Starting off 2025 with a book I read over the holiday break on one of my favorite topics - mountaineering. This was a look at some of the early pioneers of the sport and what they did to reach new heights. Here is my review of "The White Ladder."
Title/Author:
“The White Ladder: Triumph and Tragedy at the Dawn of Mountaineering” by Daniel Light
Rating:
4 of 5 stars (very good)
Review:
While Sir Edmund Hillary is the most well-known mountaineer from the first half of the 20th century being the first person to scale Mt. Everest, there was a long trail of climbers who preceded him and took the same risks to climb heights unknown to man at that time. Those climbers and their adventures are captured in this well-researched book by Daniel Light.
What separates this book from most other mountaineering books I have read is that instead of concentrating on one group or climber, this book profiles many different climbers and their quests to become the first climber to either summit a particular peak (and not always in the Himalayas) or at least attain an altitude that no person had ever reached before. I found this very interesting as these climbers did not have the equipment, clothing, gear and other necessities that today’s mountaineers have. How they were able to attain these heights without items that modern climbers could not live without made for very interesting stories.
It was also noteworthy that like today, the climbing society is mostly male, but some determined women will make their mark and show they are worthy of being considered among the elite in the sport. In this book, one woman’s story, Fanny Bullock Workman, was fascinating and while she may not have fit the image of women of that time, she certainly knew her way up a mountain as she and her husband made many expeditions.
The reader will learn a lot of interesting facts and personalities in the early days of the sport. One great example that I learned was who the person was that invented crampons. His name is Oscar Eckenstien (an elite climber of the era in his own right) and instead of settling for using nails inside his boots as was common at that time, he modified the design of climbing irons and used a 10-point bladed boot attachment to gain better footing on steep ice or snow.
While at times the book does delve into very
technical language, any climbing enthusiast will enjoy reading this
selection. That includes those like me
who have never strapped on crampons or climbing boots but love to read about
the sport as well as those who enjoy climbing at any skill level.
I wish to thank W.W. Norton and Company for providing a copy of the book via
NetGalley. The opinions expressed in
this review are strictly my own.
