Imperial ascent was certainly an interesting book to say the least. I do not know exactly to make of it honestly, some of the ideas I thought were overly aggressive. For instance I doubt that Dr.Cook’s aim of climbing Denali was to assert his masculinity, no doubt it in all probability was a subconscious factor but not the driving aim of his ascent. I also do not think that Jon Krakauer felt effeminate because he was being guided up Everest (even though we have not gotten to Into Thin Air yet, I am very familiar with it); and also when he was unable to aid the other climbers on Everest after the untimely storm hit. No doubt he plaguing depression of survivor’s guilt but not at the expense of his masculinity.

However there were other things that Imperial Ascent does point out that I am inclined to agree with. Imperialism has not doubt been a factor for climbing probably as long as there has been climbing. The symbolic conquering of nature all for the betterment of one’s country moral. I do not think that the British would have hashed it out against Everest for the better part of the early twentieth century if climbing it was the sole ambition of a single person or team of people. It was about Britain as a whole and the unrelenting national desire to get to the roof of the world first. On the Stateside it is also easy to correlate the climbing of Denali with that of American pride – claiming the highest point of the “last frontier” and thus totaling claiming Alaska for from the low sea to the highest mountain for America.

The reading that I found the most interesting this week was not Imperial Ascent but Wanting Children and Wanting K2. Mostly this article infuriated me. It appears that double standards are engrained in everything and mountaineering is no different. I would like to believe that in this age that developed society in the least would be beyond gender roles and sexism but of course the battle is still being fought. Yes there are plenty of mountaineering fathers that leave their families for months at a time and even die climbing, but it seems that mothers are not afforded the same privilege. Alison Hargreaves is labeled as a “bad mother” because she died mountaineering. This is completely unjustified. A woman should not have to give up everything in the world when she has children, and that includes mountain climbing. Is it really terrible to have a father take care of his own children while she is gone for a climb? My mother was gone for months at a time when I was a child (she was not a mountaineer) and my father took care of myself and my siblings. We turned out fine, no major psychological issues whatsoever (as far as I am aware of). Would Alison Hargreaves be a bad mother if she were in the Navy and gone to sea for months at a time? My guess is that there would be few objections to situation.

As the other articles articulates women have been involved in climbing for a long time. Maybe the theme is with mothers and women climbing it is feminizing mountaineering? Is the thought of mothers climbing on the world’s tallest mountains detracting from the masculine escape of these adventures?