Re:Into Thin Error: Mountaineer Ed Viesturs on Making Mistak...
by isaachawley on Thursday June 18, 2020 @11:34AM
(#23564033)
Interesting! Would you compare Roberts' book with Boukreev's response to Into Thin Air, The Climb?
Re:Into Thin Error: Mountaineer Ed Viesturs on Making Mistak...
by liversage on Thursday June 18, 2020 @02:04PM
(#23565791)
Honestly, it's many years since I read these books so my memory is a bit hazy, but from what I remember Boukreev's book was a response to what he saw as Krakauer's criticism of his actions as a climbing leader during the fatal 1996 Everest disaster.
Roberts is more like a historian with the perspective that Herzog perhaps wasn't so heroic after all but instead, despite poor leadership and reckless decision-making, was saved by his companions that were the true unsung heroes of the expedition.
The first book is a rebuttal, the second is trying to reveal what really happened many years ago.
However, I have later read True Summit: What Really Happened on the Legendary Ascent of Annapurna by David Roberts which provides a different perspective on the Annapurna expedition.
And to reply to the grandparent post: Joe Simpson has written a number of books and while they are not specifically about safety culture they often touch on the ethics and dilemmas of high altitude climbing just as Touching the Void did by telling a story where the rope was cut.