Buried in the Sky: The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2's Deadliest Day

This is a wonderful book, well researched, carefully documented, absolutely accurate and beautifully written and edited. It is a true adventure that takes the reader into the world of climbing Nepali Sherpas and Pakistani High Altitude Porters (HAPs), a world seldom experienced and little understood by westerners. We usually only hear about the westerners on the mountains and even in death most Eastern Sherpas and HAPs are not identified by name in news reports. The book weaves a true tale of tragedy, courage, and humanity about the most skilled climbers in the world who carry the rest of us to the top of unforgiving mountains inhabited by their goddesses. It is also the story of their culture, their families, and physiologically why they are especially adapted to climbing at high altitudes. This book leads us into their world. My husband and I have a personal interest in this story and have carefully followed the books published about the 2008 tragedy on K2 as Jumik and Tshering Bhote, Nepali Sherpa friends of ours, were on that mountain. They are brothers of Pemba, our lead Sherpa on our visits to Nepal. They have cared for us, driven us, guided us, and befriended us, as Sherpas do. Jumik lost his life when a serac fell on him. Tshering survived but will be forever marked by that terrible event as will his family, also friends of ours. I wish that I could say Jumik died in a place where he wanted to be doing what he loved; but, truthfully, he was doing what he could to provide for his family. People in that part of the world mostly live in abject poverty. Money can be made in the mountains, risky as climbing is. Jumik, and the other HAPs and Sherpas, do not climb for the love of climbing. They climb for money. Jumik was doing honorable work for honorable reasons, and this book honors his memory as well as all of those Sherpas and HAPs who were on the mountain that day. It tells the story of terrible death and great heroism and why these skilled mountaineers climb. It introduces us to their humanity as well as ours. I urge you to enter this world through the eyes of Amanda and Peter. You will be glad you did.

I found this a well written and researched book on all that goes on with a big mountain climb. It shows the selfishness of those whose only goal it to get to the top and forget the humanity of it all. Those who pay to go up dismiss the people that make it possible to get there and even worse, don't think that it is worth helping them when the porters are in trouble. It exposes mountain climbing in this day and age for what it is now, self absorbed people spending a lot of money on a rediculous goal. I hope it serves as a wake up call for those who continue to climb. It is not the climbing it is the loss of caring for others that is dsturbing. There are many heroes in this book as well and nice to give them credit, many lost their lives helping others. A great concise read for those who want to know what happened on K2 that year.

I picked up this book after watching the documentary film "The Summit." The book starts off with a history and description of Sherpa culture and beliefs as well as a look into the culture of Pakistani porters. The protagonists are a few Pakistani high-altitude porters and Sherpas. I have to admit that I was put off by this, at first, because it's unusual for an adventure book to start from a non-Western point of origin. However, in retrospect I appreciate this a lot. I honestly had no idea that among there was so much diversity among the low-and-high altitude porters and would not have known this if this book started with a common, western point-of-view. After the history lesson of how western climbing ambitions transformed life in the Karakorum and Himalaya regions, the story of the tragedy finally took off. I believe the authors did a perfectly fine job recounting the events leading up to the tragedy as well as the aftermath. It answered some questions that the movie "The Summit" left hanging and it was just as exciting as "Into Thin Air." Overall, a very engaging read that I won't spoil here. I think one takeaway from this book is the spotlight put on the relationship between western climbers and the porter community. At first, I thought that the relationship was somewhat exploitative. I think this belief is widely-held; however, this book made me see that there is much more involved. No HAP or Sherpa is ever forced up a mountain. Good high-altitude porters are paid very high wages compared to the status quo to do these jobs and the decision to take jobs on dangerous peaks like K2, Nanga Parbat, etc, is not one made lightly by these men and their families. It seems that working at high-altitude for a Sherpa or HAP is much like a westerner working a high-risk job such commercial fishing, logging, etc. In the west, we don't ever think of that work environment as exploitative. These workers are paid to take the risk, know the risks, and definitely have made their own decisions.

I found this account of the tragic ascent of K2 in 2008 in which 11 climbers and porters lost their lives deeply moving. Set against the sheer stupidity and mercenary motives which led far too many teams to attempt to scale the mountain's deadly Bottleneck, so narrow it could only be traversed in single file, in a tight weather window of two or three days, it is the heroism of a few that stays with me. Some of the actions of Sherpas and other porters plus the odd Western climber were extraordinarily brave- these men must have known their chances of survival were minimal. I found the first few chapters a bit slow going but as the story progressed I appreciated the background knowledge they provided on individuals and the pressures they faced in various ways. As the tragedy unfolded I found the descriptions of what they endured and the decisions they made at critical times deeply affecting. A great testament to true mountaineers.

there have been plenty of movies and documentaries on the K2 tragedy, but none is as comprehensive as this book. Seen from the eyes of the High Altitude Porters who were there it really tell the story as it happened while international media only focused on Western climber.

