The Will to Climb: Obsession and Commitment and the Quest to Climb Annapurna--the World's Deadliest Peak

by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts

The bestselling author of No Shortcuts to the Top and K2 chronicles his three attempts to climb the world's tenth-highest and statistically deadliest peak, Annapurna in the Himalaya, while exploring the dramatic and tragic history of others who have made -- or attempted – the ascent, and what these exploits teach us about facing life's greatest challenges.
            As a high school student in the flatlands of Rockford, Illinois, where the highest objects on the horizon were water towers, Ed Viesturs read and was captivated by the French climber Maurice Herzog's famous and grisly account of the first ascent of Annapurna in 1950. When he began his own campaign to climb the world's 14 highest peaks in the late 1980s, Viesturs looked forward with trepidation to undertaking Annapurna himself. Two failures to summit in 2000 and 2002 made Annapurna his nemesis. His successful 2005 ascent was the triumphant capstone of his climbing quest. In The Will To Climb Viesturs brings the extraordinary challenges of Annapurna to vivid life through edge-of-your-seat accounts of the greatest climbs in the mountain’s history, and of his own failed attempts and eventual success.  In the process he ponders what Annapurna reveals about some of our most fundamental moral and spiritual questions--questions, he believe, that we need to answer to lead our lives well.
 
"Of all fourteen of the world's highest mountains, which I climbed between 1989 and 2005," writes Viesturs, "the one that came the closest to defeating my best efforts was Annapurna.” Although it was the first 8,000-meter peak to be climbed,  Annapurna is not as well known as the world's highest mountain, Everest, or second highest, K2. But as Viesturs argues, Annapurna, while not technically the most difficult of the 8,000ers, is the most daunting because it has no route--no ridge or face on any side of the mountain--that is relatively free of what climbers call "objective danger"—the threat of avalanches, above all, but also of collapsing seracs (huge ice blocks), falling rocks, and crevasses. Since its first ascent in 1950, Annapurna has been climbed by more than 130 people, but 53 have died trying. This high fatality rate makes Annapurna the most dangerous of the 8,000-meter peaks.
Viesturs and co-author David Roberts chronicle Ed's three attempts to climb Annapurna, as well as the attempts of others, from the two French climbers who made the landmark first ascent of Annapurna on June 3, 1950, through the daring and tragic campaigns of such world-class mountaineers as Reinhold Messner and Anatoli Boukreev. Viesturs's accounts and analyses of these extraordinary adventures serve as a point of departure for his exploration of themes vividly illustrated by Annapurna expeditions, including obsession and commitment, fear and fulfillment, failure and triumph--issues that have been neglected in the otherwise very rich literature of mountaineering, and that can inform the lives and actions of everyone.

Genres: Mountaineering, Nonfiction, Adventure, Climbing, Memoir, Outdoors, Travel

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Ed Viesturs is America's leading high altitude mountaineer, having climbed many of the world's most challenging summits, including ascending Mount Everest seven times. He recently completed a 16-year quest to climb all 14 of the world's highest mountains (above 8,000 meters) without the use of supplemental oxygen. In doing so, he became the first American and the 5th person in the world to accomplish this. He reached the summit of his 14th peak, Annapurna, on May 12, 2005.

"When I first attempt a Himalayan peak," Viesturs explains, "I climb without bottled oxygen, even if it keeps me from reaching the summit. My personal goal is to see how I can perform, to experience the mountain as it is without reducing it to my level. For me, how I reach the top is more important than whether I do.

Reviews

[Alexa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is neck and neck with Ed's K2 book--I read them back to back and enjoyed both much more than The Mountain, his Everest book. I wanted to read this one because there's a massive canon on Everest and K2, but now I want to know more about all the other 8,000 meter peaks, especially those that have claimed the lives of famous mountaineers. It's a fine portrait of the history of Annapurna, and of course Ed's own quest to top the mountain. Like in his K2 book, he weaves in and out from his own expeditions and famous climbs/deaths in Annapurna's timeline.

I covered my reservations with Ed's canon in my other reviews, but they hold here: he's so nice. So upstanding. Sometimes it makes for slightly less interesting storytelling, and a frustration that he won't condemn other climbers (except when he does ha). So there's always a fine shellac on Ed's stories. He doesn't delve into the salacious. I'd be very interested to see more books on Annapurna that lay bare some of the darker recesses of human nature/mountaineering.

Probably my favorite aspect of this book was a deeper dive into Anatoli Boukreev--at first I was confused because it was talking about Everest and Lhotse, but then I realized "ah, he must have died on Annapurna." I appreciated the portrait of him as a climber, and the inclusion of some translations from his journals, to give a view into his perspective. He was much maligned for his role in the 1996 Everest tragedy, which Viesturs does address. I do have my own thoughts on his actions on Everest, but this book provided such a rich portrait of who he was as a climber. He was a really interesting mountaineer with some beautiful philosophy of climbing and this book does a good job of showing you other sides of him as a person and climber instead of as a Russian caricature. Just makes his death so sad.

