Able exploration of mountaineering's personal costs, placed in
context among the pleasures of climbing high and hard. Why do
people climb? asks Coffey. And why would anyone love someone who
repeatedly risks his or her life in the mountains? For the
climbers, some suggest that their thirst for the mountains is an
addiction; others, like Reinhold Messner, believe that "endurance,
fear, suffering cold, and the state between survival and death are
such strong experiences that we want them again and again." For
those who experience the loss of a loved one while climbing-like
Coffey, who wrote about her partner Joe Tasker's death on Everest
in Fragile Edge (not reviewed)-it is vital to understand what
drives the climber: engagement in the throes of an exciting
experience, being in the presence of the divine, the fire of
ambition, the chemistry of adrenaline and endorphins. Most climbers
are willing to admit the pure selfishness of their enterprise; "no
one was putting a gun to our heads and forcing us to do it. And we
weren't doing it for the good of anyone else," says American
alpinist Mark Twight. Being attracted to such an individual isn't
insane, writes Coffey. They often possess an energy that is deeply
engaging, but when love sinks in its hooks, the consequences can be
hard. Coffey's friend told her that climbers "pursued a passion
above their responsibility for and love for their family and that
took precedence." It is worse still for those who had no choice,
the children and parents of those who died or were gravely injured.
The costs for them include a sense of abandonment for the child and
"the lingering shadow grief" when the natural order of life is
violated for the parent. Even so, Coffey notes of her own case,
death jolts some to life. A fair summation of what impels a climber
and an equally fair summation of the potentially brutal
consequences. (Kirkus Reviews)
Climbers who court danger in the world's highest places risk far
more than just their own skins. When tragedy strikes, what happens
to the people who love them? Why would anyone choose to invest in a
future with a high-altitude climber? What is life like in the
shadow of the mountain? Such questions have long been taboo within
the international world of mountaineering. Now Maria Coffey breaks
this silence. She recounts climbers' stories of near-death
experiences, and gives a voice to the families and loved ones of
Chris Bonington, Ed Viesturs, Anatoli Boukreev and Alex Lowe,
amongst many other famous names. Her riveting narrative weaves
tales of adventure with first-person accounts of the people left
behind, highlighting the conflicting beauty, passion and
devastation of this alluring obsession.
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