Some of the stories were really exciting, some of them… bored me slightly. Regardless of that, I admire the unique character of Krakauer’s writing and I hope I get to experience more of his works.

Nachdem ich letztes Jahr absolut geflasht war von Krakauers „In eisigen Höhen“, nahm ich mir zum einen vor, mehr von Krakauer zu lesen, zum anderen, insgesamt mehr über das Bergsteigen zu lesen.
Dieses Buch hier verbindet beide Vornehmungen: Auf den Gipfeln der Welt ist eine Sammlung von Krakauers Zeitschriftenartikeln, verfasst über einen langen Zeitraum hinweg in diversen Outdoor- und Klettermagazinen.

Insgesamt war „Auf den Gipfeln der Welt“ bei Weitem nicht so spannend wie „In eisigen Höhen“, aber das ist – denke ich – verständlich, schließlich kann Krakauer nicht ständig Todeskämpfe am Everest erleben. Allerdings war ich davon ausgegangen, dass es in dem Buch mehr um allgemeine Bergabenteuer oder Erstbesteigungen geht, nicht so viel um Krakauers eigene Klettererfahrungen. Grundsätzlich spricht das Buch eher ein Fachpublikum an und ist wahrscheinlich für Leser*innen, die selbst klettern, spannender als es jetzt für mich war.

Nicht so gut hat mir gefallen, dass Eigennamen von Bergen oder Spitznamen ins Deutsche übersetzt wurden. Macht man heutzutage ja nicht mehr so, aber meine Ausgabe ist auch ziemlich alt. Da aber die meisten Artikel über Ereignisse aus den 60er bis 80er Jahren sind, hat es mir insgesamt an Aktualität gefehlt, manche Fakten waren auch einfach überholt. Das ist natürlich klar, wenn das Buch schon über 20 Jahre auf dem Buckel hat, aber dadurch ist es eben auch keine Pflichtlektüre mehr.

Am besten gefallen hat mir das Kapitel „Ein schlechter Sommer am K2“. Einerseits, weil das der spannendste Artikel der Sammlung war, andererseits, weil Krakauer hier einmal ziemlich Klartext geredet hat, was Missstände in der Klettercommunity betrifft. Dabei kommt auch Everybody’s Darling und Talkshow-Dauergast Reinhold Messner nicht ganz ungestraft davon. Messner hatte damals betont, dass Klettern vor allem dann authentisch ist, wenn man mit möglichst wenigen Menschen, möglichst simpler Ausrüstung, ohne Sauerstoffzufuhr und in möglichst kurzer Zeit auf Berge steigt. In den 80er Jahren war das, was Urgestein Messner sagte, in der Kletterwelt Gesetz. Und so kostete dieser Ansatz des Bergsteigens in den Folgejahren vielen ambitionierten Bergsteigern, die Messners Grundsätzen gerecht werden wollten, das Leben. Natürlich kann man diese Unglücksfälle nicht Messner direkt anlasten, aber einen bitteren Beigeschmack hinterlässt es trotzdem.

Außerdem fand ich in diesem Artikel interessant, wie Krakauer verschiedene moralische Ansätze beim Bergsteigen vergleicht. Früher galt: Wir sind ein Team am Berg. Niemand wird zurückgelassen. Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts wurde daraus ein „wir sind ein Team, aber wenn es hart auf hart kommt, muss jeder selbst schauen, wo er bleibt“. Beide Ansätze haben ihre Berechtigung, Krakauer nimmt auch keine direkte Wertung vor, aber der Wandel des Zusammengehörigkeitsgefühls von Expeditionen war interessant nachzulesen.

Für ein Fachpublikum spannendes, für den allgemeinen Leser eher mäßig spannendes Sachbuch. Kann man mal lesen, muss man aber nicht.
2,75

Before the recognition he received for Into the Wild and Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer was a serious outdoors type, writing about other serious outdoors types. In this collection of essays, Krakauer relates several stories of his personal adventures, one about a youthful, and maybe foolish venture to a particularly difficult climb in Alaska, another about his attempt at Eiger. And these are quite good. But I most enjoy Krakauer when he writes about the Damon-Runyon-esque characters who inhabit the world of extreme adventuring.