Overall recommend for a picture of Annapurna as a mountain.

[Maria V. Snyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like to read about Ed’s adventures. He has an easy writing style and is very careful with his opinions of other climbers, letting his readers decide.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked No Shortcuts better. I will always read Viesteurs, and his stories inspire me to get back out there and go up a glacier, but this was less a story about his own climb. No Shortcuts tells Ed's Annapurna climb stories more succinctly and clearly than this does. This is a rambling, wonderfully told set of vignettes about the history of climbing Annapurna. It reads as a Who’s Who in the climbing industry along with a resume clip of each from the vantage of Annapurna. A wonderful read, but not what I was expecting. Ed is great, however, at introducing real life characters and making you understand their personalities and making you care about their endeavors, their trials and their successes.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another mountaineering book--I'm fascinated by what drives these people, although I have no desire to climb any mountains myself. Ed Viesturs relives his own journey up Annapurna (the mountain with the highest death rate of all the mountains above 8000 meters) and describes other noteworthy expeditions. His passion and his heart shine through the words he's written.

But as interesting as it was, this wasn't Viesturs' best book. The repetition got annoying--it felt like Viesturs wasn't expecting us to read the book all the way through, for some reason, so he had to repeat everything in every chapter. (I swear, he told us about 47 times that J-C Lafaille wanted revenge on Annapurna because Annapurna had killed his partner.) The K2 stories (K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain) were better, and Viesturs' book about climbing all 8000+ peaks (No Shortcuts to the Top) had better information.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Viesturs phoned this one in. It's a sloppily-edited rehash of mountaineering anecdotes from other climber's books. It's also full of sniping at Jon Krakauer, who really writes good stuff about climbing. Take a pass on this book.

[Jan vanTilburg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Convinced that there is no reasonably safe route anywhere on the mountain, Viesturs nevertheless tries a third time...
All the while asking the ultimate questions if climbing into the death zone is worth it. Or for that matter, risky climbs at lower altitudes, but with a high difficulty. Like the Eiger Nordwand.

Viesturs is not a climber for daring new routes. It's always safety first for him. That's why he is still alive! So the most riveting passages of this book are of climbs by people with astonishing skill, an incredible stamina and a higher tolerance for risk than Viesturs. Like Erhard Loretan, Louis Lachenal, Jean-Christophe Lafaille, Anatoli Bookreev, Jerzy Kukuczka and Reinhold Messner. Of whom only the last one did not met an untimely death on a mountain.

This book is "structured around the dichotomy between commitment and obsession" as Viesturs writes in the first chapter. He realizes that there is a continuous spectrum of these two. While climbing, fear is useful to avoid risks, but too much of it and one never reach a summit. Fulfillment upon reaching a summit.
He wonders what the lasting rewards of mountaineering are. Or really of any passionate enterprise? What does it mean in tbe grand scheme of life?
Great questions! And the answers are different for everyone.

A very easy and gripping read. I liked that there were chapters of previous ascents. It wonderfully puts Viesturs climbing in perspective. This book was written years after he succeeded in climbing all 14 8000m plus mountains. Five years after the last one: Annapurna. He states that it gave him a fresh perspective.
K2's climbing history is riddled by controversy and mayhem. Whereas Annapurna's is known for its innovative ascents by visionary mountaineers. Those deeds will be a focus of this book.

These contemplations are in the first chapter: The Brick Wall. It chronicles also the first failed attempt. It was too dangerous. Avalanches all the time.

Two - A New and Splendid Life.
The first ascend. In 1950. By a French team lead by Herzog. I've read the book of that ascend (Annapurna) and I liked it very much. In this chapter Viesturs questions if the sacrifices, the summit team made are worth it. Again obsession and commitment at all costs? Herzog lost all his toes and fingers. And Lachenal all his toes. For Herzog it was the beginning of a wonderful life, as he himself describes it. Lachenal however was depressed and did not share the elation and fulfillment of Herzog. In fact Lachenal wanted to turn around to save his toes, but Herzog wanted to go on and Lachenal stayed with him. Knowing that: "If he continued alone, he would not return. It was for him and him alone that I did not turn around." So for me Lachenal is the true hero of the first ascend of a 8000m mountain. At terrible cost for himself, he stayed.
Viesturs tells us that he experienced the same fulfillment upon his succesfull quest climbing all the 8000m mountains. So it seems everyone must make ones own peace between obsession and commitment. Between loyalty and common sense. It's a tough one when people on the mountain depend on one another. Normally one does not split up. But stay together. There are many stories when people do split up, some get lost and are never seen again...

