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Erscheinungstermin: 3. August 2010

A thrilling chronicle of the tragedy-ridden history of climbing K2, the world's most difficult and unpredictable mountain, by the bestselling authors of No Shortcuts to the Top

At 28,251 feet, the world's second-tallest mountain, K2 thrusts skyward out of the Karakoram Range of northern Pakistan. Climbers regard it as the ultimate achievement in mountaineering, with good reason. Four times as deadly as Everest, K2 has claimed the lives of seventy-seven climbers since 1954. In August 2008 eleven climbers died in a single thirty-six-hour period on K2–the worst single-event tragedy in the mountain's history and the second-worst in the long chronicle of mountaineering in the Himalaya and Karakoram ranges. Yet summiting K2 remains a cherished goal for climbers from all over the globe. Before he faced the challenge of K2 himself, Ed Viesturs, one of the world's premier high-altitude mountaineers, thought of it as "the holy grail of mountaineering."

In K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain, Viesturs explores the remarkable history of the mountain and of those who have attempted to conquer it. At the same time he probes K2's most memorable sagas in an attempt to illustrate the lessons learned by confronting the fundamental questions raised by mountaineering–questions of risk, ambition, loyalty to one's teammates, self-sacrifice, and the price of glory. Viesturs knows the mountain firsthand. He and renowned alpinist Scott Fischer climbed it in 1992 and were nearly killed in an avalanche that sent them sliding to almost certain death. Fortunately, Ed managed to get into a self-arrest position with his ice ax and stop both his fall and Scott' s.

Focusing on seven of the mountain's most dramatic campaigns, from his own troubled ascent to the 2008 tragedy, Viesturs and Roberts crafts an edge-of-your-seat narrative that climbers and armchair travelers alike will find unforgettably compelling. With photographs from Viesturs's personal collection and from historical sources, this is the definitive account of the world's ultimate mountain, and of the lessons that can be gleaned from struggling toward its elusive summit.

From the Hardcover edition.

#outer_postBodyPS { display: none; } #psGradient { display: none; } #psPlaceHolder { display: none; } #psExpand { display: none; } A thrilling chronicle of the tragedy-ridden history of climbing K2, the world's most difficult and unpredictable mountain, by the bestselling authors of No Shortcuts to the Top

At 28,251 feet, the world's second-tallest mountain, K2 thrusts skyward out of the Karakoram Range of northern Pakistan. Climbers regard it as the ultimate achievement in mountaineering, with good reason. Four times as deadly as Everest, K2 has claimed the lives of seventy-seven climbers since 1954. In August 2008 eleven climbers died in a single thirty-six-hour period on K2–the worst single-event tragedy in the mountain's history and the second-worst in the long chronicle of mountaineering in the Himalaya and Karakoram ranges. Yet summiting K2 remains a cherished goal for climbers from all over the globe. Before he faced the challenge of K2 himself, Ed Viesturs, one of the world's premier high-altitude mountaineers, thought of it as "the holy grail of mountaineering."

In K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain, Viesturs explores the remarkable history of the mountain and of those who have attempted to conquer it. At the same time he probes K2's most memorable sagas in an attempt to illustrate the lessons learned by confronting the fundamental questions raised by mountaineering–questions of risk, ambition, loyalty to one's teammates, self-sacrifice, and the price of glory. Viesturs knows the mountain firsthand. He and renowned alpinist Scott Fischer climbed it in 1992 and were nearly killed in an avalanche that sent them sliding to almost certain death. Fortunately, Ed managed to get into a self-arrest position with his ice ax and stop both his fall and Scott' s.

Focusing on seven of the mountain's most dramatic campaigns, from his own troubled ascent to the 2008 tragedy, Viesturs and Roberts crafts an edge-of-your-seat narrative that climbers and armchair travelers alike will find unforgettably compelling. With photographs from Viesturs's personal collection and from historical sources, this is the definitive account of the world's ultimate mountain, and of the lessons that can be gleaned from struggling toward its elusive summit.

From the Hardcover edition.

