Climbers behaving badly | High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed

And I thought pro cycling was dirty! | High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed | Michael Kodas

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	• High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed Michael Kodas Hyperion, 2008 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 44 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Honest assessment of problems on Everest but a little one sided at times.

Over the past twenty years or so the culture surrounding the Everest climbing community has changed and it has not been for the better. The author tells his own tale of a failed summit bid in 2004 with a dysfunctional team from Connecticut. The book also tells the story of Nils Antezana, a doctor who perished on the mountain also during the 2004 climbing season. He bounces between these stories and other briefer tales that demonstrate the commercialization, greed and lawlessness that is now common on the mountain.

The book is certainly unique from prior books about Everest by concentrating on its' unsavory side. Dishonest outfitters, incompetent guides and rampant theft are not uncommon in the height of the climbing season when people and money are drawn to the mountain.

It turns out that Everest, although the world's tallest, is certainly not the most technically challenging climb. The path to the top is stocked with supplies from Sherpas, crevasses are bridged with aluminum ladders, and ropes are pre-installed for the climbers. Therefore, the mountain doesn't attract those climbers that simply want a challenging climb but those that mostly want recognition for reaching the top of the world. Rich clients hire guides to get them to the top rather than working their way up by training and gaining experience on lesser peaks. Others want to conquer Everest to hopefully launch their own motivational speaking careers.

The book is certainly interesting and the author does not pull any punches when describing the deeds of some of the unscrupulous guides and outfitters. However, I would have liked the author to address some of the other questions that persist, especially among the non-climber community. For example, the author never addresses the issue of the selfishness that it takes for someone to take such risks when they often have loved ones who depend on them back home. I'm not saying it is right or wrong, but an analysis of this moral dilemma would have greatly improved the book.

The other thing I didn't like about the book is that the main people in the story are presented in a very black and white manner. There are good guys and there are bad guys but the shades of gray, which invariably exist in real life, are poorly demonstrated. This is best represented in the story of Nils Antezana, a wealthy but foolish Bolivian-American doctor who has some mountaineering experience but is woefully unprepared for a mountain like Everest. He winds up hiring a guide who he knows from previous expeditions in South America named Gustavo Lisi. Lisi who has a very checkered past as a guide ultimately leaves his client on the mountain to perish. Antezana is presented as nothing other than a sympathetic character that has no blame in his own death. However, Antezana was so consumed by summit fever he continued to climb with Lisi even after having serious misgivings about the guide's behavior lower on the mountain. Questions should have also been raised about whether someone who is 69 years old and a relatively inexperienced climber should have been attempting Everest in the first place. Also, why didn't he hire a more reputable guiding service or at least do a background check on the man to whom he was entrusting his life? The author doesn't delve much into these and other issues, simply presenting Lisi as the bad guy, which he certainly is, and failing to assign any responsibility to Antezana who certainly should have shared in the blame for this tragedy.

This was an interesting read and I'm glad the author has brought the ugly underbelly of Everest more into the light. I would have liked a more critical analysis of the Antezana story and climbing culture in general.

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Climbers behaving badly

What happens when you take several hundred wealthy westerners and put them in a remote location in one of the world's poorest countries? What if each of these wealthy people brings thousands of dollars of equipment and leaves it unattended for days at a time? Among other things, you get thefts, scam artists, drug dealers, and prostitutes. These losers are not above stealing oxygen bottles or tents at high camps, when someone's life might depend on this equipment.

Bad behavior characterizes some of the Sherpas, Nepalese and Chinese, but it also distinguishes many of Everest's climbers. There are no standards for guides, so any loser can pretend to be a guide in hopes of getting a client to pay his way to Everest. Kodas builds his story around two expeditions led by scumbags, one of which happened to be his own expedition. That compromises his objectivity, but he's honest enough about his own mistakes to boost his credibility.

In addition to criminal behavior, Everest attracts dirtbag climbers who free ride on everyone else. Yuppie peakbaggers pay more than $50K each for a professional expedition that hires experienced guides, helps set the ladders on the Khumbu Icefall and the ropes on the Hillary Step, and provides infrastructure to rescue climbers in trouble. For under $5K, dirtbags can just show up and free ride on everyone's infrastructure, knowing that ethical guides will rescue them if needed.

If you're dreaming of Everest, you should read this book first. In fact, you'd be best off picking a different mountain. Even if you have no intention to climb Everest, Kodas gives us a compelling story of his own attempts, interwoven with the tragedy of another climber. I found the weaving of stories annoying at times - - like most journalists writing books, he switches between stories every five pages - - but interesting.

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And I thought pro cycling was dirty!

Kodas' book makes its very clear that high-altitude climbing on Mt. Everest is even dirtier and more lethal than the Tour ever could be. At least there, competitors don't steal the equipment you need to survive and there is vetting in place to insure only those capable of racing at that level are allowed in the race. On Mt. Everest, its anything and everthing goes and, as a result, people die some of the most horrific ways possible. At least in cycling, the drug user's only hurt themselves.

Krakauer's book, Into Thin Air, opened the book on what Everest in the late 20th century was like. This book tears it wide open. Money, ego, bragging rights, and an all-obsessive need to get to the top play a major role and with no controls in place, any one can act as a guide and let people who have no business being there pretend they're the next Hillary. Michael Kodas reveals it all from both personal experience as well as research into other climbers.

High Crimes is a powerful indictment on the appalling state of mountaineering today. It certainly has changed my views of those who climb these mountains. In my eyes, they are no better than pro cyclists.

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Its the truth!

I have attempted the summit of Everest twice. I was a member of the 2005 and 2006 Himex expeditions based on the north side. This is the most honest depiction of the north side of Mt Everest.

I can tell you that the Discovery Channel's series called "Everest Beyond the Limit" that chronicles our summit attempt in 2006 dares not tell the true story of what goes on in on the north side of Everest. Money, greed, egos, lack of integrity, the Chinese and more money is what prevents the Discovery Channel and others from telling the truth. The truth is in this book.

When I buy a non-fiction book, I am looking for accurate accounts of what happened. I want to know the truth regardless of a particular author's writing style. This book tells the story that so many are afraid to tell.
If you cannot handle the truth about the north side of Everest and of the many low-life guides and expedition leaders, then you are not ready for the real world. If you want the truth and a real life discription of the real Everest then buy the book.

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interesting

This is a well written book about the underside of climbing Everest. It's a sad story about the greed and lack of decency that sometimes grips mountaineering. Kodas details the story of several climbers who have died trying to summit the mountain and others who have watched them fade.

One particularly sad story reads, "Max Chaya and his Sherpa spent an hour giving David oxygen and trying to get him on his feet, until Russell radioed Max, who was weeping, and coaxed him to get a more on before his own oxygen tanks were exhausted. Max recited the Lords Prayer in French to the dying climber, then headed down. When he got back to camp, Max, who had just achieved his years-long dream of climbing the Seven Summits, wasn't in the mood to celebrate. He zipped himself into his tent and cried for two hours." (p. 303)

Unlike Krakauer's Into Thin Air, I did not find this book to be self promoting or exculpatory in any way. Just a good yet tragic read.

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