Review of "Savage Summit"

Realizing that I had not read a book on mountain climbing in quite awhile, I searched for one with my favorite summit in which to read about - K2.  I found this one, picked it up and was very glad I did as these women deserve this kind of recognition.  Here is my review of "Savage Summit"

Title/Author: "Savage Summit: The Life and Death of the First Women of K2" by Jennifer Jordan

Rating: 4 ½ of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

Wanda Rutkiewicz. Liliane Barrard. Julie Tullis. Chantal Mauduit. Alison Hargreaves.  These five women were the first to reach the summit of K2, the world's second highest mountain and considered to be the most dangerous to climb.  These women are portrayed in this book by Jennifer Jordan that digs deep into not only the accomplishments of these mountaineers but also into their personalities.

One cautionary note about the book is that Jordan writes often about the blatant and not so blatant sexism each of these women received.  Some of it is attributed to culture, especially that of Pakistan (K2 is on the Pakistan-Nepal border), some of it is attributed it to simple chauvinism and some is attributed to the attitude of some male climbers that the women were expecting them to do the heavy work of climbing.  Much of that is dismissed by Jordan in the writing.  It should also be noted that much of her research will come from the viewpoints of friends or family members of the women as all of them perished within six years of reaching the summit.  Barrard, Tullis and Hargreaves all died while descending the mountain after reaching K2's peak while Rutkiewicz and Mauduit later died on future expeditions.

While some of the criticism of Jordan's work being biased against the male climbing community can be debated, there is no doubt about the depth and quality of writing about each of the women and that is excellent.  Whether or not one will agree with how much Jordan writes about items such as physical beauty or the sexual affairs of the women (yes, those are include), the descriptions of each woman's climb up K2, their experiences that led them to the decision and how much they each loved the risk and adventure of their chosen career or hobby will leave readers feeling like they knew each of these climbers.

I found Rutkiewicz's story the most fascinating as she was by far the most accomplished climber of the group and had overcome the biases and stereotypes that hinder many female climbers.  She was receiving many accolades for her accomplishments in her native Poland which suddenly stopped when the Cold War era drew to a close in the 1990's.  Her story, while the best reading in my opinion, is just one of the five excellent stories about these pioneering women.  Jordan mentions the passion she had for this project and how she wanted to project their personalities and their accomplishments.  In that sense, this book is a job well done. 

 

Links: Amazon.com: Savage Summit: The Life and Death of the First Women of K2 eBook : Jordan, Jennifer: Kindle Store