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Produktinformation

Taschenbuch: 352 Seiten
Verlag: Broadway; Auflage: 1 Reprint (3. August 2010)
Sprache: Englisch
ISBN-10: 0767932609
ISBN-13: 978-0767932608
Gr��e und/oder Gewicht: 13,4 x 2,5 x 20,4 cm

Durchschnittliche Kundenbewertung: 5.0 von 5 Sternen Alle Rezensionen anzeigen (1 Kundenrezension)

Amazon Bestseller-Rang: Nr. 114.578 in Englische Bücher (Siehe Top 100 in Englische Bücher)

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Produktbeschreibungen

Ãœber den Autor

In May 2005 Ed Viesturs became the first American to ascend all fourteen of the world's 8,000-meter peaks. He lives in Bainbridge Island, Washington, with his wife and three children. He still climbs and seeks out new adventures. For more information, visit www.edviesturs.com.

DAVID ROBERTS is the author of twenty books on mountaineering, adventure, and history. He has written for National Geographic, National Geographic Adventure, and Smithsonian. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

From the Hardcover edition.

Leseprobe. Abdruck erfolgt mit freundlicher Genehmigung der Rechteinhaber. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Introduction
In the wee hours of the morning of August 1, 2008, some thirty climbers from ten different expeditions set out from their high camps on the Abruzzi Ridge of K2. At 28,251 feet the world's second- tallest mountain, K2, thrusts skyward out of the Karakoram Range of northern Pakistan. After weeks of sitting out bad weather, the mountaineers were poised to go for the summit on a clear and windless day. During the endless storms, morale at base camp had reached rock bottom, and some climbers had thrown in the towel and gone home. But now everybody still on the mountain was jazzed. As they emerged from their cramped tents to clip on crampons and hoist packs, the climbers were riding a manic high. Sometime that day, they thought, they would claim one of the most elusive and glorious prizes in mountaineering. For most of these men and women, K2 was the goal of a lifetime.

Chapter 1: T H E M OT I VATOR
Although the various teams were operating independently, they had tried to cobble together a common logistical plan that would help everyone get to the top. The crucial feature of that plan was the fixing of thin nylon ropes— to be used on the way up, in effect, as handrails, and on the way down as lines that could be easily rappelled. Those fixed ropes were intended to ensure the climbers' passage through the Bottleneck, a steep and dangerous couloir of snow and ice that rises from an altitude of 26,400 feet.

The Bottleneck and the sketchy leftward traverse at the top of it form the "crux" of the Abruzzi Ridge. Although climbing the Bottleneck is only moderately difficult, what makes that high gauntlet so nerve- racking is a gigantic serac— a cliff of solid ice— that looms above it. Weighing many tons, poised at a vertical and, in places, an overhanging angle, the serac looks as though it is barely attached to the mountain. Yet in the sixtynine years since mountaineers first came to grips with this formidable obstacle, the serac had proved remarkably stable. It seemed, indeed, to be a permanent feature of K2's summit pyramid.

Thirty climbers crawling up the same route on the same day would have been business as usual on Mount Everest. On K2—a far more serious mountain, and one that has seen far fewer attempts— such a crowd was unprecedented. Still, as they approached the Bottleneck, thanks to the perfect weather for which they had waited so long, the climbers were awash in optimism. The summit was within their grasp.

And then things started to go subtly wrong. Small mistakes were made. Miscommunications, fueled by the many different languages the climbers spoke, flared into angry words. The slower climbers began to block the way for those who were capable of moving faster. Yet the single event that turned an awkward day into a catastrophe was nobody's fault.

Within the next thirty- six hours, eleven of those mountaineers would die high on the Abruzzi Ridge. The disaster that unfolded on August 1 would end up as the worst single- event tragedy in the mountain's history, and the second worst in the long chronicle of mountaineering in the Himalaya and the Karakoram.

