One Mountain Thousand Summits: The Untold Story of Tragedy and True Heroism on K2 [Hardcover]

The mountaineer author tells the story of the 2008 K2 tragedy in two sections - one the story of how the story broke on the internet and in the media, the other focusing on the heroes including Gerard McDonnell, Pemba Gyalje, Tsering (Chhiring) Bhote, and Big Pasang Bhote. There are 8 pages of bw photos and two climbing routes.

Wilco van Rooijen, the leader of the Dutch Norit expedition, used his satellite phone to call in live updates to both his internet webmaster Marten van Eck and his wife Heleen on summit day and as the tragedy unfolded. Initially using the Norit website, the media frenzy started looking for more information fed from other blogs and people at K2 Base Camp. Where the Norit website was cautious in giving out only verified information, some of the other blogs and people gave more information, including speculation and rumours on what was happening. This fueled some misinformation as the story continued to unfold, "until the spin itself threatened to taint the survivors' recollections and the factual evidence at hand." We also acutely feel the worry of those at home vigilantly watching the internet for any word of their loved ones.

For the second half of the book, the author interviewed many of the western survivors and travelled to Kathmandu several times to interview the surviving Sherpas to piece together the story. What he discovered was the selfless heroism that shone through the tragedy.

Gerard McDonnell selflessly worked for many hours to free two Koreans and Jumik Bhote who were tangled in ropes on the Traverse, only to be swept to his death when an ice avalanche from the serac hit him descending the Traverse. ExplorersWeb gave their Best of ExplorersWeb 2008 Award to Gerard McDonnell: "The most selfless effort was made by Irish Gerard MacDonnell, who after two nights on K2's upper slopes including one in an open bivouac, resolved to alone stay and help two Korean climbers and a Nepali Sherpa, climbers he didn't know. Gerard knew well that his effort seriously put his own life at risk. His action is almost unmatched on the 8000ers. ... Gerard was called 'Jesus' by his peers. 'Hero' is a better word."

Pemba Gyalje, Chhiring Dorje, and Pasang Lama down climbed the Traverse and Bottleneck to Camp IV in the dark without fixed ropes with pieces of the serac falling around them and Pasang Lama without an ice-axe. Pemba Gyalje went back up the next day to bring down Marco Confortola who had fallen asleep at the bottom of the Bottleneck. After rousing Marco and starting to descend, an ice avalanche occurred and Pemba grabbed Marco and was able to pull him out of the way of the falling ice, covering him with his own body. Later Pemba went out in search for the lost Wilco van Rooijen and, after Wilco was spotted descending slightly off the Cesan route, descended to Camp III and the next day found Wilco and helped him back to base camp.

Tsering (also spelled Chhirring) Bhote, Jumik's brother, and Big Pasang Bhote left Camp 4 at midnight on August 1 to climb up to the stranded climbers, but they found a lost Korean Go Mi-sun and brought her back to camp IV. The next morning they went out again to climb to the stranded climbers, found Marco at the bottom of the Bottleneck and phoned Pemba Gyalje to come up and bring him down. The ice avalanche (where Pemba saved Marco's life) killed Big Pasang Bhote, the two Koreans and Jumik Bhote. Luckily, Tsering Bhote was a bit lower than Big Pasang Bhote and was able to run to some large rocks that protected him.

I highly recommend this book to understand the frightening and heroic story of K2 in 2008 from the internet and media perspective, the heroic rescues of the stranded climbers, and providing insights and details of the Sherpas invoved. The use of sat phones to provide live feeds to internet websites and blogs, and how the media frenzy unfolded is interesting and reflects so much modern media stories. I enjoyed reading about the Sherpas, their personalities, how money fuelled them to become climbers, and how they live in Kathmandu. I was disappointed in the small number of photos, not even in colour.

For one man's harrowing story of survival, I recommend Surviving K2 by: Surviving Three Days in the Death Zone by Wilco van Rooijen.

For a minute-by minute summary of the events, including all the players in the K2 2008 tragedy, I recommend No Way Down: Life And Death On K2 by Graham Bowley.

Ed Viesturs devotes a chapter of his excellent book K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain to share his views on the heroes and the contributing factors to the tragedy.

The story is true to the book's strapline - it's a simple story of tradgedy and true heroism. However, it's told in such a complicated and repetitive way that you get bored hearing the same details time and time again.

There is lots of interesting historical and cultural information about Himalayan climbing and the role of sherpas - but again I found that this distracted from, rather than enhancing, the main focus of the book.

Disappointing.