No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World’s 14 Highest Peaks
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Product Description
This gripping and triumphant memoir follows a living legend of extreme mountaineering as he makes his assault on history, one 8,000-meter summit at a time.
For eighteen years Ed Viesturs pursued climbing’s holy grail: to stand atop the world’s fourteen 8,000-meter peaks, lacking the aid of bottled oxygen. But No Shortcuts to the Top is as much about the man who would become the first American to achieve that goal as it is about his stunning quest. As Viesturs recounts the tales of his most upsetting climbs, he reveals a man torn between the flat, safe world he and his loved ones share and the majestic and deadly places where only he can go.
A preternaturally cautious climber who once turned back 300 feet from the top of Everest but who would not shrink from a peak (Annapurna) known to aver the life of one climber for every two who reached its summit, Viesturs lives by an unyielding motto, “Reaching the summit is discretionary. Getting down is mandatory.” It is with this philosophy that he vividly describes fatal errors in judgment made by his fellow climbers as well as a few of his own close calls and gallant rescues. And, for the first time, he details his own pivotal and heroic role in the 1996 Everest disaster made legendary in Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air.
In addition to the raw excitement of Viesturs’s odyssey, No Shortcuts to the Top is leavened with many amusing moments revealing the company between climbers. It is more than the first full account of one of the staggering accomplishments of our time; it is a portrait of a courageous and devoted family tree man and his beliefs that shaped this most perilous and magnificent pursuit.
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mountaineering books and videos are bought to hear and see about the climbs, with views and techniques discussed. not to hear about viestur’s mommy worries while he traipses all over the world. yeah, yeah, he’s careful because he likes his wife and family tree. yeah, yeah, he worries about them while he is gone. but he still goes. and still makes a business out of danger, not his veterinarian diploma. this guy has spent most of his young life in one of the most selfish pursuits on the planet, and i suspect had a fantastic time doing so. now he tells us that the whole time he was eaten up with regard for his family tree?
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
Did Mountain Hard Wear commission this book from Mr. Viesturs? It certainly seemed so. This was terribly written, with some truly disgusting passages. (Skip the section where he talks about festering frostbite on a fellow climber’s face if you have a queasy stomach.) I bought this book with high expectations and am very glad that I only paid half fee for it. I don’t judge that it was skill that took Mr. Viesturs up all of persons “8000ers” WITHOUT SUPPLEMENTAL OXYGEN (as he reminds the reader countless times throughout the book) but was, as a replacement for, a massively inflated ego that allowed him to virtually float upward through thin air.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
This is a very self centered account. I got tired of hearing how fantastic Ed Viesturs was and then I got really tired of all of the quotations from additional sources about how fantastic Ed was. I didn’t get much insight into mountaineering or climbing philosophy. To some extent of a shill for his commercial sponsor. Every time he mentioned leaving his tent, he had to name the make and model – repeatedly.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
Even if you never climb any mountain, this right tale will inspire you to beat whatever personal goal you’ve set for yourself.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
Since many of the positives of this book were mentioned by additional reviewers, I’d like to point out a few of the book’s undesirable qualities.
First off, belaboring the point. When I read a cookbook, each recipe doesn’t specify to sift the flour. That information is usually provided at the beginning and by inference is applied to all subsequent recipes. When I read time and time again that Ed isn’t using bottled oxygen, it starts to drive me nuts. Yea I get it. You’re the man. You don’t use supplemental oxygen unless you’re a guide, so don’t keep reminding me. Maybe this style of writing was to make the record absolutely clear, I don’t know. For myself, I would appreciate an leader more if they had faith in the readers to remember one generality placed in the beginning of the book.
Secondly, was this book edited? On page 278 Ed says “I’ve permanently believed that you need to listen to the mountain and watch for the signs it’s giving you.” Then on page 282, on the same incline of Annapurna, he says “I’ve permanently believed that the mountain tells you whether to go up, stay place, or go down.” He just said this! Even an amateur copy editor would see this and recommend removal. Maybe this really isn’t a 2nd criticism just a corollary of the first.
The negatives aside, the substory concerning the French hiker Jean-Christophe Lafaille was brilliant. And learning of Ed’s early days in Washington racing up Rainier was pretty cool. Ed’s candor concerning additional hiker partners is to some extent appealing, if nearly risque. I am thankful to Mountain Hardwear for providing this book for free……I would recommend taking it out on loan from the library because its certainly not work taking up space in a book shelf (there’s small 2nd read potential here).
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5