And nobody saw it coming.
-------------

Almost sixteen years earlier, on August 16, 1992, with my partners Scott Fischer and Charley Mace, I had left our high camp in the predawn darkness and started trudging up toward the Bottleneck. On that day, I, too, had been full of bursting hope, tempered by the wary alertness that is the obligatory state of mind for any alpinist who wants to stay alive in the great ranges. I had previously climbed Everest and Kangchenjunga, the first- and third- highest peaks in the world, but I knew that K2 was in another league of difficulty and danger.

Like 2008's climbers, Scott, Charley, and I had had to bide our time for interminable weeks before we finally got a crack at the summit. Not only storms but all kinds of logistical snafus and interpersonal conflicts had delayed our final assault again and again. It was not until fifty- seven days after arriving at base camp that we finally set out for the top. On the other hand, on that August day in 1992, the three of us had had the Bottleneck to ourselves. And fixing ropes up the couloir was not part of our plan.

In No Shortcuts to the Top, the memoir I wrote about climbing the world's fourteen highest peaks, I devoted a full chapter to my K2 expedition.

Even after K2, it took me several years before I began to consider that it might be possible for me to reach the summit of all fourteen 8,000- meter peaks. For one thing, I didn't think there was any way that I could ever afford to go on so many expeditions. For another, climbing all fourteen 8,000ers seemed far too ambitious a goal. The first person to accomplish that feat had been the great Tyrolean mountaineer Reinhold Messner, who knocked off his fourteenth in 1986. And Messner was like a god to me.

Yet with K2, I became the first American to climb the world's three highest mountains. The outdoor magazines ran a few short profiles about me. One of them was titled "Ed Who?" Even after those pieces appeared, I was still relatively unknown to the general public, but with the boost in confidence they gave me, I finally got up the nerve to start approaching potential sponsors.

K2 was a huge turning point in my life. Yes, it brought me my first modest taste of what you might call "mountaineering celebrity." But far more important than any faint whiff of fame were the lessons K2 taught me.

In the aftermath of 2008's disaster, all kinds of armchair "experts" delivered their scathing critiques. Nonclimbers clogging the online chat rooms, in response to sensational newspaper articles, took a macabre delight in the tragedy. This was Everest 1996 all over again, they seemed to think— the melodrama of clueless dilettantes who had no business on the mountain buying their way into a catastrophe at the cost of their own lives, as well as the lives of professional guides entrusted with caring for them. (Hundreds of readers of Jon Krakauer's bestseller Into Thin Air reduced his complicated narrative to that simplistic morality play.) After the August 2008 tragedy, Messner himself sounded off in this vein, decrying the "K2 package deals" that he assumed had lured novices to the mountain and concluding, "Something like this is just pure stupidity."

Messner was not the only famous mountaineer to criticize the victims of the 2008 disaster. The temptation to second- guess those luckless climbers' decisions was all but irresistible. Newspapers, magazines, and radio and TV shows called me for my commentary. I was already beginning to think that what had happened on K2 on August 1 was far more complicated than the first tabloid and Internet versions of the story. It would take several weeks for more detailed accounts to trickle down from the slopes of the mountain and find their way to responsible media outlets. And I was not about to cast facile aspersions on climbers who had died on the mountain, or had barely survived it.

In 1992, K2 had not only proved to be a turning point in my life— it had been the scene of what I still regard as the greatest mistake I ever made as a mountaineer. The most important lesson I learned from that beautiful and dangerous peak was a blunt one: Don't ever do that again if you want to stay alive. Listen to your instincts, and follow them.

Recently, I reread my diary from the K2 trip. I was struck by how different it seemed from the account I had written in No Shortcuts. Events and relationships that seemed really important when they were happening barely made it into the chapter I wrote thirteen years after the expedition. Conversely, some of the most...

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5.0 von 5 Sternen America's first mountaineer to climb the 14 8000m peaks, Viesturs describes the major events on K2 along with his personal views 25. Mai 2010

Von Jerome Ryan

Format:Gebundene Ausgabe

America's first mountaineer to climb the 14 8000m peaks, Viesturs describes the major events on K2 along with his personal views. Ed examines "the questions of risk, ambition, loyalty to one's teammates, self-sacrifice, and the price of glory", sharing his direct honest opinions, like: "jerk", "I just don't buy it", "why didn't he get out and do something", and "that directive strikes me as questionable at best". I myself firmly believe in Ed's approach - getting into great physical shape with a thoroughness and intensity of preparation and planning, being a clock watcher and on time, non confrontational, carrying your own weight, and being patient.

