Most of the time, we are not required to come anywhere near those limits There is value in knowing your limits I think most people's limits are a lot farther than they believe. Conseqently, they live life holding themselves back for fear of sailing off the earth. Once you realize this -- that you have more reserves than you'd imagined -- you're free to explore and experiment, to take risks -- emotional, mental, and physical -- that you'd never dreamed of taking before.
You're fee to laugh at yourself when you fail because in most of life, failure is not life-threatening, merely a learning experience and relish the simpest of pleasures. I don't advocate everybody packing off to the Himalayas but I think it is good to do something that involves risk -- preferably mental as well as physical -- to push yourself beyond what is comfortable Life is less precious than the ability and freedom to live life to its fullest.
Feb 08, Ben rated it it was amazing Shelves: nature , travel. How have I not read this before? This is amazing! There's a lot of conflict in this expedition, and Ridgeway doesn't shy away from describing it. Of course, it is from a biased perspective, but Ridgeway does include multiple climbers' viewpoints. The climbing itself is also incredible, and well described.
Like Everest, which was called a "British" mountain because Britons had made most of the early atte How have I not read this before? Like Everest, which was called a "British" mountain because Britons had made most of the early attempts to climb it, K2 was an "American" mountain. But unlike the British, who in became the first to climb Everest, the Americans missed their chance: in , an Italian team made the first ascent of K2.
There now had been five American failures in a row including a joint German—American expedition in He said he would write Prime Minister Bhutto and see if there was anything that could be done. The only condition was that we agree to follow the British by a few weeks to avoid logjamming on the approach march. We were on for !
The Poles had nearly reached the summit on this ridge in , but had been turned back only seven hundred feet from the top when threatening weather and pending nightfall forced them to retreat.
It was no doubt a less steep route than the west ridge, but it had the disadvantage of being very long. At one point, the ridge maintains the same altitude for nearly half a mile, and because it is knife-sharp, it would be a problem to haul equipment across to the upper camps.
But in the Karakoram there are no Sherpas. We had four Hunzas with some climbing ability and a little experience, but by and large, the job of hauling loads would be ours alone. He took a few, set them in his lap, then picked one up and examined it. Very carefully, he peeled off the hard candy coating, again examined the chocolate core, then tasted it. He smiled and looked at us. There was a meeting? You feeling O. The team was a selection of some of America's best mountaineers.
Eight of the team were pushing the route up a glacier at the base of the east ridge. A fog settled, minimizing visibility, and suddenly in the distance they heard the unmistakable roar of an avalanche. Everyone took shelter; Lou found only a change in the slope—a hummock—to hide behind. The avalanche hit, and he felt his back pelted with ice debris. Then it cleared, and all was quiet. Lou looked around, and slowly he realized the extent of the tragedy. He was the only one alive; all seven of his companions had been killed.
It seems safe to say most climbers would have hung up their ice axes and considered such miraculous escape as divine intervention, a celestial message to give up climbing. Lou not only continued, but his next major expedition took him back to Dhaulagiri, to take care of unfinished business. After reaching the summit, his first eight-thousand-meter peak, he went to the summit of Nanda Devi in and was now on K2 in Lou was no ordinary man with ordinary drives; he had some kind of devils running around inside, which apparently were exorcized—and then, I suspected, only temporarily—by brilliant accomplishment.
Perhaps had we all better communicated our concerns—perhaps, had Jim been more forceful in asking Chris and Cherie to descend—we could have forestalled the acrimony and animosity, the poison, that were to divide our team. Everyone whispering behind our backs. You're all bastards. Bastards, bastards, bastards. There's a butterfly here sitting on the rope.
They're flying in all around. The sun was setting behind K2. The low light caused a rare and dramatic phenomenon: our shadows were cast across the Godwin-Austen Glacier below, and as we moved our arms the shadows swept across miles of snow and rock. There was even more witchery, a rainbow halo around the shadow of our heads.
All I will have to do is tell them what it was like climbing on K2 on July 30, That is if, with words, I can possibly come close to conveying a day so full of magic. It is a valuable lesson; for the rest of your life, hot chocolate will have a special quality you will never forget.
When I drink hot chocolate now, even if I am otherwise warm, I wrap my fingers tightly around the mug. Why in the hell do I always end up with incompetents on these trips? There are so many good climbers who wanted to come on this expedition. Where are the Henneks and Schmitzes when I need them? To tread across unknown territory? Cross new thresholds and frontiers? Perhaps this drive is only the result of some large ego. I'm not sure, but there has got to be more to it than that.
I do know this: I have a burning desire to do this thing that has never been done. God only knows, though, I hope I can do it. While I was still puzzled by what inner drives could be responsible for his almost unbelievable motivation, I at least had had several weeks to observe the empirical results of those drives—such as forging on, when the rest of us were so close to turning back, to Camp V.
It was as if his mind thought an idea through to its logical conclusion, then if that conclusion demanded of his body some phenomenal physical effort, the body simply obeyed orders. It was as if he lacked what, to the rest of us, was the main limiter of our efforts: feedback from the body to the mind. Lou's body just carried out the mind's orders, and from observing him there was no indication any signals got through the other direction.
