Monthly Archives: April 2016

True Summit

True Summit transformed Herzog’s bland, overdramatic, national fairy tale into a true adventure story, racked not only by weather and mountains, but also by anger bordering on hate. Every bad notion I had of Herzog was confirmed by Roberts and his compilation of memoirs by the “knights of the sky”, especially Lachenal’s. A crucial moment…

True Summit – week 13

Reading Response week 13 – True Summit Bryant Lymburn In the work by David Roberts, True Summit, he recounts the expedition and ultimate successful tragedy of the French’s attempt on Annapurna. Roberts analyzes the expedition and each member in the climbing party. He documents each individuals accomplishments and there attitude to the expedition though their…

True Summit

In a way this book does something we have done in discussion all semester. Seeing that this book is written in 2000, it seems almost that the 1990’s and early 2000’s have brought an age of questioning the pasts mountaineering excursions, much like the fact that we are all taking a ‘history of mountaineering course,’…

Week 13 True Summit

I thought this weeks reading was highly interesting because it provided us with a look back on an event that had already occurred and that we had moved past. For the majority of the semester, it would seem, that we moved forward chronologically visiting new adventures and new climbs and new problems facing climbing where…

True Summit

The very beginning of True Summit started as most of the mountaineering books do, with an account of an ascent, the history of high-altitude mountaineering and the countries involved in first ascents. As the book started to progress, I felt that my perception of Herzog and the self-described euphoric and pure experience on his Annapurna…

True Summit, Week 13

Much like a commanding general, Maurice Herzog took all the glory to be held for climbing the first 8,000 meter peak. Fifty years later, David Roberts reevaluated the mountaineering classic and attempted to spread the fame. Roberts, being Krakauer’s mentor, showed a very similar style in the way he presented his books, primarily as an…

True Summit

True Summit definitely read like we had already discussed earlier this semester. But it is helpful to bring to light just how inaccurate Herzog’s account of climbing Annapurna actually was. It gives more truth to Herzog’s quote about Annapurna, “Annapurna is a sort of novel. It’s a novel, but a true novel.” True Summit shows just how inconsistent and hard…

Interesting tidbit

So I always get emails from the website ‘theclymb.com’ which is pretty much a discounted outdoor gear website, that rotates brands depending on what companies have excess of and whatnot, and this week their email included a brand called ‘Sherpa’ which I had never heard of, so I looked up the website (link below) and…

True Summit

True Summit has proved to be a confusing book thus far. It is difficult to decide what is fiction and what is fact. If nothing else, the book shows that these people are not monolithic in character. It proves that people are contradictory and complex in nature. Some of Herzog’s suspected lies do not make…

Week 13

This week we revisit the French expedition of Annapurna and reevaluate the classic mountaineering work of Herzog. Roberts investigates outside sources and even talks to Herzog himself to assess the situation. What is enlightened is really what we as a class uncovered on our initial read of Annapurna – Herzog is an ego maniac. I…