Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains

Despite having been to Mt. Everest base camp on the Tibetan side, I'm an armchair mountain climber. I enjoyed seeing the mountain and taking pictures, but was quite happy to get back to the hotel and climb into my warm bed. However, I love stories about mountain climbing and what people will do to get to the top. I admire their perseverance and courage - I watched the movie Free Solo two times! And I marvel over the dangers they face and sometimes the sheer stupidity - like going on a climb without being prepared. Then there's the heartbreak over the deaths.

This is a series of magazine articles Krakauer wrote for Outside, the Smithsonian, and others and they were all written in the late 1980s so it's a bit dated, but it was still a good read and gave some insight into the climber's mindset.

Cool to read about things I will never do, less cool his underhand dismissals of female climbers (with none of them being profiled here). Best quote: "[climbing] is sort of like having fun, only different"

In a previous book I had read by Krakauer "Into Thin Air"---about mountain climbing-- there was a quote that has stuck with me. One of the Everest mountaineers who chose not to try and help a climber (who subsequently died from being left behind) said this to justify his actions:
"There is no morality above 26,000 feet".

I had one foray into mountain climbing. It was 1998 and myself and two friends, Kevin and Lacey, were going to attempt the '14er' called Longs Peak. Out of all of the 14,000 foot peaks in Colorado Longs is the most popular climb because of its easy ascent. Imagine my surprise when at 2 am I was stumbling about in a rock field not understanding why my eyes would not and could not stay open. I had a massive head ache and could not keep my eyes open. I was not tired, I was jacked up on Diet Cokes and adrenaline, and yet could not keep my eyelids open for business. I was sans head lamp and found myself stumbling over boulders the size of pumpkins. That was the end of my journey. About 4 hours of hiking and turning back at who knows what altitude--I'd like to say I made it to 12 :D), my ascent to Longs was ended. We faced a bear sighting ahead of us on the hike back to our car(not good when one is menstruating, mind you!) and I was glad to make it home to my little apt at 18-J.

But I digress...shocking, I know. Since my wee little escapade into the wilds of the Colorado Rockies, I have always been fascinated by mountain climbers. And this book does not disappoint. Unlike other books on self-discovery (blah de blah de blah blah blaaaah) Eiger Dreams had some vivid moments of awareness that caused me to feel a real connection to the author. More importantly, it garnered a new level of respect for those who choose to make that their shining conquest. No, I will never know how it feels to summit Everest or climb, well, probably ever, over 12,000 ft, but Krakauer has a way of making the experience approachable and yet awe-inspiring at the same time.

In one instance he describes climbing a thin spire of rock on the Devil's Thumb in Alaska. He recalls the sensation of being attached to the rock by only crampons and an ice ax, and the overwhelming pulling sensation to let himself release the ax and just fall...fall back into the awaiting ice that would kill him 3000 feet below. He knows it will kill him, he knows the physics of the actions, yet still describes how he could not help himself. Quite possibly, it was the pull of gravity he was feeling. Not unlike the sensation of being on a ship in the Med on the way to Crete, and looking over the railing at midnight with the waves crashing like blocks of ice on a solid black sea. I got "the pull". I was blissed out of my gourd with hopefulness and youth and love, and I honestly thought I could slip over the railing and survive. I wanted. To. Feel. It.

This is a collection of short stories all interwoven on the foundation of mountaineering. Stories on glacier pilots who could land planes in white out conditions by knowing to 'turn left after a minute, turn right again after another minute' because they were so inured to the route they were traveling.
This is about the vagabonds and street fighters who climb perilous mountains in Tibet without permits and hide in the tall grasses when they hear cattle bells going by. This is about a boy's desire to summit Devil's Thumb and 18 years later trying to master that picture he'd traced so many times on pg 147.
If you are not into the outdoors, then this book will probably not impress you. If you believe that people who climb mountains are narcissistic selfish knobs who are only concerned about themselves (see above) then this is not for you. If you are married to a man who regales you with stories of men standing in circles around campfires and then waking to bears hours later in the dark...then you might appreciate this man's experiences.
If you live in Colorado and know where Pearl Street is in Boulder, and have felt the pull, than you may relate to this man's story. If you have been to Europe and had to fend off a loved one's near manic obsession with parasailing, then you should read this book.

