There is a lot to sift through this week from the readings. Orientalism and post colonialism thoughts are some pretty heavy matters to digest in one week. However there are elements of both are found in the other. Orientalism is a very odd thing when I think about it. It is basically the breakdown of…

The entire time I was reading this book, all I kept thinking was…mic drop. In True Summit, David Roberts reveals the truth of what really happened when Maurice Herzog summited Annapurna on June 3, 1950. Robert’s does a great job starting off the book by re-introducing the summit events the way it was told by…

So it would seem that Herzog’s account of his famed 1950’s expedition was malarky positing him as the hero and complete leader of this tight well-oiled climbing machine. Naturally his exploits were that of heroic lore which would forever cement him within French climbing history and secure him in a nice cushy political job for…

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…

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 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…

Herzog was not lying when he wrote there are other Annapurnas in the lives of men. Especially in the eyes of Lachenal, Terrey, and Rebuffat. Roberts’s purpose of True Summit was not just to show how Herzog might be completely full of it, but to give Lachenal, Terrey, and Rebuffat the credit they deserve. At first…

Jon Krakauer’s account of the 1996 expedition to Mt. Everest not only covered the description of the difficult terrain with the extreme climate, but also the health and emotional hurdles that accompanied the group as they attempted the ascent. From the beginning of the book, Krakauer makes it very clear that he feels honored to…