Everest - Alone at the Summit

I've ready many books on Everest, and this was one of my favourites. Thoroughly recomended.


An enthralling revelation of the psychology of top climbers   July 20, 2001
mail@laurencescotford.co.uk (Brighton, England)
14 out of 14 found this review helpful

What sets this book apart from lesser mountaineering literature is that rather than being contented with writing just an adventure story based on fact, Venables has worked hard to convey the changing psychological states of himself and his fellow climbers. From their despair at encountering an unexpected crevasse half-way up the mountain to their joyful abandoment of a vegetarian diet to eat the stolen prey of an eagle, Venables skillfully pulls the reader into the intense world of the climbing team.

The deeper you get into the book the more you come to realise how far removed from every day reality the team are during their attempt on the world's highest mountain. Their focus on anything other than the new route up Everest seems to dwindle and narrow until eventually the only reality for the climbers is the summit. The description of the nightmarish descent and retreat from the mountain is then so much more disturbing, as reality and the attendant pain suddenly come back into focus for Venables and his American colleagues.

An engaging and enjoyable read that you will find hard to put down.


Great story   March 12, 2001
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

This is a well-told story of an impressive new route. It has inspired me to go out and get into the mountains. I am not sure that it is 'brilliantly written', etc. as the other reviews suggest, but it is a real page-turner - I read it in 2 sittings.

It reveals some of the grim realities of the kind of people who can get to the top of Everest, without supplementary oxygen, but apart from the obvious statements like "they must be real egotists"; it is hard to say more. If you were not there, you can't say how they should have acted, or how you might have acted in their place.

I would say they seemed to push too hard on summit day. Again this is totally subjective, and if you don't push you will never get up there! It seems that only a minor turn for the worse in the weather would have seen three of them dead.

The book shows Mr Webster to be a great climber, acting very bravely waiting for his friend, instead of returning to the South Col, and then suffering the worst injuries. His new book, "Snow in the Kingdom", describing the same climb, should be available over here soon, and I will definitely buy it.


Truly brilliant, inspirational!   June 7, 2000
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

A brilliant book, inspiring, at times amusing, at times deadly serious. Having had only a mild interest in climbing this book has opened up a whole area of adventure I was unaware of. It is a book easily understood by the non climber, he writes an honest acount of the adventure he found himself on. Never afraid to speak his mind Venables gives a highly readable account. Attention to the smaller details sets this book above others I have read. You can easily identify with the many situations he is in.The story of his time on the summit probably is the best section, you can feel the desparation, the lonliness and the stuggle to keep going. I would recomend this book to anyone with even the mildest interest in climbing.