While I enjoyed the history and nostalgia of Fallen Legends, I want to focus on the two accessory readings. These pieces complemented the theme of exploration that spoke to me in the opening chapters of Weaver’s and Isserman’s work and shed interesting non-climbing historical lights on the mountain realm. ‘The Mountain: A Political History…

At first, Fallen Giants proved to be a very dry and mundane read, with the first couple chapters introducing the readers to geographical data of the Himalayan region, as well as an abundance of uneventful historical details. At times it became quite difficult to keep reading, as Isserman and Weaver did very little to intrigue…

The reading of Fallen Giants by Weaver and Isserman was an intriguing read to say the least, one which I personally enjoyed more than any other reading. This reading was more substantial in my eyes and really provided a compressive history of mountaineering in the himalayas that I had so desired, which is due to…

Exploration for the sake of understanding objects, specifically for scientific purposes, fueled the past’s interest in mountains. The Mountain describes how from the Enlightenment period to the present, the desire to make sense of an entity has taken over the minds of not only individuals on their quest for fulfillment but entire scientific communities. All…

Week 4 – Reading Response By: Bryant Lymburn In the first half of the book, Fallen Giants, it describes various journeys of mountain expeditions to the Greater Ranges. The book picks up in the later half of the 18th Century and predominately starts with the British intrigue and push into the mountains. This intrigue began…

The beginning of Fallen Giants began very slow, with a lot of information regarding mountains, a goddess, and elevations that I found quite hard to keep track of. I did however find it very interesting and thoughtful that explorers such as Adolf Schlagintweit gave offerings before venturing into the Traill’s Pass as a sign of…

The discussion for this class has centered much around the cause behind mountaineering, the draw to the sport, and what attracts mountaineers to the thrill of the dangerous endeavor. Fallen Giants, while dense and packed with great historical detail, contains insight into the question of why mountaineering is loved by many despite its danger. Isserman…

It is interesting drawing the parallels of the effects of the World Wars and the history of climbing and conquering the Himalayas in Fallen Giants.  Of course there could be many other reasons, but perhaps the aftermath of the first World War was the driving force that led so many veterans to start conquering peaks…

The exploration and mapping of the Greater Ranges on earth was a large reason for people to start climbing in the greater ranges with higher altitudes. Fallen Giants, by Maurice Isserman and Stewart Weaver, is a great historical text showing how remote, and absolutely huge the great ranges are. Over 400 miles in width at…

Through reading in Fallen Giants, it is very clear that much of the early history of mountaineering in the Himalaya was carried out in large part due to imperialism and national competition. From the very get go it seems, with the Great Trigonometrical Survey, the British were attempting to stake claims to this land. And…