Rating:  Summary: Intriguing account and analysis of the existing data Review: For those readers fascinated with Everest history this book provides an absorbing addition to the historical record of the ultimate mystery of George Mallory and Sandy Irvine. Detailing the shocking and unexpected successes of this year's Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition, this intriguing account focuses also on the incredible determination and courage of the members of the early British expeditions. The proposed scenario for what actually happened seems more and more plausible considering the existing evidence. Of course, pieces of the puzzle are still missing but I am convinced in my own mind that yes, they really did make it to the summit in 1924. If it eventually turns out otherwise, still that doesn't detract from one's admiration for the accomplishments of one of mountaineering's greatest heroes.
Rating:  Summary: The romance of high adventure Review: With their splendid book "Ghosts of Everest" ("Ghosts"), the authors have taken up the gauntlet of attempting to determine whether or not Mallory & Irvine reached the summit of Mt. Everest on June 8th, 1924, before perishing on the descent. The authors provide a fascinating and hugely-detailed description of the fatal climb, and of the Simonson expedition which discovered Mallory. The layout, photography, graphical and sheer physical qualities of the book are to the absolute highest standards. The front half of the book describes the 1999 expedition, a tale that begins like many of this genre. The difference in "Ghosts" becomes quickly apparent. This is not your bunch of good old boys undertaking a simple task of conquest. Instead, they are only the second expedition since WW-II launched expressly to find the body and camera of the two British climbers, with the intent of finding out how far they got. Unlike most other Everest expeditions which conjure up the names of Mallory & Irvine to raise financing, the Simonson team actually made the search for the two men and their camera(s) their number one priority. The search effort was planned by Mallory & Irvine researcher Jochen Hemmleb-the catalyst with Larry Johnson-for this expedition. Hemmleb has amassed practical research on the 1924 expedition that pinpointed the probably location of Irvine's body as evidenced by the 1933 discover of his ice ax lying on the route. Yes, they had great luck with the weather-the mountain being unusually clear of snow--but Lady Luck often smiles on the well-prepared, and none were better prepared to undertake this arduous search than the team of this expedition. The shock of actually finding their needle in the haystack-and then discovering that the body was that of George Mallory rather than Andrew Irvine--sent climbers and researchers reeling back to their notes to try to make sense of this first new ground truth since the discovery of an "English dead" by a Chinese Climber in 1975. The stunned reaction of these hardened climbers to their momentous discovery adds a new element to this tale of historical research conducted under enormous physical adversity; and the photographs of the 1924 artifacts act like an eerie time portal glancing back to an age when climbing the world's highest peak was undertaken with equipment which would today be considered inadequate to climb Mt. Hood. While the consensus forming is that the route was too long and the Second Step cliff too difficult for those pre-WW II climbers to have reached the top, enough ambiguity still exists to give heart to the true believers for whom success might still have been possible. Only the still-sought Kodak camera, with film preserved by the Everest's icy grip, may someday give the final answer. Until that day, "Ghosts" has moved itself to the center of gravity of this still fascinating legend.
Rating:  Summary: A Lesson on How Money is Replacing Adventure Review: This book allowed me to analyse why I have not read too many books on Mtn Climbing in the past few years. I am a climber and the genre was important to me for a big part of my life. Reading through this book made me realise how much climbing has not only changed from the days of Mallory, but even from the old siege operations in the 70s. Today the emphasis on gaining money and the machinations and business tactics that go into getting the dosh to go, take up not only the majority of the time making the ascent, but also the majority of the time (and lines of writing) in most mountain literature published these days. Gone is the old style adventure: 1) adventure-for-the-sheer-fun-of-it, Joe Brown, Don Whillans; 2) adventure-of-the-tortured-soul, Eric Shipton, Joe Simpson; 3) adventure for Imperial gain, Capt Noel, Sven Hedin, or the early British Expeditions to Everest, (though to be fair, it is hard to ressurect this particular genre) and; even the 4) adventure-to-be-the-first-to-do-something, Bonnington and Hertzog, is relegated to second place -- now adventure takes second place to how much money and designer deals for broadcast rights and publisher exclusives can be done before, during and after the point when all the adventure takes place. As such this book is very symptomatic of this new genre. There is all sorts of vignettes of the evil BBC and it reps and the business concerns of all the others who made crucial decisions tying their business fates to this expedition --- too much of this and too little detail both of the original British Expeditions the search expedition this books puports to write about. There is also precious little route description, how the route was put up and the actual "thrill" of the hunt to find Mallory. Fully one-third of the book deals with these machinations. Even the people that the authors palpably do not like get off lightly. All of the people they like are usually gifted with some god-like aspect of physical prowess --- eg. barrel-chested, large arms etc. For those who have read Chris Bonnington's books on any of his expeditions, the slow burning personality problems that manifest themselves on so many of these expeditions are conspicuous by their absence in this book. In sum I liked the book. The good parts are two, and only two in my estimation: 1) the find of Mallory's body and 2) the ascent of the last ridge by the search party members. It is no coincidence that these two subjects are raw adventure and have nothing to do with gaining money or searching to personally skewer someone's personality. I am glad I read it. But as an inspiration for further reading in the contemporary mountaineering genre, this book is symptomatic of how far the adventure genre has fallen, particularly in the past 10 yrs or so. Maybe you will like it. Maybe you will not. I am the kind of person who trekked the subsidiary valleys around Mt. Everest, but I would not go to Everest base camp --too many people, too much garbage and too many people following the populistic mantra of what passes for adventure writing these days... like the valleys around Everest these days, this genre has been tamed, beaten into submission, and transformed into a pablum for mass consumption. Better to settle down and re-read the Hertzog or Bonnington Classics.