John Menlove Edwards wrote the following, taken from him short story "Letter From A Man":

"So, as you would imagine, I grew up exuberant in body but with a nervy, craving mind. It was wanting something more, something tangible. It sought for reality intesnely, always if it were not there....But you see at once what I do. I climb".

Krakauer had a choice at the age of 8...go to Seattle and visit the Space Needle or go to the South Sister in Oregon and attempt his first summit. Glad he might the right choice.

Mountains bein’ climbed and guys bein’ dudes!

Don’t think I’ll ever tire of reading his writing

An interesting set of mountaineering tales

Eiger Dreams is a collated set of articles and tales written by the author. The stories explore a wide-range of mountaineering-related disciplines from climbs in the Himalayan high-mountains to complex low-height bouldering.

This is an enjoyable book that has some real standout tales that most non-climbers would never hear about; just a few of the stories I'd recommend are 'Gill', The Flyboys, Club Denali, Chamonix and The Devil's Thumb.

Krakauer's writing is particularly compelling to me because he goes beyond simply explaining the tasks involved in attempting/achieving a summit. He also focuses and analyses the psychology of the climbers, exploring their motivations, desires and weaknesses, which help the average reader to better appreciate and comprehend why people willing partake in an undoubtedly high-stakes pursuit.

I note that the book's title is a slight misnomer, since only the first chapter actually deals with Eiger and this wasn't the best story in the book in my opinion. The book has a bit of a nostalgic feel to it given much of it is set in the early to late 80s - I loved the references to Fluro clothing!

So if you like high adventure, I'd recommend this book. Given this is an early (the first?) Krakauer book, some leeway has to be given that it won't have the same impact as Into Thin Air nor Into the Wild, but it is still a worthwhile read.

3+

I came to each of Krakauer's works independently- I read "Into the Wild" first on a recommendation, and years later I read "Into Thin Air" because someone told me it would be a good insight into the effects of altitude (as I prepared to climb Kilimanjaro, a mild but high peak). Finally, I found this collection of essays and realized that somehow I'd read the final essay somewhere before, once.

I can understand why some people think that Krakauer is a selfish bastard at times, because the very act of climbing is often a selfish one, in the eyes of others. Though Krakauer believes in the sacrosanct nature of the bond between ropemates, on Everest he notes that the nature of the beast drives many to an every-man-for-himself mentality. This is revisited in "A Bad Summer on K2" during a discussion of saving those near death at great risk to the lives of everyone else. Considering the effects of altitude on the human brain, I don't think any armchair philosophizing or moralizing applies here- people simply cannot and do not behave normally at 26000 feet, and everyone who climbs that high knows that to do so is to put your life on the line. Asking others to forsake theirs for a slim chance at saving yours... can we ever truly ask that of people? Every life is on the line in a storm. Is it more honorable to perish attempting to save someone (who may-and likely will- die despite your efforts) than it is to abandon them and hustle down to save your own skin? One reviewer commented on how selfish Krakauer was to risk his own life in such a callous manner as climbing the Devil's Thumb, and yet to risk his own life on Everest to attempt to save someone else seems more noble. Does anyone engaging in this armchair moralizing understand what it means to carry 180lb of dead weight down an mountain (without injuring the person further!) in bad conditions while you yourself are addled by altitude and saddled with gear, etc? I suppose these people think that such mountains should not be climbed at all.

But there it is. Some people will never understand why others are so willing to hang their entire lives on a half-inch of steel kicked or picked into ice a thousand feet off the ground. I think Krakauer does a good job of explaining the clarity ones life and mind take on when circumstances require such uncompromising focus on what is immediately in front of you. I think other athletes and aesthetes may have an easier time grasping this mentality, and perhaps will get greater enjoyment from this book.

I do wonder how the sport has changed in the last thirty years- many of these essays were written in the 80s and I imagine mentalities and technologies have changed things since then.