene interpreted their thoughts: Nobody would throw the body of a white climber off Mt. Everest.

For more than a century, climbers from around the world have journ-eyed to test themselves on Everest's treacherous slopes, enlisting the expert aid of the Sherpas who live in the area. Drawing on years of field research in the Himalayas, renowned anthropologist Sherry Ortner presents a compelling account of the evolving relationship between the mountaineers and the Sherpas, a relationship of mutual dependence and cultural conflict played out in an environment of mortal risk.

Ortner explores this relationship partly through gripping accounts of expeditions--often in the climbers' own words--ranging from nineteenth-century forays by the British through the historic ascent of Hillary and Tenzing to the disasters described in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air. She reveals the climbers, or "sahibs," to use the Sherpas' phrase, as countercultural romantics, seeking to transcend the vulgarity and materialism of modernity through the rigor and beauty of mountaineering. She shows how climbers' behavior toward the Sherpas has ranged from kindness to cruelty, from cultural sensitivity to derision. Ortner traces the political and economic factors that led the Sherpas to join expeditions and examines the impact of climbing on their traditional culture, religion, and identity. She examines Sherpas' attitude toward death, the implications of the shared masculinity of Sherpas and sahibs, and the relationship between Sherpas and the increasing number of women climbers. Ortner also tackles debates about whether the Sherpas have been "spoiled" by mountaineering and whether climbing itself has been spoiled by commercialism.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Since the late 19th century, climbing mountains has held a certain allure. Expeditions are now reaching all-time highs, as experienced and inexperienced climbers "reach for the top." These two books examine mountaineering on Mt. Everest through different perspectives. Liberally sprinkled with entertaining anecdotes and significant cultural observations, Ultimate High is the story of a determined man with a unique goal. It chronicles both Kropp's ascent of Everest and his 8000 mile journey, on bicycle (with equipment in tow), from Sweden to the Himalayas and back. (To truly conquer the mountain, Kropp believes, one must get there and climb it without artificial assistance.) As it happened, his climb coincided with the much-publicized May l996 disaster (described in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air), so, in addition to detailing his own endeavours, he describes (with riveting clarity) the drama taking place around him. Kropp captures the emotional highs and lows of mountaineering; his astute observations of team dynamics and candid revelations of his mental and physical state provide insight into the climber's world. Taking a more academic and analytic approach, Ortner (anthropology, Columbia Univ.) provides a fascinating examination of the world of the Sherpas. Drawing extensively from autobiographies and her own ethnography, Ortner examines Sherpas both as mountaineers and villagers. In the process, she tackles a variety of subject matter, including sahib/Sherpa relationships and local history, culture, and religion. In doing so, she incorporates quotes from climbers, their chilling tales, and detailed research. Her book is an eye-opening, behind-the-scenes look at mountaineering. Complementary to any work on the Himalayas, it should be compulsory reading for climbers going to this area. Both books are recommended for public and academic libraries.AJo-Anne Mary Benson
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Kirkus Reviews

Anthropologist Ortner's (Columbia) ethnographic immersion into Sherpa life and how it has been affected by the international climbing culture is a remarkable display of agile fieldwork, sensitive to all the distinctive shadings that compose her subject. In the valleys and foothills of the Everest massif live the Sherpas, who for the last 100 years have had their remote outpost unsettled by the influx of mountaineering expeditions run by sahibs (a Sherpa term Ortner uses both ironically and as a handy tag). In an effort to gain a sense of how the two groups interrelatehow much each groups perceptions of the other have validity and in what contextOrtner draws upon a substantial arsenal of ethnographic theory. The work of Clifford Geertz is brought to bear on both camps' intentions and desires; so too Edward Said's notion of orientalism and how it erects ideologically warped imagery. Althusser, Foucault, James Clifford, and Marshall Sahlins help her clear away the fog of colonial complicity and the asymmetries conjured by power and wealth: though she can't slip into the Sherpa perspective like an old pair of shoes for reasons of cultural conditioning, she is ever attentive to it. Ortner is most interested in the nexus of the mountaineers' and Sherpas' values, beliefs, and ideals, and the various relationships that were spawned from their commingling, which often unwittingly reinforced misconceptions. In the records of the mountaineers, she seeks among the representations the allusions within the illusions, measuring the biases and fantasies against the touchstone of the ``cumulative record of high-quality ethnographic work.'' Ortner arrives at a complex but cohesive portrait of the century-long Sherpa association with the mountaineers, an elegant wedding of two distinct cultural strandswith all the inherent harmonies and tensionsa moving picture that shifts focus and emphasis as new elements, from identity politics to the counterculture, come into play. (30 b&w illustrations, 3 maps, not seen) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 376 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691074488
• ISBN-13: 978-0691074481
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #182,458 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #13 in Books > History > Asia > Nepal

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes good things come in miswrapped packages..., April 21, 2001

By 

Ivy (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life and Death on Mt. Everest (Hardcover)

Although Life and Death on Mt. Everest is a book with an identity crisis, it is nonetheless a fascinating work that should interest armchair adventurers and mountaineers alike. Despite the title, parts of the jacket flap blurb, and even the quotes on the back, Life and Death is really an anthropological examination of mountaineering and the Sherpa-Sahib (author's term) relationship, within the context of the history and culture of both groups. Most of the relatively minor problems with the book arise from the identity crisis; this book can't decide whether it is an academic or a popular work. I suspect, though of course I can't know, that Ortner wrote the book as an academic monograph, and her publishers then altered it superficially to capitalize on the resurgence of Everest interest.