Rating:  Summary: Fascinating Real-Life Detective Story/Adventure Review: This book is not just for those interested in mountain climbing. It is a well-written, beautifully photographed, reverent accounting of the 1999 expedition to find any evidence of George Mallory's (probable) summit in 1924, along with a concurrent account, through old photographs, journal entries, and interviews, of Mallory's 1924 expedition. The author's possible scenarios on what happened during that fateful trip from which Mallory and Irvine never returned make sense, supported by the fact that these theories were offered by expert mountain-climbers. Did they solve the mystery? I think so...read it, and make your own decision! Perhaps Sir Edmund Hillary wasn't the first man to summit Everest (in 1953) after all...
Rating:  Summary: INSPIRING STORY OF A MAN'S DREAM, MYSTERY OF HIS FATE Review: The book is focused on the search conducted to find out what happened to Mallory and Irvine, the two British climbers who disappeared on Everest in the 1930s. Mallory is basically a legend in mountaineering. The authors tell the story of their own search expedition by making it parallel to Mallory's. For example, we see the logistics it took this expedition in 1999 to get everyhitng to Everest base camp. In contrast, we see the long trek the expedition in the 1930s had to face, with sickness and much more difficult terrain and logistics. It was amazing that they had the energy to climb once they got to base camp. The book switches between a technical archeology mystery and the history known of the expedition. It is very interesting to see the 1999 expedition trace back the steps of the earlier one. We see the tremendous difficulties they went through in the 1930s, with clothing that was hardly appropriate and the best equipment at the time. Ultimately, the authors find Mallory's body, but it is still not clear if he reached the summit before falling. He fell and broke a knee, which is a death sentence at that altitude. Irvine was not found. The book ends with the authors making their own summit bid, and only two of them making it. This is one of the best mountaineering books, especially as it brings in the mystery of what happened. I highly recommend it for the armchair mountaineer.
Rating:  Summary: Like climbing a mountain worth climbing! Review: This effort starts out a bit lackluster and overweighted with facts, statistics and hyper technically overloaded with how the research expedition got started, who ate what and who arranged for this and that. Once the authors put the reader "on the mountain" with pictures and text, the book and the adventure makes it all worth the effort to have stayed with the book. It is a bit like climbing a mountain...it can't all be a spectacular view from the summit! For those interested in the history of climbing in the Himalaya this is worthy of your interest and should be read.
Rating:  Summary: An inspiring story for ALL readers!! Review: This is an amazing tale of selfless and dedicated people. A beautiful mix of detective story, climbing epic and historical drama this is not just for climbers. The interweaving of the 1924 expedition on which Mallory & Irvine were lost, w/ this 1999 hunt for their fate brings an immediacy and sense of having "been there" to the reader, as well as important understanding to those who are not frequent readers of the mountain genre. Even among the tightly knit cadre of high altitude climbers and support people, this group stands out for their cooperation and respect, not only of each other, but for the men they seek to find. I was struck with the haunting beauty of this endeavour, through the glorious photos, the wonderfully descriptive recollection of the '99 participants, and the words from the past men of '24. There is an awe inspiring feeling of monumetalism best typified by Dave Hahn's likening of his first view of George Mallory's body to a statue of ancient Greek or Rome. The tenacity and tenderness of the 99 crew leads one to feel that "fate" conspired that only THIS group, at THIS time, (75 years forward of the tragedy) could rightly be the ones to discover and tell of Mallory's last moments, and with deep respect and a sense of being very privileged, lay their great man to rest. Truly inspiring, and a delicious winter night read, and reread!
Rating:  Summary: The Search for Mallory Review: This is a collaborative effort of the men who put together an expedition to Everest in 1999 for the purpose of obtaining more evidence on whether or not George Mallory and Sandy Irvine reached the summit of Everest in 1924 before they both mysteriously perished. This is a beautifully produced book. The paper is heavy and glossy, the photographs are fantastic and the makeup is flawless. The content I would have to say is uneven. The electrifying discovery of Mallory's body is well written and in good taste. The trials and tribulations of getting financial support are well done. The duplicity of the good and gray BBC is an eye-opener. No punches are pulled about the various expedition team's strengths and weaknesses. However, it shows the faults of a book written by committee and the continuity is sometimes poor. I felt the pages and pages devoted to oxygen tanks were, to put it kindly, far too many. The 1999 expedition uncovered a treasure lode of documents and artifacts about Mallory and Irvine's last day on earth and can be considered a total success. The big question: Did Mallory and Irvine summit Mr. Everest some 29 years before Sir Edmund Hillary? Maybe. To this reader the most compelling evidence was what was not found on Mr. Mallory's body: the picture of his wife that he always carried in his billfold. He had said he was going to leave her picture on the summit of Everest. Maybe he did.
Rating:  Summary: Get this one !!! Review: Look, if you're going to read one book on Everest, make it this one. The story and photos in it moved me so much. Who cares whether Mallory & Irvine made it to the top ? This is a monument to Human Endeavour. The picture of the body of Mallory still gripping the mountain after seventy years really says a thousand words...
Rating:  Summary: Mystery solved!--OR IS IT?? Review: If you have ever wondered what happened to the best climber ever to set foot on this earth, and the brave wonderful man who disappeared with him, this is your book! A group of courageous men set out to solve this question in 1999, 75 years after the mysterious disappearance of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine. And what they find will chill you to your very bones! I highly recommend this beautifully conceived and presented book for anyone interested in Mt. Everest and all those brave but foolhardy ventures.
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