Customer Reviews

In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods

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

 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this account of the 1975 American K2 Expedition. The wonderful photos and the well-written text were some of the best I've encountered in mountaineering literature.

I liked how Galen Rowell interspersed his account of the expedition with earlier accounts of K2 attempts, some successful and some not. They gave an interesting insight into the history of this tough mountain and the people who have climbed it. The journal excerpts from various 1975 team members were insightful and intriguing. I am now going to start on "The Last Step" by Rick Ridgeway, about the 1978 American K2 expedition. Apparently, this team wasn't without their problems either.

I found it ironic, that after all the team discussion about the possibly negative implications of having a woman (Dianne Roberts) on the team, especially the wife of the leader, that she really figured very little in the disputes and quarrels. It was also ironic that there was still a lot of dissention and miscommunication amongst the team members on the actual expedition, even after the team expelled Alex Bertulis from the original team, due to lack of confidence in his ability to be a team player.

Read it, you won't be disappointed. I gave it a four because I found the first couple of chapters hard to get into. But once the '75 team is formed, it picks up quickly and then is quite hard to put down.

Unfortunately, Galen Rowell, the author of this book and a well-known photographer, recently was killed in a plane crash near his home in California with his wife.

The laundry in this expedition gets aired in this book. This seems to be the book that the movie K2 was based on. A lot of the characters and events are similar. Rowell gives a lot of historical background from other expeditions to K2. Rowell writes this novel from his perspective, but he also uses the diaries from the other expedition members to tell the story. He also gives the perspective from the porters point of view, however, it seems like he is mostly guessing what the porters feel and think and I've never like that from a ethnographic point of view. Considering the trouble the expedition had, it's a wonder that any of them wanted to return. Some of the best photographs of the region are shown. Galen is great photographer.

Most mountaineering books chronicle successful ascents. Rowell offers an even more fascinating study in the failure of an expedition plagued by titan egos: famous mountaineers proving themselves no gods. The photography is... breathtaking!

This book outlines Galen Rowell's attempt on K-2. Rarely does a book bring together pictures, text and feeling as this one does. Along with Pete Boardman's Shining Mountain, I rate this among the best mountaineering books out there. This one is destined to become a cult classic

The photos make this book a classic, but the story is also very interesting and well written. The human dynamics of a failed attempt on one of the most intense mountains in the world create a story that chronicles an important part of mountaineering history. Rowell's photos and prose allow us to see the very throne room in all it's splendor. Dancing on the Edge of an Endangered Planet

Even though I have lived in the Rocky Mountains of Montana for many years I have really not been familiar with mountaineering as described in this book. Therefore I found the book very interesting and well written. I thought the author was very objective in explaining their adventure. Also the historical background that he gave was very helpful. The pictures were outstanding. The need to become more familiar with geography was very stimulating. I was very disturbed however at the volume of criticism that was directed towards the porters. After all the climbers were intruding upon their country and into their ecosystem. And in actuality the porters were doing the majority of the work for the expedition, and they the porters, and the country, were expected to bend over backwards to do everything possible for the expedition. And when you look at it seriously the climbers were nothing more than extreme playboys living off of other people's money and in other peoples country. Granted, however, their endeavors certainly were extreme and exciting.

This is an interesting book that describes the expedition and personal relationships during to their attempted K2 bid.