Just before I peeked over the lip, out popped Lou's head, like a seal surfacing, disoriented, through a hole in pack ice. His goggles were pushed down over his nose, his glasses under the goggles packed with snow. He could not see. Snow clung to his hair and beard. I stared at Lou, then down at Chris and John still yelling at each other, not even noticing that Lou had surfaced. It was like a Jerry Lewis comedy act. I started to laugh at the absurdity, which seemed to confuse Lou all the more.
In retrospect, Jim no doubt agreed with this, since it could have helped prevent the estrangement of nearly half the team, but when he had made the selection—weeks earlier—we had been potentially only a few days away from a summit attempt. No one could have predicted the storms that had so wreaked havoc on that original schedule.
We'll go down and cut all the ropes behind us, and burn all the tents. That will fix those sons-of-bitches. That finally provoked a response from Chris, who said calmly, "You can't do that, Terry. That would be murder, or at least manslaughter.
People would die. Diana returned to her tent and for a while there was peace. That alone seemed worth the risk. Lying in the tent that evening, the vision of standing on the lonely summit of K2, gazing through rarefied air to an earth falling away in all directions, perched on the edge of space where the stars shine faintly in the daylight—that vision had a religious purity.
Now he looked more like a dust-bowl farmer en route to California than an expert climber heading for the highest camp on K2. He had intended to take both parka and half-bag with him to the summit, in case he had to bivouac, but now that they were wet, and in only minutes the water would change to ice, he knew he would leave the useless garments behind. Consequently, they live life holding themselves back for fear of sailing off the earth.
You're free to laugh at yourself when you fail because in most of life, failure is not life-threatening, merely a learning experience and relish the simplest of pleasures. Life itself is less precious than the ability and freedom to live life to its fullest Apr 24, Jean Dupenloup rated it it was amazing Shelves: mountain-climbing. How much effort has been expended and how many lives taken so this book could be written?
Thanks to a handful of determined men and women, the dream came true. Ridgeway and three other Americans stood on top of the second highest mountain in the world. Their harrowing tale of courage and endurance, engagingly told by Mr. Ridgeway in exquisite detail, is an absolute page-turner. Assuredly one of the ten most important books on the subject of Himalayan mountaineering.
I really enjoyed this as it kept me on the edge of my seat. Very well written. I generally like all true adventure stories but this was definitely one of the most well written. It's well written and gripping, and is said to be the first climbing narrative that reveals the emotions that swirl around the complicated undertaking that a major Himalayan expedition is. Earlier mountaineering books typ [disclosure: I work at Mountaineers Books] Mountaineers Books has a large list of climbing adventures by some of the best climbers who have ever gripped an ice axe.
Earlier mountaineering books typically stayed focused on the more technical aspects of getting to a difficult summit. These things have always been part of an extreme undertaking, but no one had written about them in the way Rick Ridgeway does here. You don't put nearly a dozen highly competitive, alpha climbers together in small cramped quarters, each knowing that only a few of them will be chosen for the final summit push, and think that there won't be difficult relationships to deal with, even if that hadn't been explained in earlier climbing tales.
This is a great adventure, masterfully told. Because it gets inside people's heads and the dynamics between them, it's a good read for anyone wanting to understand what makes climbers put themselves at extreme risk. And, by the way, the climbers on this first American summit of K2 are among the best alpine climbers who have ever lived. They are amazingly smart and professionally accomplished people women and men , as well as being among the world's best athletes. Loved it! Apr 08, Courtney Schafer added it.
A brutally honest account of the American expedition to K2. Ah, mountaineering! Lots of big egos, lots of drama, lots of interpersonal conflict in which hardly anyone comes off in a good light.
Jan 10, Erika rated it really liked it. Getting all of the inside scoop of the expedition was interesting. I have read books about earlier expeditions, and it always sounds so admirable - a lot of climbers working together to get just two on the summit. I thought that climbers used to be more selfless and have a different attitude than they do now, but I wonder if egos have always gotten in the way of teamwork on these long, high-altitude climbs. This book is an interesting contrast to the stories of the modern, commercial expeditions Getting all of the inside scoop of the expedition was interesting.
This book is an interesting contrast to the stories of the modern, commercial expeditions even on K2! I guess there is less animosity and jealousy within the teams, but there certainly is more danger to more people. I thought Ridgeway did a good job of staying objective in his telling of the story, even though he was in the thick of the drama.
Sep 18, Travis Williams rated it it was amazing Shelves: nature-outdoor-travel. My favorite book on the subject of climbing. Fantastic descriptions of the challenges involved in climbing the most difficult peak on earth. In addition, there is quite a bit of interpersonal drama. When they finally make it you celebrate with them.
Re-readstill love it. IMO the best American climbing book out there. May 12, George rated it liked it. A bit slow getting into but once I did the book read very well. Jun 04, Danny rated it it was amazing. Hunter Forest.
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