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…
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Interesting tidbit
by mel •
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…
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True Summit
by Colton •
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…
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Week 13
by mmd •
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…
Reading Response
True Summit
by Matt •
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…
Book Review
The Way That We Climbed, book review
by mmd •
The history of the Irish mountaineering tradition is disclosed in absolute detail by Paddy O’Leary in The Way That We Climbed: A History of Irish Hillwalking, Climbing, and Mountaineering. O’Leary lends authority to this history as he himself was one of the pillars of the Irish climbing community from the late nineteen-fifties through the…
Reading Response
Age of Extremes: Into Thin Air
by lcm •
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…
Link
Book Review
Book Review – Aconcagua and Tierra Del Fuego
by Matt •
Reading Response
Rethinking the Sahib-Sherpa Relationship
by th •
I thoroughly enjoyed Sherry Ortner’s book, Life and Death on Mt Everest. It was different from the recent books that we’ve been reading that included more of a climbing focus, in that it took us much more in depth about the relationships between the Sahib (“boss”: climbers) and the Sherpas. Ortner delivered it in a…