Customer Reviews

To the Summit

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

 

 

If you are looking for a book that will motivate and inspire, this is it. This book is filled with inspiration and the message that one can make changes and choices in their life. Margo shares from her heart and soul and takes us on a fabulous journey of triumph.

Margo is a special person who has given many people the inspiration to accomplish their dreams. This book was very difficult to put down. I'm now in the process of reading Margo's book again, just in case I missed something the first time around. The most stimulating reading for anyone who has dreams of accomplishing the challenges in their lives. Thanks Margo, for writting this book. Not only has your book inspired me,but it has also given me confidence that was beyond my wildest dreams!

Like all well edited books, Chisolm and Bruce begin with the hook; Chisholm is beset with a violent, deep, wracking cough on the slopes of Everest during her 1992 summit bid. We've got to read the whole book to find out if she made it; the book is worth the read.

For misogynistic, macho, morons, Chisolm lets us know what she felt being a paying client in adventure climbing, an activity predominately run and participated in by men.

For drug addicts, alcoholics, and fatsos, we learn much about Chisolm's recovery and its relationship to her climbing.

For those of us who wonder about the background of those who write climbing books, we learn that Chisholm was sexually abused by her maternal grandfather, was told she was lying about it by her mother, sought and failed to be the first woman to climb the 7 summits, and could squat lift 175 pounds. We even learn some about an affair she had.

Superhuman leaders of expeditions write most climbing books. Chisolm didn't start climbing until she was in her 40's. She doesn't write of harrowing escapes, dashing rescues, and first ascents. What she does is write everywoman's view of climbing the seven summits. She says a mantra while she climbs, she has committee meetings in her head, and she has written a remarkable and thoroughly enjoyable saga of striving to make her place in the world filled with glowing and vivid descriptions of the beauty and pain of the seven summits, the closeness of death and the reality of debilitating injury occurring within a few feet of where she stood.

We can learn much from this woman and, for those of us who will never make a bleeding edge ascent, see how we might achieve some portion of what she accomplished within 5 years of leaving addiction, obesity, and inactivity behind.

Your enjoyment of this book depends on your expectation. I read it expecting a story about mountain climbs and backcountry experiences with a backdrop of a woman's struggle to overcome drugs and eating disorders. What I read was a book about a woman's struggle to overcome drugs and eating disorders that happened to have some mountain climbing info in it. This book is not for the serious climber looking for an inspirational book about mountains. The author spends so much time in self-diagnosis and criticism that the mountaineering pieces fade into the background.

The bits that are actually about climbing are great. The book is well written - but the narrator did need someone else to do the writing for her, it seems - and her achievements are admirable and noteworthy. Much as I love reading about people scaling such forbidding territory, I know I don't have it in me to do it. But oh, the self-indulgent me-ness of it all spoils it. A 40 year old woman who still needs to argue with her 4 year old and 18 year old and every other year old alter ego inner self, and who needs constant boosts to her self-esteem from others and her own selves, all got tired very quickly. 40 years old and she still hasn't learned to accept that everyone has bad days, miserable days, moments of fear and that one just gets on with life without endless self-analysis. (Especially when that self-anaylsis reveals such lack of self-knowledge.) Or needing constantly to 'honor' oneself (cringe-making). The emphasis on self also shows in the lack of detail or description about the places she goes to or mention of encounters with local people on the way. This is primarily a personal journal with some travel adventure thrown in. Personal journals should be kept as that. Could have been a great travel book without the self-help bits.

As a beginning, female mountaineer, battling some of the same addictions as Ms. Chisolm, I expected this book to be an inspiration. Instead, it was a great disappointment. Besides being POORLY written, I shudder to think of any other man or woman using Margo as a role model of recovery or mountaineering. After reading her book, I was actually disuaded for sometime from climbing as I saw her complete failure to find any balance in life. I saw no success or victory in her story - only confusion, isolation and self-centeredness.

I have NO idea why Margo wants to climb - she sounds utterly miserable on every voyage. Sounds more like her journey is to feed her ego, not her soul.

as a substance abuse counselor I shudder to think of readers believing that this woman is moving into health through her self absorbed journey into "accomplishment." It is clear that she had traded addictions and needs to look seriously about parading her narcissistic 'adventures' as growth.

This book is much deeper than it appears to be at first. On the surface, the author seems to be a self absorbed whiner. However, when you really listen to her and understand her struggles and her accomplishments, you will not be able to put this book down. She takes you step by step to the summits with her. You can really feel her pain and courage in each page. I applaude her courage and I am very thankful that I read this book. It really sends a message about the inner strength women possess. Way to go, Margo!

The first time I read this book, I had mixed emotions about Margo's life. It seemed to me that she was something of a whiner, who deemed it necessary to tell everyone she met about all her problems, as though she was trying to gain sympathy from everyone. Her life seemed rather simple really, with little mention of the "real world" once she started mountaineering. I still wonder exactly how she paid for all these guided trips. On my second reading through the book, I came to realize that Margo was in fact an extremely strong and inspiring woman, who, when faced with mental and physical problems, overcame them and went on to summit six of the seven highest peaks in the world! It was amazing! Anyway, this book is a definite must for any woman who ever thinks "I can't do it!"

Think it's one of the best mountain climbing books around. Gives one a real feel for the inner strength, drive and determination required for climbing mountains. And the immense psychic rewards. A great book in its gendre.