Mountaineering is not just an activity, but an art of learning and mastering the mountains. It requires courage, patience, and a deep understanding of the terrain, weather patterns, and the behavior of ice and snow. The early explorers of the often termed Third Pole of the world, the Hindu Kush-Karakoram-Himalayan system, faced immense challenges without the benefit of modern-day equipment and technology. They had to blaze trails in unknown territories, win the confidence of local governance, and brave harsh weather conditions without proper gear or medicines. Yet, their passion for exploration and discovery drove them to chart new paths, making it possible for future generations to go even further and higher.
As someone who hails from the Western Himalayas, I have only been an armchair mountaineer, yet the rugged terrain and majestic peaks of the backcountry continue to captivate me. So, when I came across Mick Conefrey’s book, The Ghosts of K2: The Epic Saga of the First Ascent, I knew I had to read it. The book is a gripping account of the first ascent of the world’s second-highest and deadliest mountain, K2, and the many challenges faced by the pioneering mountaineers. It transports you to a world of adventure and stories of early mountaineers’ struggles and triumphs that makes you realize that mountaineering is not just a physical feat but a mental and emotional journey that requires immense dedication and sacrifice.
With my new Kindle e-reader, I now have the freedom to browse through a vast selection of books and cherry-pick the ones that catch my interest, just like movies. Before, I had to rely on a limited collection of books that had been gathering dust for years, which I could only read sporadically. This book offered a refreshing contrast to my previous read, George Orwell’s dystopian classic, 1984. The Ghosts of K2 has also given me a newfound appreciation for the convenience and accessibility of modern technology. It’s both amusing and sobering to realize that even if you manage to read 12 books a year, which on average is modest a-book-a-month, you would only be able to read a total of 720 books in your entire lifetime of 60 years (assuming you start reading at the age of 20). This fact makes me harbor a silly thought briefly—whether reading books is even worth it, and instead, why not watch a couple of movies or play games that are created directly through the combined efforts of hundreds, if not more, people.
Beginning with the first survey of the Karakoram range in 1856 by members of the Great Trigonometric Survey of British India led by Thomas Montgomerie, who climbed the Harmukh mountain just North of Srinagar in Bandipore, Kashmir, and noted the staggering peaks of the Karakoram range, located some 210 km to the North-east. The book covers the experiences and explorations of many notable mountaineers who attempted to climb K2 over the years, including Eckenstein and Crowley in 1902, the Duke of Abruzzi in 1909, Charlie Houston in 1938 and 1953, and Fritz Wiessner in 1939, as well as the first successful ascent of K2 by the Italian duo Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli, who were part of the expedition led by Ardito Desio.
The book vividly describes the challenges and hardships faced by mountaineers during their attempts to ascend K2. These include being cut off from the outside world for months, enduring prolonged treacherous weather conditions, navigating technical difficulties, and dealing with the constant threat of avalanches and rockfall, as well as mental fatigue—impaired judgments, disorientation, and hallucinations that can arise at high altitudes.
The confluence of two contrasting worlds is evident through the lives of the locals, including porters and sherpas, and the western mountaineers. These citizens of two different worlds represent distinct idiosyncrasies, reflecting their dissimilar experiences, cultural backgrounds, and lifestyles. It’s amusing to think that some of these explorers have unintentionally taken the earliest known selfies or self-portraits while capturing their experiences and documenting their journeys.
On the other hand, today, there are even “lone wolves”, as the author described, who rock up at the base camp of big mountains to launch a solo attack during the available good weather window. Göran Kropp, a Swedish adventurer from Sweden, was one such maverick who pedaled 8,000 miles carrying 240 lbs. of gear over five months. In May 1996, he ascended Mount Everest without assistance or supplemental oxygen, just days after the tragedy that claimed the lives of eight climbers. He then cycled back to Stockholm, completing the entire journey in one year. I hope to read his personal account in his little-known book, Ultimate High: My Everest Odyssey.
As a final note, I’ll leave you with some quotes from the book.
When they finally got him back to the others, Pfannl’s condition worsened. In his delirium, he called Aleister Crowley into his tent and told him that he felt as if he was being split into three parts: the first two seemed relatively friendly, but the third was a huge threatening-looking mountain with a dagger in its hand.
– Mick Conefrey, The Ghosts of K2: The Epic Saga of the First Ascent
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It was easy to become obsessed with all the immediate problems at hand. On an expedition to a big mountain like K2, with all its challenges and hazards, a climber could forget that there was a bigger world out there, where other people were struggling with other sorts of problems, which in their own way could be just as daunting, or indeed far more daunting, than the question of how to get up a sheer rock face. And if other people could conquer seemingly insurmountable difficulties in their lives, then perhaps so could he.
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There’s a line repeated in many articles and books about a mountain being a climber’s best possible burial ground. This is comforting to grieving friends and relatives, but the people who I’ve met and interviewed for this book and the earlier documentary have all been drawn to mountains for life-affirming reasons rather than to dice with death for its own sake.
photograph by Kuno Lechner, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
ShySnail 