You should buy this book first and foremost for Viesturs account of his own summit of K2 in 1992, second for his opinions of the controversial 1939 U.S. expedition led by Fritz Weissner, third for his critique of the August 2008 season where 11 climbers died in a 36-hour period, and finally as a history of the main events in K2's history, including 1938 U.S. reconnaissance expedition, the 1953 U.S. expedition, the controversial first ascent by the Italians in 1954, and the terrifying 1986 season that left 12 dead. There are 8 pages of colour photos (4 from Viesturs K2 ascent in 1992), 8 pages of b/w photos, a 2-page map, and one b/w sketch..

The book starts with Ed critiquing the 2008 tragedy where 11 climbers died in a 36-hour period. He clarifies the misconception that they were all killed when pieces of the frightening large ice serac above the bottleneck fell off. He also states that the real heroes were the Sherpas, unselfishly going back up the mountain to rescue climbers. Ed critiques the dependency on fixed ropes, the lateness of leaving Camp 4 and reaching the summit, and the fact there were no wands to help people find the route.

My favourite chapter is when Ed tells the true story of what happened on his ascent of K2 with Scott Fischer and Charley Mace on August 16, 1992. I was disappointed with No Shortcuts To The Top because the stories were too short and too 'perfect'. Not in this book. Ed uses his diaries to share his innermost raw, blunt, and critical feelings and opinions, highlighting his problems with his teammates and other teams, and lack of leadership. It is tight, entertaining, tense, emotional, an epic! This chapter could have been the whole book and I would have been happy.

Ed and Scott had to put off their own attempt to rescue two climbers. Although Ed is normally risk averse, he and Scott accepted danger to try and rescue two climbers. They were caught in an avalanche, but Ed was able to self arrest and stop their fall. Ed comments on once again accepting too much risk on summit day: "As we got closer to the summit and the falling snow showed no signs of letting up, I knew I was making the greatest mistake of my climbing life. And yet I kept going. ... Scott, Charley, and I broke free of the clouds just short of the summit. We saw it shining in the sun ahead of us. At noon, we stood on top, hugging each other and gasping in the thin air. ... After only thirty minutes on top, we headed down. ... Soon we were stumbling downward in a thickening whiteout." After reaching Camp 4 at 5pm, he wrote in his diary: "We'd pushed our luck beyond the max. I hope I never do that again! No summit is worth dying for. You can always come back." When they reached Camp 4, they found Rob Hall dealing with a very sick Gary Ball suffering from cerebral edema. They now had to help Gary down in bad weather and terrible avalanche danger. They found Ed's wands in the deep snow, which saved their lives by showing them the correct route down. "I don't think I've ever been more physically or emotionally exhausted in my life after that climb and descent."

After a brief history of the 1902 attempt by Oscar Eckenstein and Aleister Crowley and the 1909 attempt by the Duke of Abruzzi with Vittorio Sella, Ed describes in straightforward detail the 1938 US reconnaissance expedition led by Charlie Houston, quoting sections from "Five Miles High". After reconnoitering the Northeast and Northwest sides, the team decided that the Abruzzi was the best choice. After setting up camps on the ridge, Bill House climbed a great slanting gash in an almost vertical rock now called House's Chimney, and Charlie Houston and Paul Petzoldt reached 7920m feet before turning back due to not enough food and equipment at the highest camp.

