Review of "The Summit"

Sticking with the mountain climbing theme, this is the second book that I have read or listened to about this deadly day on K2.  This time there are many observations from a Sherpa who was on the mountain on that day.  Here is my review of "The Summit"

Title/Author: “The Summit: How Triumph Turned to Tragedy on K2’s Deadliest Days” by Pat Fahey with Pemba Gyalje Sherpa, narrated by Pat Fahey

Rating: 4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:  August 1, 2008 is believed to be the deadliest single day on the mountain K2, which is sometimes called the “savage mountain.”  It is considered the most dangerous mountain for climbers, even more so than Mt. Everest.  As noted in this book, 1 in 4 climbers eventually die in their expedition to reach the summit of K2 compared to 1 in 11 climbers on Everest.  This book tells about the tragedy of that day from interviews and also the stories of one of the Sherpas on the mountain that day, Pemba Gyalje Sherpa.

This is the second book I have read on this tragedy – the other one was an account from a survivor of the American team attempting to summit K2.  At that time, there were several nations with teams attempting to climb the second highest mountain in the world.  In addition to the Americans, there was a Norwegian husband and wife part of a larger team from that country, as well as teams from the United Kingdom, Serbia and South Korea.

This many climbers led to many issues that the climbers and Sherpas had to address, the biggest of which was that in the short window of good weather to get to the summit, there was a logjam in the bottleneck on the safest path to the top.  While there was a very good account of the attempt so set the fixed ropes in the proper place, that did not go as planned and was just one of the many issues that resulted in the deaths of the 11 people.

Why I chose this particular part of the book for illustration purposes is that I felt it was the best example of the full picture the listener will get while listening to the book (or reading it if that is your preference). While it does take a little bit into the book to fully understand Falvey’s narration, once that is done, the accident and what led to it will be described in full with excellent observations by Pemba.  It is a little more technical than the other book I read on this disaster, but nonetheless it is still an excellent account of the deadliest day on the savage mountain.

Link: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Summit-Audiobook/B00KIZRULE?ref_pageloadid=0ZSIURFmuc6sdO3r&pf_rd_p=80765e81-b10a-4f33-b1d3-ffb87793d047&pf_rd_r=BZSB53VC827AKWF613TM&plink=qIG2Fd3evjWH51gj&pageLoadId=DluDQYLaZv20lRTD&creativeId=4ee810cf-ac8e-4eeb-8b79-40e176d0a225&ref=a_library_t_c5_libItem_B00KIZRULE_5