hoseain

Why would anyone put himself/herself through the physical and emotional agony involved in scaling the world's highest peak that towers over 29,000 feet above sea level? Jon Krakhauer answers this question as he describes in intricate detail his personal, harrowing adventure in scaling Mt. Everest in May 1996 with a group of determined adventurers like himself. Tragically, some of them did not survive the experience, and Krakhauer still feels the sting of guilt about his possible responsibility in what went wrong and how he might have made different decisions that may have saved lives (or not). I really enjoy Krakhaur's writing style because he can weave so seamlessly between the historical past and the present. This account includes not only the details of his adventure climbing at Mt. Everest, but also the ethnic background of Nepalese and Tibetan peoples who live at its base and originally gave the mountain other names, such as Sagarmatha ("goddess of the sky.") He also chronicles the historical failures and successes at scaling to the top of Everest, including the unsuccessful climb of George Leigh Mallory (who first coined the phrase "because they are there" when asked why he climbed mountains), who disappeared forever on Everest in 1924, and the triumph of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, who became the first men to stand atop the mountain on May 29, 1953. But back to the first question: Why do this? Krakauer admits in his introduction that "attempting to climb Everest is an intrinsically irrational act--a triumph of desire over sensibility. Any person who would seriously consider it is almost by definition beyond the sway of reasoned argument" (xiii). But he also explains how "Everest fever" can become an obsessive challenge for seasoned climbers. Krakhauer went to Everest as a journalist to write about the experience, thinking he would climb only as far as Base Camp (17,600 feet), but admitted "I accepted the assignment because I was in the grip of the Everest mystique" (84). He later noted that "Everest has always been a magnet for kooks, publicity seekers, hopeless romantics, and others with a shaky hold on reality" (88). He describes well the preparation for extreme high altitude climbing. First, one must achieve Base Camp, then climb to Camp One (19,500 feet), Camp Two (21,300 feet) and Camp Three (24,000 feet) to become acclimated, then hike back down again to Base Camp to prepare to scale the summit. Above 25,000 feet, known as the "death zone," climbers become susceptible to High Altitutde Pulimnary Edema (HAPE) or High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE). If they do not turn back at that point, they will die, and some do. "Above the comfort of Base Camps, the expedition became almost a Calvinistic undertaking," the author states. "Climbing Everest was primarly about enduring pain . . . seeking something like a state of grace . . although there are plenty of other less virtuous motives . . . such as ego and filthy lucre" (136). There are even those who are determined to mount the summit without the aid of bottled oxygen, although, without it, human blood cells die, the heart beats rapidly, and blood becomes dangerously thick and sludge-like. Unfortunately, mountaineering draws men and women not eaily deflected from their goals, and such driven climbers who tend to ignore personal distress and keep pushing to the top are frequently programmed to disregard signs of grave and imminent danger as well. "In order to succeed you must be exceedinly driven, but if you're too driven you're likely to die. Above 26,000 feelt, moreover, the line between appropirate zeal and reckless summit fever becomes griveously thin. Thus the slopes of Everest are littered with corpses" (117). The cavalier manner in which various climbers tromp past the bodies of climbers who died on the mountain years or just days earlier is one of the most chilling parts of the narrative. Furthermore, getting to the top is only half the battle because hiking back down the mountain is an arduous and mercilessly dangerous proposition. When an unexpected blizzard blows up just minutes after Krakhauer reaches the summit and begins to descend, his fellow climbers keep ascending not knowing--or not wanting to know--of the impending danger. Krakhauer is relentless in his detailed descriptions of the hypoxic stupor and the unimaginable pain, illness, and suffering of those who pushed on and became lost life or limbs in the storm. Krakhauer's guilt over what he could have done to avoid the deaths of five of his fellow climbers has been a controversial topic since the tragedy. He does not try to excuse himself for not trying harder and more heroically to rescue his friends, but I believe there is something to be said about the degree to which he himself was exhausted, starving, and ill when he hiked a few feet down, barely avoiding the blizzard, and collasped in his tent. As as Krakhauer says himself, "Lucid thought is all but impossible at 29,000 feet" (273). This account is filled with interesting quotations from other Everest climbers and philosophies about the recklessness of certain individuals. The book also includes several nice woodcut prints of people climbing mountains that suggest their determination as well as their pain.

2022-11-27 11:18