Le point de départ de Buried in the sky est le désastre survenu au K2 pendant l'été 2008 où 11 alpinistes, occidentaux et locaux, sont décédés. Le livre raconte de façon précise et complète ses tenants et aboutissants, au-delà de la chute de sérac qui en fut le déclencheur. Le simple récit très documenté, réalisé sans pathos, mais avec une compréhension fine de la problématique des ascensions extrêmes aurait déjà été passionnant, mais le livre est beaucoup plus que cela. Il renouvelle le genre du récit de montagne, car on peut le considérer comme un livre total : aucune dimension liée au drame ne lui échappe. On y trouve bien sûr, loi du genre oblige, un résumé de l'histoire de la conquête du K2. Mais c'est l'histoire collective, familiale, culturelle et sociale des travailleurs/porteurs de haute altitude qui sert de fil directeur au récit. L'ouvrage leur rend un hommage appuyé avec juste raison. Avec une compréhension rare, il les resitue aussi dans leurs contextes, Sherpas, Bhote ou Shimsalis et l'on apprend à connaître dans leurs subtilités, ces populations sans lesquelles la plupart des expéditions occidentales ne pourraient réussir. L'écriture de l'ouvrage a nécessité aux deux auteurs plusieurs années et de nombreux voyages dans l'Himalaya, afin de se rendre au plus près des circonstances du drame, mais surtout pour mieux connaître les protagonistes et appréhender leur environnement. C'est un travail qui force le respect, l'annexe qui liste les sources et les personnes rencontrées, qui explique comment les récits individuels ou articles de presse ont été recoupés, fait honneur aux auteurs et servira certainement de référence dans les écoles de journalistes. Ce qui mérite également d'être souligné, c'est que par petites touches et sans démonstration appuyée, ni jugement simpliste, le récit nous livre un point de vue sur le milieu et la pratique des expéditions extrêmes, avec ses grandeurs mais aussi ses petitesses, qui contribue à expliquer les circonstances de la catastrophe. Car, la chute de sérac seule n'aurait pas dû conduire à 11 décès, alors même que le temps était superbe. Il y a en effet dans le livre une analyse des circonstances organisationnelles et humaines qui ont conduit à un chiffre aussi élevé. De nombreuses cartes, très bien faites, et un cahier photographique facilitent la compréhension du récit. Un mot du style. Le livre se lit bien et le style est agréable. On voit que les auteurs s'adressent aux plus grand nombre, y compris à ceux qui ignorent tout de la montagne, car ils expliquent avec un souci pédagogique les aspects techniques de leur récit(*). Mais à mon goût il manque de personnalité. Il correspond, comme la construction de l'ouvrage, au standard journalistique américain moderne et je dois dire que je commence à trouver lassant de lire des ouvrages souvent conçus et rédigés de la même façon, notamment avec premier chapitre centré sur un épisode au suspens, puis flash back' Je trouve cela d''autant plus dommageable que les deux auteurs ont de toute évidence une personnalité qui mériterait d'être partagée avec les lecteurs. (*) Une explication qui m'a paru originale et probablement plus juste que ce qu'on lit habituellement : « At the extreme altitude, the percentage of oxygen in the air is the same as at sea level, but the air pressure is much lower 'the same volume of gas has fewer moleculesin it. A a result, the body can't extract enough oxygen from the air. (')"

Es un libro muy bueno e interesante, pero en él no encontraremos una literatura clásica de montaña, sino más bien una historia de la relación entre los sherpas o los pakistaníes con la montaña. Leyendo nos podemos informar de cuáles son sus ambiciones, por qué escalan, cómo se lo toman sus familias, qué ganan y qué pierden con el contacto con los occidentales, cómo es su forma de relacionarse con estos, y otras interesantes cuestiones. Sin embargo, la descripción de la tragedia del K2 no me ha parecido tan detallada y absorbente como la que se refleja en otro libro (NO WAY DOWN), que para mí logra captar más la atención y es un relato más puro de montaña. Recomendable para los interesados en el modo de vida de sherpas y pakistaníes de alta montaña. A los que busquen una narración detallada del desastre del K2 les recomiendo NO WAY DOWN.

Gripping book...hubby says its the best he's read in more than a decade.. and he's an avid reader. 10/10