My second favourite chapter is when Ed's writing is once again opinionated and enlightening as he describes the controversial 1939 US expedition led by Fritz Wiessner, who had recently emigrated to the US from Germany. After the best climbers dropped out, Fritz had to lead an inexperienced and weak team. Fritz led all the way, breaking trail, and turned back at 8380m just below the easy summit snowfield when Pasang Lama wouldn't go on. After a second attempt failed because Pasang had lost his crampons, Wiessner and Pasang descended to Camp VIII, only occupied by Dudley Wolfe. On the descent the three climbers fell, but Wiessner was able to self arrest, stopping their fall. Viesturs thinks that "only Pete Schoening's 'miracle belay' in 1953 is more legendary than Wiessner's self arrest." Unknown to Wiessner, all camps below camp VIII had been stripped supposedly because they thought that the summit party had been killed. The attempt to rescue Wolfe failed, with Wolfe and three Sherpas perishing on the K2 Shoulder. Ed thinks that "any climber has to be in complete awe of Wiessner's performance on K2." and considers his logistical plan "brilliant" Viesturs calls much of the criticism in the 1992 book K2: The 1939 Tragedy by Andy Kaufman and William L. Putnam "cockeyed", especially the fact that Wiessner led from the front, leaving Wolfe at camp VII on the descent, and what he considers the racial profiling of Wiessner.

Next, Ed describes the 1953 U.S. expedition led by Charlie Houston, calling it "the high point of American mountaineering", and "The courage, devotion and team spirit of that expedition have yet to be surpassed." He quotes from "K2: The Savage Mountain" and from Dee Molenaar's never released diary. A storm hits and they have to remain at Camp VIII for seven days, with Art Gilkey developing thrombophlebitis. In very bad weather and high avalanche danger, the rest of the team attempt to lower Gilkey down the mountain. Pete Schoening performed "the most famous belay in mountaineering history" when he singlehandedly stopped the fall of six teammates with "a single axe and a grip of steel." But the rescue ended in tragedy a few minutes later when Gilkey was avalanched to his death.

The camaraderie and teamwork of the 1953 U.S. team fades into intrigue and back-stabbing on the first ascent of K2 in 1954 by Italians Lino Lacadelli and Achille Campagnoni, with Walter Bonatti becoming a very convenient villain and an ideal sacrificial goat. Walter Bonatti and Pakistani Mahdi carried oxygen bottles to Camp IX, but had to suffer a bivouac at 8100m when Campagnoni intentionally moved the camp from the planned site so Bonatti could not try for the summit. Once back home, Bonatti was silently and later publicly accused of treachery, trying to steal the summit, and using their oxygen. Ed describes it as "a feud so sordid, bitter, and long-lasting that it has few parallels in mountaineering history." Vindication came in 2004 when Lacadelli agrees with most of Bonatti's views in his book K2: The Price of Conquest.

Finally, Ed describes in straightforward detail the tragic 1986 climbing season when 13 people were killed, quoting from Kurt Diemberger's The Endless Knot and Jim Curran's K2: Triumph and Tragedy. After eight unrelated deaths, a snowstorm with excessive wind and cold temperatures hit seven climbers, keeping them tent bound at Camp 4. Julie Tullis died in her sleep. After several days, in a break in the storm, Kurt Diemberger, Dobroslawa Wolf, Alfred Imitzer, Willi Bauer, and Hannes Weiser immediately started down, leaving a delirious Al Rouse at Camp 4. Within a few hundred feet of leaving camp, Imitzer and Wieser collapsed and were left where they lay. With Bauer breaking trail, the other three kept fighting their way down. A few hours later Wolf dropped behind and did not reappear, and the team was down to two. Bauer and Diemberger staggered and stumbled their way down the mountain.

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5.0 von 5 Sternen The price of victory 28. September 2009

Von Phelps Gates - Ver�ffentlicht auf Amazon.com

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David Roberts' name on a mountain climbing book is a guarantee of a good read, and this one is no exception. The first chapter grabbed me, and I ended up spending most of the weekend reading this book instead of doing other things I'd planned! Roberts has the knack of making you able to visualize what's going on during a climb, even if you've never read or seen anything else about the terrain.

Do we need another book about K2? The unique feature of this one is that it gives Ed Viesturs' slant on what went wrong (and right) in the expeditions to this dangerous mountain. There's no shortage of armchair mountaineers, but Viesturs has the credentials to make his analysis stick. His own 1992 climb doesn't get a chapter (I guess you'll have to get his other book for that), but he covers the most important years in which climbers attempted the mountain. The book is also the most up-to-date summary of the astonishing scandal behind the 1954 Italian climb, which has fully come to light only in the last couple of years.