Three - South Face.
Account of first ascent of the steep, 10,000 feet high, south face in 1970. An epic undertaking. Lead by the legendary british teamleader Bonington.
It took way longer (2,5 months) than they anticipated. And just before the monsoon hit they managed to get two climbers (Douglas Haston and Don Whillans) on the top.
But on the last day of the expedition as everyone was packing up, one of the team members was hit by an ice avalanche below camp II. And so the (p.91) most fundamental question about mountaineering: "How can we justfy the risks of an endeavor that ends up taking the lives of so many of our closests friends?" would again be asked.

Four - So Close to the Dead.
Fascinating description of the East route, in 1984, across a long ridge, a traverse. It took them, Erhard Loretan and Norbert Joos, 1.5 days on the ridge to reach the actual summit. Four miles. All the while being close to 8000m! Loretan wrote: Never have I felt myself so far from the living and so close to the dead," It was a long, dangerous and lonely ridge. Far from the world. Far from rescue. And what was truly astonishing, they did not go back the same way, but took the Dutch Rib route down. A route they did not know, except from descriptions, So up from the south, then east to the summit and down to the north. They saw their expedition members not until Kathmandu! An astonishing feat.

Five - The Door to the Land of the Living.
Another harrowing (failed) attempt. (2002) Viesturs with Jean-Christophe Lafaille, Alberto Iñurrategi and his long time climbing partner Veikka Gustafsson are poised to do the infamous East Ridge. For Albero this would be his 14th 8000m mountain!

Six - Messner and Kukuczka.
An account of the race who would be the first to climb all 14 8000m. peaks. (1986) As we know, it turned out to be Messner. This chapter gives more honor to Kukuczka I feel.
(he finished in 1987). He climbed mostly via new routes. And Kukuczka had it much harder because he did not have the ample means that Messner had.

Seven - Comet on Annapurna.
Really an ode to Anatoli Boukreev. He got vilivied after the 1996 Everest disaster where many people died. I've read "Into Thin Air" from Jon Krakauer, a riveting story, and I feel that Boukreev is judged too harsh.
Anatoli died in an avalange while trying a new route on Annapurna...

Eight - My Annapurna
Finally he got to the top. And so closing his quest to climb all 14 8000m mountains.

Nine - Goddess of the Harvest.
Annapurna's Sanskrit name.
Final reminiscences about climbing the high mountains. In the end he felt a huge fulfilment that his lifelong goal had been accomplished.

I liked the first part of the book the best. The stories of the climbs before it became a race to reach all 14.

written: 2011.
Ed Viesturs: 1959 -

[Vidhya Pai · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book written by Ed Viesturs and David Roberts. Not only does Ed talk about his account of Annapurna, but about 80% of the book is dedicated to talking in depths about other expeditions on Annapurna and through different routes. The emotions are described as raw as one could. The chapter 'Nemesis' in his 'No shortcuts to the top' had more detail, in my opinion. However, his generous writings of excerpts from books of Loretan and of J.C's expeditions besides that of others are truly wondrous to read. Ed is truly a mountaineering hero. The little pieces of Annapurna expeditions of different parties glued into one book makes this a one-stop book for understanding and appreciating the beautiful-but-deadly mountain that Annapurna is.

[David Edall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again Ed had me hanging on every word with his captivating storytelling and knowledge. I simply loved it.

[Stefan Martiyan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really good book. It chronicles an extensive climbing history of Annapurna, it's most famous ascenders and their fates (on or after the mountain), and the book also delves into Ed's own struggles, thoughts and fears on his 3 attempts @ the world's deadliest mountain and on other peaks too. I especially appreciated and could relate to the author's dialogue concerning mountaineering and how it affects loved ones, especially wife and kids. Although I'm not even in the same galaxy as Ed and these climbers when it comes to mountaineering knowledge, experience and high altitude accomplishments, the same types of feelings and discussions are had in my household when planning for and heading off on another, possibly dangerous, or even deadly, trip. Plus Ed signed my copy and wrote, "Good luck on Denali." Whenever that opportunity presents itself, and I get up and down successfully, I hope to leaf back thru the book to the first page so I can thank Ed for the kind words of encouragement.

[John Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like “Tour de France” and “Campagnolo,” two names I encountered in a cycling shop during my teen years, which connected only tenuously with the $100 Schwinn 10-speed I rode ever day, I met the name “Annapurna” somewhere in the past. The particular poetry of its sound and rhythm stuck in my head, but I knew little of the mountain itself until the recent day when I read the full title of this book. It was on the cover of a review copy at work, which I grabbed, eager to learn at last what in the world those four syllables pointed to.

