LITERATURE FEATURE
Climbing in
the death zone
In 1923, British climber George Mallory was asked why he wanted to climb Mt Everest,
and replied famously “Because it’s there”. Climbers are not always writers, but many
have put pen to paper to tell the story of their struggles to reach the summit, and of the
tragedies that happened to others along the way. And these books are incredibly
popular—especially in the last 15 years, since Jon Krakauer wrote his 1996 account of Mt
Everest’s most disastrous season, Into Thin Air.
Lost on Everest
Mallory, along with his climbing partner Andrew Irvine
remain one of the enduring mysteries of Everest. They set
off on June 8th 1924 for a summit attempt, and vanished
into thin air. Many people believe that the pair did become
the first to climb Everest, and died on the way down when a
snowstorm hit the mountain. If so, then they beat Hillary
and Tenzing by 29 years.
In March 1999, the BBC funded an expedition to climb the
North Face of Everest as part of the 75th anniversary of
Mallory & Irvine’s disappearance. Gathering reports of
sightings of a body on the upper slopes of Everest as far
back as the 1950’s, the team quartered the mountain in
search of evidence of either Mallory or Irvine. Incredibly, Conrad Anker discovered the
remains of a climber dressed in gear similar to that of early expedition climbers.
What followed this discovery became a BBC documentary, and the book Lost on Everest :
The Search for Mallory & Irvine, by Peter Firstbrook. It is an
amazing story of not only these early British climbers and the
history of mountaineering at the turn of the century, but a
detective story that may finally settle who first conquered Mt
Everest.
High Adventure
Considered one of the classics of 20th century
mountaineering, Edmund Hillary’s memoir of his famous climb
with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay remains in print 55 years after its
publication.
Amazingly detailed, Hillary’s book begins in 1951 as he arrives
at the Indian-Nepalese border to join Eric Shipton’s expedition
to climb Everest.
Although this expedition failed to conquer the mountain, it did discover a possible future
route, and led to the 1953 British Everest Expedition. Colonel John Hunt was the leader,
and Hillary and Tenzing, not really considered the strongest or most likely to summit,
were designated the second team. Their struggle to reach the top, and the route they
mapped for future climbers is fascinating reading, and High Adventure remains a
testament to their achievement.
Touching The Void
Long before the Everest disaster of 1996, the
mountain climbing fraternity had embraced as a
classic Joe Simpson’s harrowing account of his
climb of Siula Grande in Peru.
Siula Grande is considered one of the hardest and
most dangerous mountains to climb in the world,
and since Simpson’s ascent of the West face in
1985, no climber has attempted to descend back
down the mountain by the North Ridge route that
Simpson and Yates took.
What made this story so memorable was what
happened after Simpson and his partner Simon
Yates successfully made it to the top. Statistics
show that eighty percent of all climbing accidents
happen on the way down the mountain.
Simpson became that statistic when he broke his
leg after falling off an ice cliff into a crevasse. His
ordeal after his partner, thinking him dead, kept climbing down the mountain, makes for
powerful reading. Touching The Void became not only an award-winning book, but also
a very successful documentary.
Into Thin Air
Jon Krakauer’s retelling of the disastrous 1996 climbing
season on Mt Everest has become one of the best selling
books in modern times.
In May 1996, five expeditions began their climb of Mt
Everest in what seemed like perfect conditions. Many of
the climbers were inexperienced and unfit, relying on
their guides and sherpas to get them to the top. The
author was himself part of a commercial expedition, and
his chilling account of the next few days explored the
commercialization of mountain climbing, and the risks
involved in inexperienced people attempting a climb that
could endanger other lives. As history shows, eight
climbers lost their lives on Everest that day, and live
pictures and interviews were shown around the world as
events unfolded on the mountain.
It’s a fascinating story, told by someone who was part of the
tragedy and its aftermath.
The Death Zone
The 1996 Mt Everest disaster brought the term ‘Death Zone’
into common usage, referring to the height above 8,000m
where the body begins to deteriorate rapidly.
