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

~ Ed Viesturs (Author), David Roberts (Author)

Editorial Reviews

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Amazon Exclusive: Christopher Reich Reviews K2: Life and Death on the Worlds Most Dangerous Mountain

Christopher Reigh is the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Vengeance, Numbered Account, and The Patriots Club, which won the International Thiller Writers award for best novel in 2006.

Is there anything more enthralling than a true tale of high adventure well told? Stories about men and women braving impossible odds under daunting conditions in far flung locales, often risking life and limb, keep me glued to the page every time. I’m talking about books like Papillion, Alive, Into Thin Air and The Perfect Storm. Well, today, I’m happy to add another book to that list. K2: Life and Death on the World’s Most Dangerous Mountain by Ed Viesturs with David Roberts.

K2 is the world’s second tallest mountain. Located in the Karakoram Range in northern Pakistan, it has more than earned its nickname as the "world’s most dangerous mountain." Just a year ago, thirteen climbers lost their lives on the mountain in a single day. A few mountains may have killed a higher ratio of those who have tried to climb them, notably Annapurna, but none combine the danger, lore, and prestige of K2. In Viesturs’ new book, he tells the story of six expeditions to the fabled mountain. Some successful. Some ill-fated. All spellbinding.

First, a word about the author. Ed Viesturs is widely acknowledged to be among the world’s top five living mountaineers. In 2005, he became the first American to summit all fourteen of the world’s 8000 meter peaks. And he did so without supplemental oxygen. (His fine memoir, No Shortcuts to the Top, chronicles that adventure.) To offer but one example of his prodigious skills, Viesturs once climbed 7,000 feet from an altitude of 16,000 feet to 23,000 feet up a near vertical slope in only eight hours. Did I mention he was carrying a forty-pound pack on his back? The man is to mountaineering what Michael Jordan is to basketball. If that is, Michael Jordan had risked losing his life every time he stepped onto the basketball court.
Be impressed. Be very impressed.

In K2, Viesturs recounts the most dramatic expeditions to the mountain and he does so in today’s frank and honest terms. Older tellings followed the time honored "gentlemen’s code" of ne’er speaking poorly of one’s climbing partners. To read, "The White Spider," by Heinrich Harrer, the story of the first ascent of the Eiger Nordwand written over fifty years ago, is to believe that anyone who ever strapped on a helmet and a harness was  "noble fellow," or a "strong willed lad," whose motivations were as pure as knight seeking the Holy Grail. Viesturs sifts through such rose hued accounts and casts today’s halogen spot light on them. Friendly disagreements amongst climbing pals become knock down, drag out arguments between the fiercest of rivals. Mild discomfort morphs into severe frostbite that costs a man his fingers and toes. And an analysis of where a climber might better have situated an upper altitude camp becomes an indictment of attempted murder. The best example is to compare The Green Berets versus Platoon. Both are about Vietnam; but one is quite a bit more realistic than the other. Similarly, Viesturs' modern updating makes for fascinating reading.

In a sense, K2: Life and Death on the World’s Most Dangerous Mountain is a book written by a mountaineer for mountaineers. Afterall, Viesturs is telling the same story over and over again. But that is exactly what lends the book its magic. Though all of the expeditions shared the same goal, each followed its own unique course. In fact, I often felt as if Viesturs were describing a different mountain altogether. The lesson I took away from this outstanding piece of nonfiction is that K2 seemed to somehow alter its very topography to defeat the "strong-willed lads" and "noble fellows" who tried to conquer it. 

And it succeeded much too often.    

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Facing the world's second-highest peak, the Karakoram Range's K2 in Northern Pakistan, mountain climbers encounter incredible dangers, including a huge serac (an overhanging glacier), snow-obscured crevasses, whiteouts and avalanches that have killed even accomplished mountaineers. With clarity and compassion, renowned peak-scaler Viesturs recounts campaigns up K2's 28,000-plus feet from the late 1930s through the tragic 2008 season that saw 11 climbers die in the space of 36 hours. An American master of the climb, Viesturs shares secrets, inside jokes, history and lore such as the "psychological protection" afforded by clipping onto rope or handrails, the climbers' habit of "looking up to see if anything's coming your way," and the "miracle" of "one man with a single ax and a grip of steel stopping the otherwise fatal fall of six teammates and of himself." Admitting to "a disturbing fanaticism" that's driven himself and others to tackle the world's fourteen 8000-foot-plus peaks, Viesturs's you-are-there narration communicates effortlessly the enormous effort, and high adventure, of scaling K2.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Broadway; First Edition edition (October 13, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767932501
• ISBN-13: 978-0767932509
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #12,235 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The price of victory, September 28, 2009

By	Phelps Gates (Chapel Hill, NC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    (VINE VOICE)

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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).

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars AN INTENSELY PERSONAL & HISTORICAL LOOK AT K2: ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREAT CLIMBS, October 1, 2009

By	RBSProds "rbsprods" (Deep in the heart of Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)

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Four and a Half 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. Four and a half WHITE KNUCKLED Stars! (Uncorrected paperback proof; 332 pages) *Amended 10/17/09 because the author has included photographs in the final product based on the Amazon product description.*

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Base camp" for beginning your study of the history of climbing K2, October 4, 2009

By	John H. Henderson (Las Cruces, NM, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    (VINE VOICE)

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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.