Description:
For years Heidi Howkins, a young climber, nursed an ambitious dream: to reach the summit of K2--the world's second-tallest and one of its least accessible peaks--without using oxygen. She eventually did, though not without plenty of scary moments and much cause for reflection. Howkins, addressing the reader through stories told to a bemused hitchhiker, reports much more than the sheer achievement of her ascents of K2, notable though they were. Along the way she tells him, and us, of a failed marriage, of the logistical nightmares that accompany any expedition to remote places, of the endless conflicts that can ensue when climbing partners are not carefully vetted. As the lone woman on her K2 climbs, Howkins had more than the usual problems to contend with, though those problems--bad weather, scary bus rides along the Karakoram Highway, the constant presence of death--were hard enough. All of them get an airing in Howkins's book, but for all that, her sense of adventure far outweighs the many downsides. Why take on such a challenge in the first place? A friend warned her about trying to explain, and Howkins toys with a few explanations: the rush gained by conquering fear, denying the fragility of human existence, and "embracing survival with gusto." In the end, though, her best explanation is this: "When you get to the top of K2, there's nowhere left to go. There is a cessation of passion, of the desire to move forever upwards. There is emptiness, and the closure of a circle. You are back where you started. You're at peace." --Gregory McNamee
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