The Climb

The Climb is an account of the disastrous May 1996 Mount Everest expeditions in which eight climbers, including two guides, died. It is an unusual book, both in style and substance. The book, "co-authored" by Anatoli Boukreev, who guided on one of the commercial expeditions that suffered fatalities (including the death of its leader, Scott Fischer), is essentially a response to Into Thin Air, the best-selling narrative written by Jon Krakauer, a client on another major commercial expedition that coincided with Boukreev’s.

The substance of the book focuses on Boukreev’s actions prior to, during, and after the expedition he guided for the Seattle-based Mountain Madness expedition company. It is a chronological narrative, and begins by discussing Boukreev’s extensive and impressive accomplishments as one of the world’s best high-altitude climbers.

THE AUTHOR'S DEATH
Boukreev died in an avalanche while climbing Annapurna I, another of the world’s great peaks, not long after the book was published. Just a few weeks before his death, he had received The American Alpine Club’s David A. Sowles Memorial Award for mountaineering heroism.

A Russian living in Kazakhstan, Boukreev recounts his struggles to make a living as a climber after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the negotiations he made with Scott Fischer before the climb: how much he would be paid, what his responsibilities as one of three guides would be, and so on. He also describes the pre-expedition preparations he made, going into great detail about his efforts to procure an oxygen supply for use on the mountain.

The heart of the book is Boukreev’s discussion of the climb itself, which was, as are most high-altitude expeditions, a weeks-long series of preparations (mostly involving high-altitude acclimatization) leading to a final summit attempt to take place on one day from a camp high in the mountain – in this case, May 10, 1996.

That climb, well documented in Krakauer’s book, is retold from Boukreev’s point of view, which adds a perspective to an Everest season that will never be forgotten. Boukreev’s account is compelling, fascinating reading, as he details each decision he made on the climb. Many of these decisions – notably, to climb and guide without supplementary oxygen, and to descend before his clients did – were questioned by Krakauer, who wrote that Boukreev exhibited very poor judgment and, in doing so, was partly responsible for some of the eight deaths on the mountain that day.

Boukreev offers sound rebuttals, and further complicates Krakauer’s report by describing his own efforts to rescue lost climbers in the blizzard on the night of May 10 and the early morning hours of May 11.

While The Climb makes for absorbing reading on its own, it cannot be fully understood if you have not read Into Thin Air. It is a patchwork effort, with Boukreev’s co-author, G. Weston DeWalt, writing in the third person and interspersing first-person accounts by Boukreev thoughout (sometimes verbatim from transcripts of interviews). Although Boukreev is listed as author, this method underscores the real intent of the book – to quickly and thoroughly answer Krakauer’s account.

Jeff Merron, a graduate of Outward Bound’s Instructor Development Practicum, has viewed the peak of Everest from a nearby hill at 18,500 feet.