K2 the Savage Mountain was in many respects a vast step away from what has been read previously in this class. It is the first recounting of an American Climb, and it is in many ways an introduction to what the themes in the class reading is going to turn to – pure accounts of disasters. It cannot be disputed that we have read several disaster accounts so far on a weekly basis no doubt, but with what we are going to be reading shortly in the future this is a good “bridge” so to speak in the reading.

Although this book takes place in “the golden age of mountaineering” again it is in a lot of ways where the shift of climbing is starting to go into a different direction especially the way in which K2 the mountain is viewed itself. While Everest has been marked as the world’s “third pole” there is K2 is a beast of a very different nature. It is not all that shorter then Everest but the obstacles on K2 are quite more formidable, Everest’s greatest challenge is that of its height, K2 on the other hand has towering height and is technically difficult. The extremity of this mountain is emphasized upon and stressed throughout the book, more so then in pervious works. Everest was about sheer will and a lot of luck, K2 is about sheer will, luck, and much more importantly skill.

This book also leaves the reader with the impression of the seriousness of climbing I believe more so then pervious accounts. It is an account that is written in a first person narrative. There is always a sort of sense of comfort when reading a first person narrative in disaster accounts because I know that the person writing had to have made it safe out of the disaster or incident. That sense of security was abruptly taken away in K2 the Savage Mountain. When the narrator suddenly is severely injured with a concussion, and the narration is passed along to two other narrators, one of which has to be carried away from the mountain. The sense that everyone is in eminent danger makes this book much more striking and abrupt. This shift in narration also provides one then one perspective to the climb, something not visited on before. It is such a narrow field of vision that most other books are looking out from now there is a lens with a wider view.

There seems to be a far more different attitude in this group as well. There are no Sherpas that are being used, although they have porters the fact is they are carrying all of their own things high up on the mountain. Not that there are really any Sherpas available in that time in Pakistan (I am not sure if there are today). This is also something that Houston’s group knew before ever leaving and influenced their decision to include more party members. I wonder if they would have been better or worse off as a party if there had been other people (not necessarily Sherpas) to help them carry things high up the mountain and to help with the labor? Would they have been more successful in their climb, or would it have not made any difference?