Instead of “Drama of the Summit” could the week be renamed “Depressing Stories of Mountaineering”? The account of the 1953 attempt of K2 led by Dr. Charles S. Houston is not of conquest, rather it is an account of defeat. Even the authors justify the value of their trip as “a venture made for sport and not for gain” (Houston & Bates, p. 2). However if the entire journey was made to pursue the adventure described as “sport” than what value is placed on the lives that were lost in previous attempts and the life of their dear friend during their attempt? Was Art’s life lost in vain? In Shit Happens: The Selling of Risk in Extreme Sport, a similar idea is explored. What are people willing to give up to pursue the “extremes” of adventure? Are lives just considered inevitable collateral damage?

While Houston and Bates’ account of their attempt to summit K2 was incredibly disheartening with each ill-fate their crew faced, it still provided a very detailed “armchair travel” experience. If its purpose was to entertain the reader by giving an extremely articulate adventure story, it succeeded. Did I need to know exactly how much nylon rope they packed which happened to be roughly 960 feet (Houston & Bates, p. 22)? Yes, of course I did according to Houston and Bates. Throughout Houston’s account I kept hoping that his team would make it to the top as they continued to face horrible luck, for example almost falling off the mountain, as well as having their equipment stolen and damaged in transport. However, Houston always gave the reader a glimpse of hope with his statement, “and my fellow climber’s morale was up”. Referencing a fellow climber’s morale must have been a pastime for the writer; it was as if he believed that an increase in morale made up for the fact that each climber was willingly going into debt to lose at least a few of their toes due to frost bite.

Another concept that just struck me as asinine was the fact that these climbers continued to pursue their dream of summiting the second highest mountain in the world even though the death rate for K2 was significantly higher than Mount Everest. It was as if they enjoyed suffering and that they knew there was a very real chance that at least one climber was probably not going to make it home. During the mountaineers’ stay at Camp VIII, Houston questions their intentions and their identity by asking, “Are we masochists to ‘enjoy’ such a battering, such cold?”. Then he answered no (Houston & Bates, p. 81). He genuinely believed that his crew was battling nature in its purest form, as if this experience was sent from a higher being, not that he and his crew willingly paid money to put themselves through frozen hell.

The expedition crew in K2: The Savage Mountain were clearly experienced climbers based on the selection process given in their account (Houston & Bates, p. 18-19). However in Palmer’s Shit Happens, the article discussed the changing demographic or the emergence of a new climbing demographic, to be more accurate. As capitalism and globalism expanded, vacation companies started to offer adventures that can be bought leading to the idea that near death experiences are for sale with little regard to climbing ability (Palmer, p. 324). This lack of experience is crucial to the commercialization of risk; if the risk and danger were accurately represented would the companies have as much of a profit? Then again, Houston and his crew knew of the dangers of K2 and still attempted the ascent.