NSR REVIEWS: Dark Summit

By: Adam Wilson

courtesy of Letters On Pages

You know…in the short life of Letters On Pages so far, this is my second adventure book review. If you don’t know me, you would think that I love the outdoors and adventure stuff. Nope. I don’t really like going outside at all. That said, I do like to watch TV shows and reading books about other people who go outside! Good for them I say! Anyway, I was sent a copy of Dark Summit: The True Story of Everest’s Most Controversial Season by Nick Heil. The book isn’t due for regular release until April 29th, but you can pre-order the book through Amazon.

The book is, obviously, about climbing Mt. Everest. Specifically, it is about the 2006 climbing season, which had an unusual number of deaths take place. Wikipedia (the fount of reliability) says that over the years 210 people have died on the mountain. This book tells about some of the the ones who died in 2006. Particularly a man named David Sharp, whose death came under some heavy interrogation. In basic terms, Sharp was passed by as he sat on the mountain…multiple people leaving him to die and climbing the mountain anyway. Now, I guess this is not really a fair statement to make because there are thousands of variables that take place on a mountain. But I don’t know…passing up a dude freezing to death? And that’s not to say that the deaths on the mountain didn’t affect the other climbers, because they did.

Heil does a fantastic job of telling the stories of that terrible season on Everest. He really is able to relay the emotions of the climbers and the general black cloud that hung over that trip. He also gave excellent descriptions of what was happening. I didn’t quite feel that I was climbing an 29,000 foot behemoth…but that’s probably good. (side note: climbers refer to their distances in metric, so Everest is over 8,000 meters. I’ve done the conversion here for you to make it easier.)(side note to the side note: the metric system is way better than what we Americans use!)

I think the way Heil handled the various deaths was excellent. There was the proper amount of respect given to these men. He also tried to explain the thought process of the climbers who abandoned the other climbers. That said, I read most of this book totally horrified that people would continue to climb to the top of a mountain and leave someone stranded and dying. I realize it is an expensive trip, and an opportunity that not everyone can get…but I think saving another life is more important than getting to the summit of a stupid mountain. But alas…I am not a climber, so what do I know.

This book was really good and I highly recommend it just on the storytelling alone. Great read…and I hope you check it out.

Rating: 4 out of 5

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Adam Wilson not only lives in Cincinnati...but is also 87% sure that Jay Bruce can heal the blind. He also is the editor of Letters on Pages, a non-fiction book review website, where you can find the review you just read and many more!

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