Name: Dark Summit
ISBN: 9780805083101

Nick Heil

Describes the deadly 2006 climbing season at Mount Everest and discusses the possible reasons behind it, including the growth of commercial climbing and an increase in inexperienced climbers.

The True Story of Everest's Most Controversial Season

Dark Summit

Sarah Sammis

Although Dark Summit sells itself as "the true story of Everest's most controversial season" it also tries to a be a more general history of climbing on Everest. While the details of the mountain's history are interesting and perhaps necessary to help readers put the 2006 season into perspective, the presentation of these facts interrupts the core story.

Nick Heil recreates the 2006 season on Mt Everest and focuses mostly on the climb lead by Russell Brice's Himex team. He breaks the book up into two parts: David Sharp (the expert who died) and Lincoln hall and Thomas Weber (Hall being the man who was pronounced dead but managed to survive the night). He further breaks up the book into chapters named for the different camps along the climb. The David Sharp half takes up 2/3 of the book leaving Lincoln Hall's amazing survival to round out the book in breakneck speed.

The pacing problems come in the David Sharp section. Just as Brice's team is setting out on their climb Heil begins dumping massive amounts of Everest history into his chapters. I think since David Sharp died on the climb and was an Everest celebrity, Heil felt compelled to include a mini biography of the man. Unfortunately Dark Summit isn't set up to be David Sharp's biography. It's supposed to be an examination of what might have gone wrong in the 2006 season or more precisely: what factors were different with Sharp's climb versus Hall's climb that made it possible for one to survive and not the other? With the bulk of the book bogged down with Sharp's life, there isn't much time to actually look at the climb or the 2006 season.

I liked the initial chapter "Katmandu" which sets the stage for the 2006 season and explains the business behind these expeditions. I also enjoyed the entire second section dedicated to Lincoln Hall and Thomas Weber because of the analysis of the rescue methods and the aftermath of the season. If more of the book had been like this final part, I would be raving about this book rather than giving it a luke warm review.

Despite Dark Summit's flaws I did learn a thing or two about Mt. Everest.

Everest - the highest mountain in the world and the ultimate climbing challenge. In 2006, 11 people died attempting to reach the summit, the most fatalities since 1996. But unlike 1996, 2006 saw no surprise blizzard, only the constant dangers posed by unstable ice, merciless cold, thin air - and human nature. Nick Heil tells the shocking true stories of David Sharp, a young British solo climber, who was passed by 40 mountaineers as he lay dying on the slopes of the mountain, and Lincoln Hall who was left for dead yet miraculously survived, and asks: what does climbing the world's highest peak really mean for those who take on the challenge? And how far will they go in their single-minded pursuit of the ultimate mountaineering prize?

Dark Summit The True Story of Everest's Most Controversial Season

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