Buried In The Sky: The Extraordinary Story Of The Sherpa Climbers On K2's Deadliest Day (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
I've done a fair bit of mountaineering in my time and remember four moments as if they happened yesterday. They all occurred on the same ascent, my first real ascent. The first happened on the way up. I was still below the tree line; a patch of snow - the first I encountered - was covering a portion of the trail. I took a step and my foot sank right in, burying me in snow to the waist. I pulled myself out using a branch. After a few false peaks, and a few hours later, my dog and I reached the summit. At that altitude, it's like standing on the edge of a skyscraper. You feel like you're going to fall over. Summit euphoria. On the way down, my dog heard something and bolted. I stopped and called her name for twenty minutes. No response. I thought I'd never find her. I started walking. Forty-five minutes later, she found me. Bounding through the trees wearing the silliest dog smile I've ever seen, she tackled me. We were happy. Together we made our way down and at some point we lost the trail. The pink ties were gone. I panicked. I mean, I PANICKED. I was out of water and at high altitude and in that you, you make VERY POOR DECISIONS. I made it back eight hours later. Did I do it again? You betcha. Per una volta un libro che mostra il punto di vista dei portatori, di quelle persone che rischiano la vita per una cifra irrisoria (raffrontata ai soldi spesi per salire in vetta da ogni scalatore) e ai quali, in caso di morte, viene corrisposto un indennizzo ancor più scandaloso.C'è poco da dire: è solo grazie a loro che gli occidentali possono arrivare in vetta: portano i materiali, posizionano le corde, trainano, spingono e aiutano chi scala e che troppo spesso, ormai, non è allenato e preparato come dovrebbe. Il tutto in un relativo anonimato.Peccato solo per il finale, un po' troppo veloce anche rispetto al resto del libro molto curato e preciso. In ogni caso un'ottima lettura per chi ama le storie estreme di montagna.
What do You think about Buried In The Sky: The Extraordinary Story Of The Sherpa Climbers On K2's Deadliest Day (2012)?
Gripping, sad, hard to read when news reports were coming in of tragedies in the Alps this summer.
—andreaa
Not as good as "Into Thin Air," but it was interesting to get the Sherpa perspective.
—berkbey
This no Into thin air. Lots of history of the region and weak on the climb.
—Tarryn