Matt Dickinson, a British filmmaker, was there in 1996 to
make a movie about an historic attempt to summit Everest
by the difficult North Face. He never intended to seriously
try for the top, as he was a novice climber who hadn’t even
made it to the top of Ben Nevis. Like many before him, he
was caught up in summit fever. And was high on Everest
getting ready for an ascent when the storm hit
the mountain just before dusk. Dickinson saw
teams still on the summit, and was part of the
following rescue attempts through the night, as
the climbers below became aware of how many
were stranded on the slopes above.
As a writer, Dickinson has a head start on many
other versions of the 1996 tragedy. His book is fast, well
written and occasionally funny, in the days leading up to May 9, 1996.
It’s a good companion book to Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, and just one of the many stories
written from survivors of that season.
Other books worth a look if you’re interested are Beck Weathers’ Left For Dead, Lincoln
Hall’s Dead Lucky, and Nick Heil’s Dark Summit.
No Way Down
In 2008, a very similar disaster took place on the
second highest mountain in the world, K2. K2 is short
for Karakorum 2—the second highest mountain in the
Karakorum. As it turned out, K1 already had a name—
Mt Everest, so K2 remained the only mountain so
designated. Considered by climbers the most difficult
mountain to conquer, K2 has earned its nickname ‘The
Savage Mountain’. It has been successfully climbed 302
times, with 77 fatalities—in comparison, Mt Everest has
been climbed 2,700 times.
Media around the world sat up and took notice in
August 2008 when news broke that a multinational
group of climbers had been trapped high on K2 by a
falling glaciers and avalanches. One of those journalists
was New York Times writer Graham Bowley, who
initially wrote a piece for his newspaper, then became involved in the story of the
climbers and their experiences on the mountain.
In 2010 Bowley published No Way Down—life and death on K2, and has joined the ranks
of writers such as Joe Simpson and Jon Krakauer, with his investigation into the reasons
behind the deaths of 11 elite climbers on 1st August, 2008. A combination of
circumstances, from the lack of fixed ropes to decisions to summit much later than the
recommended safe period, led to 2 deaths on the way up the mountain, and the rest on
the descent.
Bowley has interviewed climbers and family members exhaustively to put together this
reconstruction of the two days, and as a non-climber has brought an impartial eye to the
actions of the climbers. Some acted heroically, some didn’t, and therein lies much of the
controversy surrounding the disaster.
One Mountain Thousand Summits
Veteran climbing writer Freddie Wilkinson
has also published a book about the 2008 K2
disaster, although his concentrates more on
the conclusions he draws after speaking to
the Sherpas who were involved in the rescue
attempts.
Wilkinson addresses the fundamental
question of whether some climbers gave
their lives to save others that night,
particularly as debate still surrounds the
death of Irish climber Gerard McDonnell.
Readers will have to make up their own
minds as to whether he succeeds.
Climb Every Mountain
To paraphrase George Mallory, some people
climb mountains because they’re there. For
the rest of us, being an armchair
mountaineer is much safer, and still provides
an adrenaline rush without the danger. But
as long as people dream of conquering high peaks, there will be stories of triumph and
tragedy to record those moments.
Sue Gammon
All books mentioned are available from the Bundaberg Regional Library Service.
References
Graham Bowler No Way Down Lond: Penguin, 2010.
Matt Dickinson The Death Zone UK: Hutchinson, 1997.
Peter Firstbrook Lost On Everest Lond: BBC, 1999.
Lincoln Hall Dead Lucky NSW: Random House, 2007.
Nick Heil Dark Summit Aust: Viking, 2008.
Edmund Hillary High Adventure NSW: A&U, 2003.
Jon Krakauer Into Thin Air NY: Random House, 1997.
Joe Simpson Touching the Void Lond: Vintage, 1997.
Beck Weathers Left For Dead USA: Random House, 2000.
Freddie Wilkinson One Mountain Thousand Summits Aust: A&U, 2010.