Dark Summit, The True Story of Everest's Most Controversial Season

 

Dark Summit, The True Story of Everest's Most Controversial Season
Page Type Gear Review
Object Title Dark Summit, The True Story of Everest's Most Controversial Season
Manufacturer Nick Heil (Henry Holt and Company)
Page By silversummit
Page Type Apr 20, 2009 / Apr 20, 2009
Object ID 6065
Hits 4190
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BOOK SUMMARY

From the book cover: "On May 15, 2006, a young British climber named David Sharp lay dying near the top of Mount Everest while forty other climbers walked past him on their way to the summit. A week later, Lincoln Hall, a seasoned Australian climber, was left for dead near the same spot. Hall's death was reported around the world, but the next day he was found alive after spending the night on the upper mountain with no food and no shelter.

If David Sharp's death was shocking, it was hardly singular; despite unusually good weather, ten others died attempting to reach the summit that year. In this meticulous inquiry into what went wrong, Nick Heil tells the full story of the deadliest year on Everest since the infamous season of 1996. He introduces Russell Brice, the commercial operator who has done more than anyone to provide access to the summit via the mountain's north side-and who some believe was partly accountable for Sharp's death. As more climbers attempt the summit each year, Heil shows how increasingly risky expeditions and unscrupulous outfitters threaten to turn Everest into a deadly circus."

PRODUCT DETAILS

Price: $26.00

Hardbound: 270 pages with color photographs

Author: Nick Heil

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company

Year Published: 2008

Language: English

ISBN: 0-8050-8310-3

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silversummit - Apr 20, 2009 9:52 pm - Voted 5/5

A must read for Everest fans
Although I found the writing to be a bit disjointed, especially in the beginning, this is a excellent book about the deadly 2006 season on the north side of Everest. Heil takes the reader into the various climbing teams, outfitter personalities and weather conditions which by every standard were unusually good that year.

It is almost impossible to read the sections about Sharp and Hall without remembering the 1996 season's tragedies and wanting to blame someone, anyone. Yet, Heil manages to explain why climbers didn't stop and help Sharp.

The saddest part of the entire book is realizing that nothing has really changed since 1996. Even though these climbers were on the north side of Everest with fewer total climbers than on the Nepalese or south side, the risks were just as dangerous. No towering, falling ice seracs but still a season as deadly as one 10 years earlier.

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