Nanda Devi: The Tragic Expedition [Paperback]

John Roskelley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2000

A powerful account of a famously tragic expedition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

American mountaineer Willi Unsoeld, upon seeing 25,645-foot Nanda Devi in the Indian Himalayas in 1949, vowed to name his first daughter after the mountain. Twenty-seven years later he returned as co-leader of an expedition organized by his daughter to climb the peak. Nanda Devi died on her namesake mountain during the expedition. It took team member and lead climber Roskelley ten years to tell the story of this expedition, and it is a very emotional and moving one. Not only is it an account of the tragedy, but it is also a tale of the day-to-day toil of high altitude mountaineering, of the physical suffering and the mental strain of moving eleven climbers, dozens of porters, two government liaisons, and tons of food and equipment up a difficult route in a foreign land. (Photos not seen.) Recommended. Thomas K. Fry, UCLA Libs.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Mountaineers Books (September 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898867398
• ISBN-13: 978-0898867398
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.6 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,022,488 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not only about exploration, but about managing people, February 13, 2001

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Nanda Devi: The Tragic Expedition (Paperback)

It may seem odd, but I often recommend this book to people who manage groups and projects. Nanda Devi is indeed the story of a Himalayan mountaineering expedition that resulted in death and injury, but it is more a story of how people lead and follow each other, in this case, in a life-and-death situation. Business management is not life-and-death, but the same frictions, malfunctions and mistakes apply to everyday life. So this book is not only fascinating for climbing and exploration history, it is valuable for a study of human nature. It's a valuable study for anyone interested in the art of leadership.

Willi Unsoeld, an experienced mountain climber who had successfully conquered Everest, started this expedition along with his daughter Nanda Devi. Unsoeld had named his infant daughter for the most beautiful mountain he'd ever seen. Naturally, as a young climber and daughter of a prominent mountaineer, she was determined to climb her namesake.

Right from the start, the co-leaders of the expedition disagreed fundamentally on everything from climbing style to food. Neither leader would take control, preferring instead to let members of the group make their own decisions and run a "mellow climb." The climb itself took place at a less-than-optimal time of year to accommodate one of the leaders, who had to wait for the end of the school year. The lack of strong, executive leadership split the entire expedition team into factions. Even simple decisions on evacuating members with altitude sickness became muddled and nearly ended in tragedy. This set the tone for the rest of the climb, and only the climbers who struck out for themselves or were extremely rugged ended up making it to the summit. Other members failed to summit or, in the case of Nanda Devi herself, lost her life on the mountain for which she was named.

The Roskelly version of the expedition in this book caused lasting rifts in the climbing world. John Roskelly, the author of this book, was one of the climbers who did successfully reach the summit. There was lingering bitterness long after the expedition and the publication of the book. Everyone involved had their own version of what went wrong and who was to blame.

Not only is this an exciting and well-told tale of an expedition, but the book highlights the behaviors that lead to the tragedy. While this book is one man's opinion of what happened, it is a good look into what can go deathly wrong when leadership is mishandled.

Other good books to read with a similar theme are Roland Huntford's Last Place on Earth, which contrasts the leadership styles of Scott and Amundsen in the race to the South Pole, and Krakauer's Into Thin Air, the story of another tragic Himalayan climb.

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE EXPEDITION FROM HELL..., December 30, 2000

By 

Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Nanda Devi: The Tragic Expedition (Paperback)

This is a gripping chronicle of the 1976 Indo-American Nanda Devi Expedition which saw the author, Lou Reichardt, and Jim States summit Nanda Devi, a 26,000 foot plus peak located in the northwest frontier of India. They succeeded in making one of the most technically demanding climbs in the Himalayas.

They also survived one of the most acrimonious and tragic of expeditions, as it ended with the needless death of Nanda Devi Unsoeld, daughter of mountaineering legend, Willi Unsoeld, who was co-leader of the expedition. Named after the mountain which her father so loved, Nanda Devi Unsoeld was consigned in death to her namesake. It was she who had been the driving force in the creation of the expedition, spurred on by her desire to climb the mountain for which she had been named, not knowing that death would await her on its slopes.

This expedition, which was replete with mountaineering greats, started off on the wrong foot, as it had two co-leaders, Willi Unsoeld and Ad Carter, neither of whom was willing to take a real leadership role and make decisive decisions. This saw the expedition fracture into two groups, with a great deal of acrimony between the two, as a philosophical divide developed. The author paints a picture of what life was like on this expedition. It is a no holds barred portrait, warts and all, unflattering to the author, as well as to others on this expedition.

While Roskelley was clearly a mountaineer of superior ability, as compared with others on the team, it is probable that his brusque manner helped to divide the expedition into what was perceived to be the "A" and "B" teams. It was the delivery, I surmise, and not the message, which rankled others and prompted them to behave badly which they, undoubtedly, did during the course of the expedition.

What is inexplicable to me, however, is Willi Unsoeld's handling of his daughter's illness on the expedition, and his behavior at her mysterious and unexpected death on the mountain. One would expect more from an expedition leader, never mind a father. It is almost as if he relished consigning her to the mountain in death, with all its mystical implications. A sad end for a being who in life was beautiful and joyous, yet certainly the stuff around which legends are created. In fact, some believed that the goddess Nanda Devi had been reborn as Wlli Unsoeld's daughter, living as a mortal and unaware of her divinity, until she returned to her home, the mountain for which she had been named.

The book is written in lean, spare prose, with enough mountaineering lore and tidbits to engage all climbing enthusiasts, as well as readers who simply love a good adventure story.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic account, January 4, 2002

By 

M. Ragen "searagen" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Nanda Devi: The Tragic Expedition (Paperback)

Wow. My first reaction on reading this book was amazement as to how dysfunctional this team was due to the fractured leadership style. The inability of the strongest climbers to agree on strategy and work loads contributed to the team's overall slowness on the climb. Yet they still managed to put people on top of the mountain. Other climbing expedition books often make allusions to similar types of disagreements on strategy and plan but this one really lays it all out in front of you.

My second reaction was that there are surely two or more sides to any story -- this version of the climb was surely colored by Roskelley's own self-acknowledged aggressive personality and his bias/perceptions of what his team members were thinking at each step of the way. The second afterword from Roskelley describes a bit more of other team members' own reactions.

The story was compelling but I left one star off the review because the writing style was somewhat wooden. Plus, I wanted to hear more about the climb from someone other than Roskelley to get a different perspective.