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Rating: 
Summary: Hardly a threat to Krakauer's classic
Review: Early on in his classic "Into Thin Air", Jon Krakauer recounts how his team leader, Rob Hall, was stung when fellow New Zealander and Everest legend Sir Edmund Hillary denounced the business of "guided climbs" on the mountain. This book tends to reinforce Hillary's point of view. The author was a client on Scott Fischer's team, one of Hall's competitors, and, as dozens of others have observed, it is primarily an exercise in shallow ego gratification, and a poorly wriiten one at that. To be fair, to simply get up Everest, even with Sherpas and guides doing most of the support work, is no mean feat; nonetheless a non-climber like myself has to wonder whether these people are really entitled to claim Everest as a trophy. Her repeated blather about being the "first Scandinavian woman" on the summit seems banal, I mean, what's next, the first gay Mexican to make the top? And her constant use of phrases like "Sagamartha, Mother Goddess of the Earth" starts to sound smarmy and condescending, heck, according to Krakauer even the Sherpas mostly refer to it simply as "Everest". The point is, these guided climbs offer a great opportunity for self-absorbed overachievers to make a name for themselves while in the process diluting the achievements of true experts. After all, if (as of 1996) some 600+ successful ascents had been logged, laymen like myself who aren't a part of the climbing fraternity might easily wonder what's so special about the whole thing. Of course, these expeditions do inject lots of badly needed cash into the Sherpas' economy, nonetheless one is inclined to wonder if the "sport" of mountaineering wouldn't be better served, as Krakauer himself suggested in passing near the end of his book, by simply banning oxygen from Everest. If nothing else, it would keep the hacks and wannabes off the hill and restore the summit to its status as a place open only to the very best climbers.
Rating: 
Summary: I Will Survive (to the end of the book)!
Review: For me, this isn't the best climbing account out there. I found Ruth Ann Kocour's "Facing the Extreme" (climbing Denali) much harder to put down. I got rather bored with Ms. Gammelgard's philosophical wanderings. She did seem rather preoccupied with herself at times, but she also displayed compassion for other team mates. I found it interesting that she blamed not being able to climb without oxygen on Scott Fisher, especially since she was always making the point that each person must look out for him or herself. She knew she wanted to climb without oxygen, and she also knew that she needed to properly acclimitize in order to do so. So what stopped her from making sure that she did what was necessary to acclimitize? I am going to read Anatouli Boukreev's "The Climb" to get his perspective. Perhaps he shall shed some light on this. So far, from what I have read, I liked Jon Krakaur's "Into Thin Air" better. At any rate he is a better writer as far as I am concerned.
Rating: 
Summary: Hey Lene, did you ever pay Mountain Madness?
Review: I haven't read this book but I've read Krakauer & Boukreev at least 7 times each. It is public knowledge that Lene G. did not pay Mountain Madness the full fee to be guided up the mountain. Ask Karen Dickenson. Maybe that's why Fischer's expedition had few (and inferior) radios. Hopefully LG paid Mountain Madness (after the fact) with the profits from her book. Otherwise she's just a user who used Fischer's good nature to sleaze her way into his expedition. Even if she paid, it's too late. I have zero respect for her. I would like to read her book but I won't buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Hey Lene, did you ever pay Mountain Madness?
Review: I haven't read this book but I've read Krakauer & Boukreev at least 7 times each. It is public knowledge that Lene G. did not pay Mountain Madness the full fee to be guided up the mountain. Ask Karen Dickenson. Maybe that's why Fischer's expedition had few (and inferior) radios. Hopefully LG paid Mountain Madness (after the fact) with the profits from her book. Otherwise she's just a user who used Fischer's good nature to sleaze her way into his expedition. Even if she paid, it's too late. I have zero respect for her. I would like to read her book but I won't buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Climbing high , writing low
Review: In "Climbing High" Lene Gammelgaard, a Danish mountaineer, becomes the first Scandanavian woman to summit Mount Everest. The book is essentially a chronicle of that historic achievement. This is another in the long line of books that deal with the storm of 1996 that wiped out a number of great climbers and their clients. So far so good. The problems start right away for Gammelgaard when she starts to write.
The book is written in a disjointed "what I did on my summer vacation" sort of way. There is little attempt at anything remotely resembling prose. Each paragraph is tersely written in a notepad jotting sentence structure. Gammelgaard makes a number of rookie grammatical errors that cry out for editing. For example, "I, myself, have great difficulty..." As Strunk and White would say, who else would I be other than myself. Another goes, "Gonna be fun...". Even my six-year-old knows that gonna is not a proper word.
