August 1st is National Mountain Climbing Day. It is to commemorate the first assent of Grand Teton on August 1st, 1898. I have five books on mountain climbing, each a personal autobiographical recollection of their attempt climbing Mt Everest. These men were approaching the summit in May of 1996. Eight people died that day, making May 11, 1996 the worst single day of disaster on the mountain. The first four authors relive that day, and their survival on top of Mt. Everest. The fifth, was filming a movie about climbing Mt Everest at the time, was up on the mountain, near the top, and was a big part of the rescue efforts. He also has climbed Mt. Everest five times-the first American to have climbed twice.
First book is “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer, 1997. Krakauer, was a journalist who had done some mountain climbing. He was tasked to write about Mt. Everest and got signed up to climb even though he admitted he was not trained for such a climbing adventure.
The Second book is “The Climb” by Antoli Boukreev, 1997. Boukreev was the guide on the other expedition climbing that day at the summit. There was a total of twenty-three men and women climbing that fateful day.
The third book is “Doctor on Everest” by Kenneth Kamler, 2000. Kamler was a M.D that had to do a balancing act of climber and doctor on that climb. He treated several survivors, and had another interesting take of the adventure.
The fourth book is “Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest” by Beck Weathers” 2000. Weathers had used mountain climbing to help him with depression, and was trying to climb the Seven Summits, tallest mountain in seven continents (this was his fifth mountain.) His amazing story was that during the blizzard at the top of the mountain, fellow climbers saw his frozen body (he had gone blind from the blizzard, and was waiting for the expedition leader to finish his climb to be lead back. That leader died on top of the mountain and never came back for him), and they struggled to get just themselves to safety at the highest base camp, thinking he was dying or dead.
Several shirpas went back to look for him during the storm and could not find him. After spending the night unprotected in sub-zero temperatures and high winds on the face of the mountain, Weathers stumbled back to the camp, by himself. The amazed other survivors were able at least keep him warm, thinking still he would not survive the rest of that evening. The next morning, Weathers was awake. Even with frozen feet, other climbers helped him down to the next base. There, Weathers was put into a helecopter from the highest altitude rescue ever attempted. Though he lost half of one arm, the other hand, parts of both feet, and his nose (but got reconstructive surgery for his face), Weathers made an dramatic recovery. His was the most spellbinding story.
The fifth book was “High Exposure: an Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places” by David Breashears, 1999. Breashears has climbed Mt. Everest several times (five). While he was not at the summet that day, he was near, filming for an Imax movie about Everest, and slowly making his way toward the top. He was leading a small group of climbers. Breashears was big part of the rescue efforts for survivors from that summit blizzard. He later made another movie “Storm Over Everest” about May 11, 1996 using some of his film, others film, and interviews of survivors.
On one shelf-five books: five accounts, five narratives, five stories about one event. Quite a collection.
Librarytomes 