A previous reviewer complained about lack of pictures. Actually, according to the rear jacket, the final version of the book includes 28 pages of color and B&W photos (absent, alas, from the pre-publication freebie copies).

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5.0 von 5 Sternen AN INTENSELY PERSONAL & HISTORICAL LOOK AT K2: ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREAT CLIMBS 2. Oktober 2009

Von RBSProds - Ver�ffentlicht auf Amazon.com

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Five AIRY Stars!! Author & mountaineer Ed Viesturs is one of the world's great climbers who has pulled off the rare feat of reaching the summit of all 14 "8000 meters and higher" peaks, topped off by Everest. This up-to-date book on the second highest mountain, K2, written along with mountaineering author David Roberts, follows Viesturs' famous book No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks. Mr. Viesturs knows K2 very well since he made a troubled ascent of this 28,241 ft monster which he barely survived. He also gives a historical view of the most important attempts at climbing this mountain with the highest fatality rates among 8000 meter peaks. Compared to Everest, which the author says has many ascents each climbing season, K2 is a unique experience with comparatively fewer ascents. Difficult to get to in the Karakoram range, avalanche-prone, plagued by bad weather, with bivouacs inadvisable, and with no winter ascents, K2 is a daunting proposition for the most experienced climbers in the best of circumstances.

Beginning with the events of August 1 & 2, 2008 which became the worst climbing disaster in the history of K2 (an accumulation of events), Mr Viesturs gives both a very frank and personal viewpoint of his own climb and experiences, juxtaposed with other major campaigns and historical events over the years. Despite many 'topical switchbacks' between different climbs which can be mildly difficult to follow, this is an engrossing and sometimes touching read that covers teams, climbing techniques, tactics, heroics and failures, lives and deaths. He also covers the routes, especially the familiar "Abruzzi ridge route" with the main features: the ridge itself, the Bottleneck couloir, House's chimney, the Black Pyramid, the ice serac, the leftward traverse, the summit pyramid, and the alternate Abruzzi spur route. For those new to K2, the map at the front is most helpful in tracking the activities of various teams & campaigns. The author has included photographs, especially the author's own K2 summit photos, to help the reader visualize the mountain, climbers, and the camps much better. Reservations aside, this book, laden with detail, contains invaluable information and remembrances. Highly recommended. Five WHITE KNUCKLED Stars! (Uncorrected paperback proof; 332 pages) *Amended 4/12/10 because the author has included photographs in the final product based on the Amazon product description. Five Stars!!*

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4.0 von 5 Sternen "Base camp" for beginning your study of the history of climbing K2 4. Oktober 2009

Von John H. Henderson - Ver�ffentlicht auf Amazon.com

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I am reviewing a preproduction uncorrected proof. Some of the criticism may not apply to the final version.

The primary author of K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain is Ed Viesturs. In 2005, Viesturs was the first American to summit all 14 of the world's 8000ers - mountains over 8000 meters high - and has been a part of 30 expeditions to 8000ers. He's summited Everest seven times and was a member of the 1996 Everest IMAX movie team. He has been climbing for 32 years, and began guiding on Mt. Rainier in 1987. It's also notable that he has survived to write about it.

This book discusses seven of the most notable expeditions to K2:

