Sean Gursky reviewed Buried in the sky by Peter Zuckerman
Review of 'Buried in the sky' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
The money was good, and there was a fair chance of getting killed, which seems attractive at the time.
This is a brutally honest and heartbreaking telling of a tragic event on K2. My exposure to the genre of Himalayan expeditions and disasters is limited, I have watched many documentaries, read Krakauer and soak up whatever program Discovery Channel provides, but this was the first time the story was from the focus on the Sherpa.
The story elegantly wound regional and political issues together in with character back stories to help the reader appreciate why this person was doing what they were, and why it was significant. Tensions and motives take on a whole new meaning at Base Camp when you understand the racism that exists. The desire to risk life is not for fame, but to provide for their family.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from …
The money was good, and there was a fair chance of getting killed, which seems attractive at the time.
This is a brutally honest and heartbreaking telling of a tragic event on K2. My exposure to the genre of Himalayan expeditions and disasters is limited, I have watched many documentaries, read Krakauer and soak up whatever program Discovery Channel provides, but this was the first time the story was from the focus on the Sherpa.
The story elegantly wound regional and political issues together in with character back stories to help the reader appreciate why this person was doing what they were, and why it was significant. Tensions and motives take on a whole new meaning at Base Camp when you understand the racism that exists. The desire to risk life is not for fame, but to provide for their family.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
Buried in the Sky does not put the blame on a single incident that lead to the fatalities, but it does show how each person, team and decision contributed to the failure. The story is researched, verified and I found myself reading the footnotes for quotes to see what level of diligence the authors put in this book, and it was overwhelming and crushing as the fatality rate was "30.5 percent, higher than the casualty rate on Omaha Beach on D-day."
Krakauer had public disputes with Anatoli Boukreev, Russian climber and guide, on the events of Into Thin Air. Buried in the Sky shows that multiple stories of the truth can exist and it's not hard to see why Krakauer and Boukreev could have a dispute of their climb.
Sometimes he climbed not for the money but for the exhilaration.
The struggle of climbing an 8,000 meter peak is not glamorized here. K2 is depicted as an unpleasant, difficult and deadly climb and my typical level of romanticizing a Himalayan climb was less than usual. A surviving Sherpa was even told that K2 was off limits from future climbs as their spouse said to "stay away from Annapurna, K2, and Nanga Parbat, and you may climb Everest and the others."
