I love reading about climbing expeditions.
I keep vowing to read Into Thin Air, but at the same time I keep putting it off. It seems so tragic, the way Rob and the others died. The guide who looked out for Number One made it down fine, but died a few years later on an even riskier Himalayan peak.
You’re right, though. It’s some of the most fascinating reading in the world. Some of the dead bodies on Everest have never been found, such as Mallory’s partner. They likely never will be.
“I love reading about climbing expeditions.”
In my younger day I did, but now I just think about how utterly selfish the entire process is. A climber deprives his family and friends of his time and presence during the preparation for a climb of Everest/K2, and so many of these teams just don’t care that at least one of their party is pretty sure to die on each ascent. And for what? To say they climbed Everest? I was proud of this man who said, “I couldn’t live with myself if I passed him by”, as MULTIPLE other climbing groups do.