The Last Step: The American Ascent of K2 (Paperback)

by Rick Ridgeway (Author) "THE DESERT AIR BLEW IN OUR FACES, DRYing our skin and chapping our lips..." (more)
Key Phrases: direct finish, summit team, brew water, Dianne Roberts, Jim Wickwire, Jim Whittaker (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"The Last Step goes paces beyond the usual mountaineering expedition story." -- Adventure Travel

"The final approach has all the suspense and excitement the reader can bear...A gripper." -- Publisher's Weekly

Product Description
The personal story of the 1978 American team who, following five failed attempts by previous American teams, gained the summit of K2, the second highest and most difficult mountain in the world.

In September 1978, Rick Ridgeway, Jim Wickwire, Lou Reichardt and John Roskelley stood atop K2, the first Americans ever to achieve that victory. Under the leadership of Jim Whittaker, they and their teammates had spent 67 days on the mountain, nearly all of them above 18,000 feet, where the stresses of high-altitude living, of monotonous food, of confinement in tiny tents for day after day of frustrating storms had worn them down to the core.

The Last Step is Rick Ridgeway's inside story of this extraordinary expedition. It's about the people who, battered by the mountain and their isolation, overcame their individual fears, desires, and disappointments to work together to get somebody - anybody - to the top of K2. It's about the glorious success the team achieved, and about the perilous bivouac Jim Wickwire spent just below the summit without food, oxygen, or shelter in temperatures of -40 degrees.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Mountaineers Books (July 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898866324
• ISBN-13: 978-0898866322
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #440,251 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE LAST STEP...MORE LIKE THE LAST STRAW!, September 17, 2000

By	Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

Without a doubt, this is one of the most riveting mountaineering books around. Not for the climbing, which is in and of itself gripping, but for the slice of human drama found in the deterioration of relationships amongst various members of the expedition. At times, one is mesmerized by the bad behavior displayed at such high altitudes! One would think that these expeditioners were on Melrose Place, rather than fighting for their place in mountaineering history on K2, one of the most perilous mountains in the world to ascend.

Central to all the squabbling, was the love trangle which developed on the expedition, which was perceived by some of the expeditioners to be an extra marital affair in progress. Though this later proved to be true, at the time it was the source of much denial and hard feelings. It further split the team, which was already divided over who would be chosen to summit, and eroded already existing friendships, while preventing new ones which might have otherwise developed.

On top of all this, add in poor weather which caused them to spend about sixty seven days on the mountain, mostly at altitudes over eighteen thousand feet, and you have a recipe for disaster. These expeditioners, however, managed to become the first Americans to ascend K2.

Their success in achieving their objective, despite the trials and tribulations which they endured, is testament to their fortitude in putting aside petty, mean spirited concerns and inter-personal conflicts. This painstaking account of the first time summit of K2 by Americans is a must read for all climbing enthusiasts and readers of this genre.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars High drama in the mountains, January 25, 2001

By	Alvy Singer "Alvy Singer" (USA) - See all my reviews

This vivid account of the 1978 climb of K2 via the west ridge is an exciting follow up to the failed 1976 attempt up the east ridge. The Last Step is thus a follow up to galen Rowell's wonderful book about that attempt called "In the Throneroom of the Mountain Gods". Ridgeway vividly describes the climbing, the horrendous bivoac at 27,000 feet and the hazardous descent, all without supplimental oxygen. He also pulls no punches in describing the infighting and jealousy that upset the group, and while it was nothing like the brutal infighting that marred the 1976 climb, it had a power effect on the overall climb. While Jon Krakauer has raised the bar on these books to a level that Ridgeway could not have known in 1978, "The Last Step" is a good and exciting read, especially when combined with Rowell's classic. Ridgeway is a good climbing writer with a sharp eye.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Combination of Soap Opera and High Adventure, June 30, 2000

By	Martina "Martina" (Los Angeles, Ca., USA) - See all my reviews

This terrific climbing book combines the larger stories of a struggle to climb the "world's hardest mountain," K2, with a smaller soap opera about a very diverse group of people trying to acheive a goal without driving each other crazy.

From a distance, one might see a cohesive group of climbers, pulling together through the interminable months-long task of hauling supplies and tents up through a series of ever-higher camps, one step up, and then two steps down. But closer up, Ridgeway describes in fascinating detail, how the expedition dissolved into competing cliques, and how selfishness and teamwork collided. There's even an extra-marital love triangle.

While this book is not as much of a page-turner as Into Thin Air, it is one of the finest mountaineering books out there; a must read in this genre.