K2 Comes Alive in ‘Savage Summit’
There are fourteen mountains in the world which have peaks over 8,000 meters (26,000 feet) high. These peaks are in what’s called the Death Zone – “an altitude above which life begins to die.” Only 9 men have managed to climb all fourteen, and no women have done so. Two have died trying.
Mount Everest, because it’s the tallest mountain in the world, and because more people try to climb it than any other, gets all the publicity. But while Everest may be the tallest, it’s not the most difficult to climb. That honor goes to K2. As Jennie Jordan writes:
“By the end of the 2003 climbing season, nearly 2,000 [people] had climbed Everest, but fewer than 200 had climbed K2. Everest had 180 deaths, K2 53. 9.4 percent versus nearly 27 percent .
As of 2004, ninety women had summited Everest, only five have made it to the top of K2. All five of them are dead. Three of them died just trying to get down, the other two died while trying to ascend yet another 8,000 meter mountain.
“Who were these pioneering climbers,” asks Jordan, ” and why did they choose a life on the edge of death? Why did they die, and why did one mountain claim so many of them? How did they make the decision to leave family, husband, and children to venture into the world’s highest and most deadly playground? Did their gender have a hand in their deaths? And while the mountain may not have cared that they were women, were there other forces at work that did?”
Liliane Barrard (1948-1986) died on descent from K2 in 1986
Julie Tullis (1939-1986) died on descent from K2 in 1986
Alison Hargreaves (1962-1995) died on descent of K2 in 1995
Wanda Rutkiewicz (1943-1992) summited K2 in 1986, died on Kangchenjunga in 1992
Chantal Mauduit (1964-1998) summited K2 in 1992, died on Dhaulagiri in 1998
In Savage Summit, Jordan tells the story not only of these five women and their expeditions, but also those of other women and men who had tried and failed to reach the top of K2, many losing their lives in the attempt.
Alison Hargreaves will perhaps be the most familiar climber to the average reader, since as a mother she left her two children behind when she died. The press, particularly in England, were very harsh about her ‘selfishness’ in so doing, illuminating the double standard – there’s little outcry when a father dies on a mountain…
It’s a gripping story that Jordan weaves, as she tries to make us understand the passion that drives women – and men – to climb these mountains. Women have been climbing mountains – both metaphorically and physically, since forever, and these women faced more obstacles than men ever did. Jordan lays bear it all. She asks hard questions as well – do the women die because they are too inexperienced to be on the mountain, included in expeditions only at the behest of sponsors who want the publicity engendered by a woman succeeding?
When I read stories of skiers, of surfers, of hang gliders, I often get the urge to go out and try it for myself. I’m not going to do that with mountain climbing – but then, 99% of the people who read and enjoy books of this kind are armchair adventurers, and I don’t feel bad about it! I have to admit I felt chilled at the particular mindset of mountain climbers – something I’d also felt while reading Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer (which chronicled a disastrous 1996 attempt on Mount Everest). Their intent is to reach the top and get down, and so climbers leave their struggling partners behind (either on the way up or the way down), dooming them to die. When I first read of this phenomenon in Into Thin Air I was shocked, and I didn’t become any more resigned in Savage Summit.
There’s 16 pages of photos, which are especially poignant when one realizes that each of the women smiling out at you is dead…frozen to death on an unforgiving slab of rock.
A must read for anyone who loves real-life adventure stories, full of bravery, cowardice, stupidity, bad judgement, bad luck, determination and above all a burning ambition to succeed.
The fourteen peaks above 8,000 meters:
Everest – 8848 – Nepal/China (Tibet)
K2 – 8611 – Pakistan/China
Kangchenjunga – 8586 – Nepal/India
Lhotse – 8516 – Nepal/China (Tibet)
Makalu – 8463 – Nepal/China (Tibet)
Cho Oyu – 8201 – Nepal/China (Tibet)
Dhaulagiri – 8167 – Nepal
Manaslu – 8163 – Nepal
Nanga Parbat – 8126 – Pakistan
Annapurna I – 8091 – Nepal
Gasherbrum I – 8068 – Pakistan/China
Broad Peak – 8047 – Pakistan/China
Gasherbrum II – 8035 – Pakistan/China
Shishapangma – 8027 – China (Tibet)
