mountaineering

Boukreev has a remarkable story to tell. Unfortunately, hepicked Dewalt to help him do it. Obviously written as a rebuttal toJon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, The Climb is equal parts fascinating and frustrating. The story is fascinating when it gives us a view from Boukreev's position as a climbing guide on Scott Fischer's 1996 Everest expedition. The sense that the expedition was thrown together in a somewhat haphazard fashion and the description of utter chaos on the mountain during and after the storm are conveyed quite effectively.

Dewalt fails, however, in his attempt to advocate on behalf of Boukreev. His repeated criticism of Krakauer and defense of every step taken by Boukreev quickly becomes redundant and diminishes Dewalt's ability to effectively tell the story. Indeed, Dewalt rushes past background information and detail to such an extent that the reader (particulary those not familiar with descriptions of Everest and the surrounding area) would be well advised to read the much better written Into Thin Air first in order to fully understand what's going on in The Climb. Ultimately, Dewalt does Boukreev a disservice by his insistent advocacy. He would have been better served if he had simply told Boukreev's remarkable story and let the readers decide issues of right and wrong.

In the end, Krakauer's fairy well supported criticsm of Boukreev doesn't need this much rebuttal. What Boukreev is able to show is that Krakauer's concerns, while possibly justified, may have made little difference on summit day. Once certain questionable decisions had been made, Boukreev proved himself to be a hero, with more courage and physical ability than anyone else on the mountain, by far. Fischer, Hall and the others died for a number of reasons, most directly because Fischer didn't have the experience or organizational ability to mount a guided Everest expedition and because the very experienced Hall ignored his own critcally important rules on summit day. Boukreev should be remembered as the courageous hero and incredible athlete he was (the "Michael Jordan" of mountain climbing) and Krakauer, whose writing and analysis far outshines Dewalt's, shouldn't waste his time responding to Dewalt's crticisms.

This book is great for what it is...the recollections of a professional mountain climber during the ascent and subsequent rescue of commercial expeditions on Everest in 1996. It's written in a matter-of-fact style that doesn't dally so much on the personal shortcomings of the participants. When the authors do bring criticism against individuals (almost always Krakauer or Pittman), it seems misplaced. The Adventure Consultants expedition is frequently referred to as "Krakauer's" even though he was only a client. And I think that only Krakauer is referred to as a "climber-client" and not merely as a "client" implying that he had some responsibility when things went bad.

Personally, I didn't think "Into Thin Air" was that critical of Boukreev. No one can question that Boukreev's actions saved the lives of 3 others that had no hope. Thankfully the book doesn't spend much time heaping accolades on Boukreev or on placing much blame. In the end, it was individual decisions that led to the tragedies...tragedies that could have been even worse.

The response from DeWalt to Krakauer is forgettable, but the transcription of the debriefing tapes gives even more views as to what went on. The quotes from Boukreev and Lopsang, while occasionally difficult to understand, provide the most insight.

I enjoyed "The Climb." I do think that the book would be more convincing if not a direct rebuttal to "Into Thin Air." I would rather hear Boukreev's side of the story unfettered from contensting the other book. It would have made for stronger tale. In both of these books, the authors focus on every little contributing factor that led to the incident. Boukreev's Indonesian ascent in '97 had similar hangups, which leads me to belive that the biggest cause to the carnage on the mountain was the number of climbers on the mountain in one day, not the experience level, etc. That aside I enjoyed a different perspective on the '96 Everest disaster.