(1) August 2008 - Notable because 11 climbers perished in a 36 hour period. Also notable because of the recency and the amount of publicity this event received.
(2) The author's 1996 first summit of K2 with Scott Fischer, detailed also in Viestur's No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks.
(3) 1938 - The first American expedition to K2. Some believed the expedition to primarily be a reconnoitering mission for an expedition the following year, but the climbers made in within 2250 feet of the peak. Chronicled in Five Miles High.
(4) 1938 - The second American expedition to K2 led by Fritz Weissner. Wiessner and Pasang Lama came within 750 feet of the summit. A logistics breakdown prevented another summit attempt and resulted in the loss of four lives. Detailed in K2: The 1939 Tragedy.
(5) The 1953 American expedition - Expeditions did not occur during the World War II years, and the 1947 split of Pakistan from India resulted in no permits being issued for a number of years. The carefully chosen team only reached 25,800 feet when they were required to return to base camp in an attempt to save team member Art Gilkey who had developed thrombophlebitis in the leg which subsequently led to a pulmonary embolism. Gilkey's life was lost in an avalanche before he could be returned to base. Detailed in K2, The Savage Mountain: The Classic True Story of Disaster and Survival on the World's Second-Highest Mountain.
(6) The 1954 Italian expedition which resulted in the first summit of K2 by Lacedelli and Compagnoni - The expedition was extremely large by all measures. So was the controversy surrounding the summit. Detailed in Ascent of K2: Second Highest Peak in the World.
(7) 1986 expeditions involving 11 teams - Notable because more climbers were lost this season than any other when 13 perished. Seven climbers summitted, of which only two survived. Detailed in K2: Triumph and Tragedy.

As seen by the references to other works, all of these missions were detailed elsewhere. However, I feel that what Viesturs mainly brings to the table, in addition to his own expertise as a mountaineer, is decades of additional information about these expeditions since these works were written. Most of these works were written by team members if not by the leaders themselves, and can certainly be colored by their own interpretation. In several cases, diaries of other team members have become available years later. Also, attitudes may have been different at the time of the writing of these books than today. For example, the author suggests that some of the criticism levelled against Wiessner by Kauffman and Putman was due to the prevailing attitude toward Germans in the years leading up to World War II. Wiessner was German-born although a naturalized US citizen. Viesturs' experience also comes into play. When Putnam and Kauffman assert that certain procedures were standard in mountaineering, for example, that the leader always leads from the rear, the author gives copious counterexamples to reject their assertion.

Viesturs never purports that this book is from the view of a detached journalist. It is made clear when he is expressing his opinion, and the book is filled with "I" and "me," although not to an egotistical extent. I consider this advantagous in that you know that the author is expressing his opinion. The author, by his own admission, claims to be a conservative climber, and says that his own summit of K2 was tarnished in his mind by his pushing ahead when his gut told him not to. He felt that he was lucky to have survived. The downside is that the author could be interjecting his own opinion as much as the authors of the other books that he is sometimes countering. However, with this experience, I have no reason to doubt him. Although he does give his opinion of what went wrong is some of these expeditions, he also says he's slow to question decisions made by people in those situations at the time. Overall, I thought Viesturs' presentation was very balanced.

As for my criticisms, I am no climbing expert, but know a few terms - crampon, self-arrest, etc. Others were new to me - couloir, traverse, serac. There's no reason that this book would not be popular for a very general audience, and I feel that the authors could have tailored it a little better for a general audience by spending a dozen sentences to provide short definitions of mountaineering terms. The book had two very crude charcoal drawings of the mountain. I don't know if these will remain in the final edition, but I wished for something much more detailed. I found a great poster on the internet that helped me see the routes and key points from the various expeditions, but I hoped this book would stand alone. I also yearned for some photos of key points so I could picture them better - House's Chimney, the Motivator, the Bottleneck, etc. The cover of the proof indicated that the final book will contain 16 black and white photos and 12 full color photos. The proof does not contain these, so I don't know if they satisfy my desire. As a final point, the MSRP seems a bit on the high side for a general interest book such as this that should appeal to such a wide audience.

The author mentions several other books in this book. For the benefit of the review reader, they are The Ascent of Everest, Annapurna, In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods, The Last Step: The American Ascent of K2, Brotherhood of the Rope: The Biography of Charles Houston (Legends and Lore), and K2: The Story of the Savage Mountain. (Amazon, after encouraging the use of product links, has limited the number to ten, so you'll have to search for the last few yourself.)

In summary, K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain is a great jumping-off point for a study of the attempts to conquer K2, providing not only the references for more detailed study, but also providing additional background to make the studying of those references more profitable.

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