You don’t have to be a mountain climber to
know or appreciate the story of Everest.
There have been countless books and movies released over the years about
the tragedy of 1996. Yet, to this day, there’s not one set of facts that
everybody can agree on. So why do we
need another book, and why is Nick van der Leek qualified to tell this story?
I’ve been writing about true crime with
Nick for over a year and one thing we’ve come to know with absolute certainty
is there’s always an underlying pattern of human behavior, regardless of the
story. Paying attention to that
behavior, one can find a bounty of answers at the end of the sometimes grisly yellow
brick road. Everest, although not true
crime, is certainly no different in that respect. So, how exactly does one go about making
sense of the numerous conflicting stories?
Nick’s clever solution to this dilemma is
to turn the mountain into a crime scene; get to know the climbers and
interrogate their accounts and motivations. Then
there’s the physical scene. Can the
mountain itself prove or disprove some of the claims?
Also, not to be over-looked, is Nick’s own expedition
climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Pieces of
his equally entertaining and relevant personal story are weaved into the core
of this narrative reinforcing his credibility.
The reader will likely appreciate having an experienced tri-athlete at
the helm of this investigation.
The interrogation into Everest, much like
climbing a mountain, is done in a series of steps. We start at base camp and methodically move towards
the imposing summit. Each step begins
with an anecdote providing the reader with some context and shall we say,
ambiance, for the chapters ahead.
The
anecdotes themselves are rich with unexpected information. I found myself engaged for hours clicking
through the multiple links embedded in the book. I was grateful to learn the back-stories of
many of those involved to give perspective to their decisions made on that
fateful day.
This isn’t a one-sided story that
identifies heroes and villains nor is it a story about tip-toeing around the
unflattering truth. Nick wasn’t on the
mountain on May 10, 1996, unlike Jon Krakauer, Anatoli Boukreev or Lou
Kasischke, among others, who were there that day and published their memoirs. This is an objective take on a complicated
story, and although Nick is not bashful about sharing his own opinions, it’s
clear his intention is for the reader to form their own education opinion.
NEVEREST isn’t just another book about what
went wrong on the mountain. It’s a
narrative that will enrich you with the gifts of history and humanity. What makes the narrative so special and
gripping is its ability to put the reader on the face of the mountain, in the
middle of the storm. We can vividly
imagine ourselves as Hall or Fischer, and the reality of their circumstances will
no doubt leave you numb.
We’d all like to believe in the midst of a crisis
we’d help others in their desperate time of need. But, what do we do when our own lives are
also at stake? Would we give up our
lives to save another, possibly a stranger?
Who would we have helped that day on that mountain? And in the end, would we be strong enough to
tell the truth? These are some of the
unavoidable and painful questions you’ll be faced with when you read NEVEREST. There’s no better way to grasp the enormity
of this story then to do it from this harrowing 360˚ view.
NEVEREST is available at Amazon.com at this link
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