The articles that I chose to present to the class this week are about George Montopoli a personal family friend and prominent mountain climber and ranger in the Grand Tetons National Park. The two articles that I attached are about an ongoing project he and his daughter have embarked upon in which they attempt to…
Monthly Archives: April 2016
Book Review
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
by Colton •
Between a Rock and a Hard Place is a true story that few people have not heard. If they do not know the book or protagonist by name, they more than likely know the basics of the tale. Aron Ralston is an extreme outdoorsman, a seasoned and experienced mountaineer. He has climbed most of the highest peaks of…
Film Review
Everest: IMAX film review
by Josh •
Everest: IMAX is the kind of documentary you would expect to get out of a forty-five minute documentary released in 1998. The movie is pretty straightforward, it follows three climbers that go to Everest with an IMAX film crew. The climbers are Jamling Tenzing Norgay, the son of Tenzing Norgay, Ed Viesturs from the United States, and…
Reading Response
The post-colonialism affect on Everest
by th •
In the article, Climbing Mount Everest: Post-colonialism in the Culture of Ascent, author Stephen Slemon explores the use of mountaineering literature, particularly in the past, as a colonial allegory. Although quite dry and mundane at times, the article picked up speed throughout the middle and sparked my interest while explaining the effects that commercialization has…
Reading Response
Week 14
by mkg •
The reading regarding the Postcolonialism in the Culture of Ascent felt very much like a refresher of material that has been discussed weeks prior but also had interesting facts that I had not been aware of. It has been heavily discussed in class and from every angle the reasoning behind commercialism within mountaineering, but what…
Uncategorized
Orientalism and Post Colonialism
by nap •
The idea’s presented within these articles are fascinating, to say the least. The idea of post-colonialism and Orientalism provide a sufficient background with the types of ethnocentric beliefs and ideas that were conceived about the vast unknown areas of the Middle East and the surrounding areas that would constitute the Orient. Edward W. Said having…
Uncategorized
A matter of perspective.
by The Crooked Spoke •
I’d like to begin by addressing the first of Said’s three pillars of his ‘reality’. He discusses in some length the difference between ‘pure’ and ‘political’ knowledge, as well as the challenges and inconveniences of telling the two apart. Personally, I think Said was a little hasty in passing over circumstances where pure knowledge is…
Reading Response
Colonialism
by mel •
I know that most posts I make begin with me pointing out that this week’s reading was something we have been vaguely discussing all semester, but we have discussed many things this semester, and colonialism/imperialism has been a large topic. Especially when dealing with the ‘golden age’ of mountaineering, when a first summit for all…
Reading Response, Uncategorized
Week 14 Orientalism
by mmg •
The topic of Post colonialism is a very hefty topic which no surprise came with a slightly hefty reading. In the sense that it is a stretching topic that has roots, most obviously, in earlier themes such as, no surprise, colonialism. The readings from these week highlighted this very well and showed a range of…
Reading Response
Postcolonialism in the Culture of Ascent
by Matt •
I may be going off on a slight tangent in this response, but I think Stephen Slemon makes a lot of interesting observations that can be driven a little deeper especially relating to colonialism. I think Slemon also comes very close to answer the question of why people choose to climb the tallest peaks and…