As if this is not enough, Gammelgaard also throws in a few cheesy existential observations that shed no light on the true motivations of semi-suicidal mountaineers. To wit, "I seek solitude, to connect with inner peace. Tai Chi among the giants of the universe. Belonging. Absolute serenity." I wonder how much solitude and inner peace Gammelgaard had while performing bodily functions in full view of male expedition members.
There is very little to be gained by reading this book other than a personal profile and chronicle of Gammelgaards achievement. The book sheds no further light on the 1996 tragedy. I recommend passing on this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Psycho-babble, but at least interesting psycho-babble
Review: It's true that Gammelgaard writes in a disjointed, "dispatch" style, which no doubt irritates some readers. There is no cohesive narrative and the actual words in the book are relatively few. However, there is still considerable merit in this account of the 1996 Everest tragedy, particularly if you're a woman climber. The author is a serene, spiritual sort and reminds you of that fact every few pages. That didn't represent a problem unless you violently eschew anything of that ilk. She repeats maxims such as, "Go slowly, think for yourself, be true to yourself." Hogwash to some, faintly inspiring to others. She paints interesting word portraits of the other climbers, particularly Scott and Anatoly, the Russian climber (who has also written a book, available on Amazon). She's equally adept at explaining her own motivations and psyche. The primary criticism I have is that she spent a paltry amount of time explaining *why* she wanted to climb Everest and really didn't elaborate much on the mental and physical training she undertook in order to accomplish this incredible feat. I recommend this book wholeheartedly, but only if you embrace a more spiritual philosophy, and aren't irritated by an author who shoves that down your throat at every opportunity.
Rating:
Summary: Me, me me......
Review: Lene Gammelgaard survived the 1996 debacle on Mt Everest that left nine people dead. Involved were people from all walks of life who traveled to Nepal from around the world. However, I would say that 80 percent of the book dwells on Ms Gammelgaard and her bubble of "feelings" about her situation, all the while oblivious to events and people around her except inasmuch as they fall within her beam of self-focus. I found her initial insistence on summiting Everest without O's childishly arrogant and irresponsible. Having never topped an "Eight," it shows Ms. Gammelgaard's lack of judgment to think she could go to the highest of them all without the life-saving supplement. Did she put herself on a par with Scott Fischer (who, by the way, climbed WITH O's that day), Anatoli Boukreev, Ed Viesturs? Apparently so. Fortunately, for both herself and the others, she was persuaded by Boukreev to abandon this folly. This incident is the most salient example of similar frivilous behaviors recounted in a primitive journal style that seems not to have profited from much editing. However, her narrow point of view and poor writing skills can in no way diminish Ms.Gammelgaard's accomplishment which is extraordinary under any circumstance. Unlike others, she was dragged neither up nor down the mountain; she made it under her own steam with little complaint and even sacrificed her oxygen cannister to a struggling climber during the descent. What made this book worth two stars was it's relation to the event. Having read everything else available on the 1996 climb, it is interesting and informative to add yet another point of view. I was disappointed that Ms Gammelgaard's was so limited.
Rating:
Summary: a minor book on the everest tragedy
Review: lene is probobly a very upbeat and interesting person but the book is choppy and doesn't grip you like some other books.if you have all the other everest books go ahead and get it but you'll enjoy 'high exposure by breashears and climb by anatoli b. much better
Rating:
Summary: if you ignore the psychobabble...
Review: The disjointed "dispatch" style put me off a little at first, but once you get used to it, this book hums right along. Although her writing is technically not up to par with others who've written about May 1996, Gammelgaard gave this reader a very real sense of how a climber might feel. I simply ignored the psychogibberish (she operates some sort of rehab clinic, so the feel-good inner-god hogwash is to be expected) and the endless references to "Sagamartha, Mother Goddess of the Earth" and enjoyed the book. Of course, I borrowed it from my library, so I might not be as kind if I shelled out real money for it. So pay those overdue fines, and give it a try.
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Summary: Read This Book After You Read Into Thin Air and The Climb
Review: This book is very valuable to read in combination with "Into Thin Air" and "The Climb." These two books have more details on what happened up on Mount Everest during the tragedy. This book is focused more on Lene's personal journey during, before and after the Everest tragedy. It was an amazing journey and she was very determined and brave.
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