John Krakauer - image fr0m his Facebook pages

For example, in Gill, he writes of John Gill, the world’s foremost practitioner of “bouldering” (think fly on ceiling) as someone who might really levitate. Two drunken brothers manage to have a crack at a surprising number of major climbs despite their disinclination to organization and sobriety in The Burgess Boys. Chamonix is a town in France Krakauer calls the “death sport capital of the world.” The story features a bar in which large screens entertain the crowd with diverse scenes of death and near death. It is laugh-out-loud funny when Krakauer illuminates the sundry ethnic conflicts, with particular attention paid to the creative insults each enjoy using on the other. It called to mind Python-like Frenchmen launching diseased animals at their English foes while calling out “come back here so we can taunt you some more.”

While most of us are not likely to have a go at Eiger’s north face, work as bush pilots, try surviving hurricane force winds with temperatures so cold as to defy imagination while huddled in a torn tent or dubious ice cave at twenty-something thousand feet, it is a wonderful thing to have some crazy person who lives in that world to report to the rest of us what goes on there. Eiger Dreams is a fast, entertaining and informative read.

Review first posted in 2010

Jon Krakauer’s writing was very good. I think the best stories were around the author’s firsthand experiences climbing - the first and last chapters of the book especially. I really liked the last story, where Krakauer not only describes his experience summiting the Devil’s Thumb but also the aftermath. His descriptions of what was going through his head at different points as the situation became more dire were fascinating. The weakest stories for me were the ones that just centered around other climbers/climbing society - like The Burgess Boys or the Chamonix chapters. They were interesting, but not very impactful (for me).

i love krakauer his writing just soothes me. best essays were “eiger dreams” “gill” “valdez ice” and “devil’s thumb” some of the others were a little too informational and lost the narrative but that’s ok. love to read abt freaks of nature

3.5 rounded up

Some great essays in here - I thought the ones on Denali and K2 were particularly well done - and if Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster left you hankering for more Krakauer climbing/mountain writing then this collection of essays written for Outside magazine in the mid/late 80s might just hit the spot.

Excellent collection of stories from Jon Krakauer. I thought people did some crazy stuff climbing but mountaineering is another level. Don’t think any huge summits are in the cards for me but these stories make you want to feel the intensity of those climbs. Cool range of stories from Alaskan pilots to Everest to canyoneering.

This is a series of essays written a few decades ago about mountain climbing. I have read “into thin air” by the same author of course, but fell into this one as a follow up to “the god of the woods”. It’s a niche subject matter and I am not a climber, but I found it quite entertaining. He describes the cabin fever that ensues when you’re stuck in a small tent because of bad weather, and various adventures and misadventures. I can’t quite get it, I admit. Why risk your life to conquer a mountain just because it’s there? But it makes for great armchair adventure!

Krakauer knows mountains and he knows climbing, personally. What he gives us in this collection of articles, memoirs, and musings helps a non-climber, like me, come closer to figuring out why these guys and gals are willing to risk their lives on a rock face.

Those who have read his later works, including Into the Wild and Into Thin Air, will find some of this territory familiar. I, too, came to Eiger Dreams well after having other Krakauer works under my belt. Yet, his early storytelling techniques were more than adequate.

I wasn't sure what to expect. What I got was stories and observations relating to key mountains in North America, Europe and the Himalayas. As well as, profiles of some of the most celebrated and notorious alpinists (those who know how to climb), and some oddball permutations on the sport including bouldering and ice climbing.

At times, though he tries to talk to the layman, Krakauer will put together several sentences of alpinist jargon. A glossary would be a welcome addition to the copy I was reading. I terms of sheer enjoyment, he rightly uses his personal experience as bookends; covering climbs of Mt. Blanc and the Devils Thumb. His combination of humor and insight is a winner.

Baby boy <3

No es uno de sus mejores libros pero las experiencias que cuenta son interesantes y motivadoras.

A series of articles and essays by the great Jon Krakauer on a variety of mountaineering topics and stories. As ever, Krakauer is adept at bringing his subjects to life, expounding on mountaineering history and folklore while also telling a story much closer to home. Truthfully i think all 12 pieces in this book are good, from the humorous 'on being tentbound', to the sobering account of 'a bad summer on K2', and the introspective 'the devils thumb'. Well worth a read if you re interested in learning about some of the stranger, less well known aspects of alpinism and mountaineering, or you just want something good to read.