The text itself will present a few problems to the lay reader. It has too much information on Ortner's theory, philosophy, and methods of anthropology if it is intended strictly for the layman. The academic-style footnotes are frustrating; Ortner uses copious end-of-text footnotes, mostly to give citations, but also to supply additional information, commentary, and anecdotes. In order to get that extra information, the reader has to refer back and forth constantly, breaking up the flow of the read. If this is intended to be, in whole or in part, a popular work, Ortner should have moved the added-data footnotes to the bottom of the page, and left the citations at the end. Also, the author is a little too inclusive - she includes more about Sherpa religion than is really necessary to provide cultural background; this distracts from the main theme of the book. It would also, of course, be uninteresting to laypeople interested solely in climbing. Finally, Ortner doesn't always cite authors of quotations in the body of the text. That would be fine for academics, but not so for armchair adventurers, who will be familiar with most of the sources and will always want to know who said what.

However, these are minor quibbles, really, considering the book's value. Although there are huge numbers of expedition accounts and life-of-a-climber memoirs available, there are relatively few books that examine climbing as a culture. And though Sherpas are mentioned in every book ever written about Himalayan mountaineering, the information is always one-sided and usually one-dimensional. Ortner, in one volume, manages to change both those things; she describes climbing from the outside and Sherpa culture from the inside, and in the process brings valuable insight to both. And despite the author's academic bent, the book is not dense or dull; it's a fast, light read, especially considering its depth.

This book is not for readers seeking an adrenaline rush or those with a short attention span, but it is for almost everyone else. Himalayan climbers will benefit from the perspective on both their hobby and their Sherpa partners. Armchair adventurers will finally find the answers to some of their persistent questions about Sherpas, and will also find the view of climbing illuminating. And those who are interested in anthropology or other cultures will be gripped by the descriptions of Sherpa life and acculturation. Basically, the book is an all-around winner.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thereal (Sherpa) McCoy, December 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Life and Death on Mt. Everest (Hardcover)

If you're looking for Thereal McCoy in her Sherpa guise, don't bother to read Ortner's 'Life and Death on Mt. Everest'. Turns out she's long gone--or rather, undergoing (nearly) endless cycles of mediated rebirth. On the other hand, if you want a nuanced and balanced analysis of the complex interactions between western mountaineers and a Himalayan people over the last century, then this book is for you. Ortner is the best writer on Sherpa peoples in the English language, and a good theorist to boot. This new book will please not only her familiar anthropologist readers, but an audience of self-critical 'adventurers' as well. It's a nice antidote to much of the mountaineering literature in which Sherpa turn up incidentally (enough about you; let's talk about me!), as well as to romantic positivists who maintain the illusion that there are 'genuine' Sherpa lurking somewhere (ever deeper) in an Himalayan Shangri-la.

14 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Serious study, April 10, 2000

By 

saliero (NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life and Death on Mt. Everest (Hardcover)

Ortner's work is rigorous, as in the best of academic work, but is delightfully readable. Apart from some necessary theorising and explanation of methodology, it is very accessible. This is the book to get into when you've had a diet of Boys (mostly) Own Adventures in the Himalayas, and are looking for something a bit chewier.

It is in fact a good companion volume for anyone with an interest in the sociology of mountaineering.

I recently read Arlene Blum's 'Annapurna: a woman's place' which is an exemplar of both 70s feminism and counterculture. Ortner places the various waves of mountaineering (military style expeditions/macho competitiveness/ beginning of women's involvement / counterculture) in their historical and sociological context, whilst simultaneously placing the Sherpa at the centre of the story.

It also tells much about the interaction between mountaineering and Sherpa Buddhism - the changes to that religion and the various responses and attitudes of the Sherpa to the religion.

Never does Ortner present the Sherpas as a homogeneous mass. She gives both a good depiction of the big picture, but also incorporates enough post-modernist sensibility to recognise that the Sherpa are not an indistinguishable mass with identical reactions, motivations etc.She also examines seriously Sherpa as the agents of change (eg through strikes) and where Sherpa power vis a vis sahibs lies.

People who enjoy this would also enjoy Ed Douglas's 'Chomolungma Sings The Blues'. Douglas is a climbing journalist who, whilst not an academic like Ortner, also has a lot to say about mountaineering and a strong focus on Sherpa involement.