Ed Viesturs knew very well what Annapurna meant before he left adolescence. By the age of 20, he had read a French account of the first expedition to reach its top, as well as many other mountaineering books, and had decided to become a climber. How to describe Viesturs? He’s accomplished enough that he has summited five times on Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain (and the only giant most people seem to hear about). He made one of those climbs with a team hauling an IMAX camera that, at 40-something pounds, most of us wouldn’t eagerly carry up the street. And Annapurna? It’s not a mere mountain; to climbers, it’s one of the mountains. Fourteen peaks in the world are more than 8,000 meters high, Annapurna among them. As Viesturs explains late in this book, by way of justifying his title, “It’s become a standard gauge of danger on the highest peaks to calculate the ratio of fatalities to summiteers. Thus the Annapurna ratio [about 183 reaching the top versus 61 deaths] is exactly 33 percent.… K2 comes close…, with a balance hovering around 25 percent. No other mountain in the world is in this ballpark.”

Those numbers are chilling, but, as with names, what matters are what they mean. Those 8,000-plus meters (more than 4.97 miles) are ticked off vertically, dragging your body and your gear across snow, ice, and rock, evading or bridging crevasses, hoping an avalanche doesn’t catch you, struggling to enter—more important, then to get out of—a high zone in which essentially nothing lives. What’s that like? Viesturs, the only American to have reached the top of all 14 “8,000-ers” (the term he and others use) without supplemental oxygen, wants to give us some idea in this book.

His prose, crafted with climber-writer David Roberts, is conversational. You get the impression that if he sat down with you to talk about mountains, he’d tell his stories pretty much as he does here. His plain style doesn’t get in the way of the subject, but it’s not the most flavorful. Not a problem, because Viesturs quotes liberally from other writings—some of it out of print, never translated to English, or never published at all—in the course of recounting other expeditions. (While admitting that this book returns to some ground he has covered in previous books, he says a rethink has brought him new perspectives.)

My personal favorite among those quoted is French climber Erhard Loretan, whose writing can be sly—the almost childlike simplicity of a tortoise-and-hare comparison—or disarmingly comic, as when he and a partner stagger into a base camp like “starving zombies.” Loretan sometimes approaches the poetic. During the nearly unendurable ordeal of descending Annapurna, the two men find an abandoned camp and the body of a Sherpa: “Without any coffin except a sarcophagus of ice, without any roof except the sky.” And it’s Loretan who describes his traverse of Annapurna as venturing “so far from the living and so close to the dead.”

Though its focus is on Annapurna and climbing at a high level (in both senses), the book serves in ways as an introduction to mountaineering. One learns that there are two broad methods—the alpine style and the expedition, the former traveling fast and light, the latter slower, more methodical, consolidating each gain with a stocked camp—and you find individual styles as well. (There is also, I was glad to learn, more than one gender on these slopes. Men predominate, but Viesturs takes note of a team of women who tackled Annapurna, some of whom reached the summit.) There are many potential routes to the top of most mountains. The most ambitious climbers have won their renown by doing something new—if not a new route, then a different season, or a solo attempt. And there’s more than one approach to recounting what one has done. It may be stereotyping, but one is tempted to see something traditionally Gallic in Loretan’s style, something more Germanic in the heroic tone of master climber Reinhold Messner, and possibly something American in the straightforward, declarative style of Viesturs.

One learns a good deal more from The Will to Climb as well. Filling out the statistics I quoted, the text is shot through with the names and stories of climbers who have died, whether on Annapurna or on another of the 14. (As with styles and routes, there are many ways to die.) The names of the peaks and their ranges are here too, sometimes plain, sometimes nearly unpronounceable, usually scented with the exotic: the Karakoram and Himalaya ranges, and mountains ranging from K2 (a never-replaced map designation) and Broad Peak to Gasherbrum I and II, Kangchenjunga, Nanga Parbat, and Cho Oyu. And one comes to appreciate the sense of Viesturs’s climbing principles. His motto may seem obvious and might not be contested, down at ground level, by most other climbers, but with a summit in view, some have ignored it: “Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory.” That’s smart, though it’s not all one needs: “to a certain extent you’re always rolling the dice.”

Does any of this really tell you what it’s like? Yes and no. Nowadays one may hear it said, by people in the throes of some arduous but hardly unique experience, that no one can imagine it, or at least that no one who hasn’t been there can. There’s some truth to this. But there would be little point in writing if one felt that one couldn’t convey much and that readers wouldn’t understand—little point in reading the result either. Words in good hands do point to something beyond themselves. Annapurna now means much more to me.

There really is no frigate like a book; books can take us where boats don’t go. How The Will to Climb will sit with those who have experience in the extreme, almost absurd “sport” of mountaineering I can’t judge. But for me it was a voyage all right.

[P.S. I read an advance uncorrected proof, with none of the photographs mentioned in the acknowledgments.]

[W · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Up high, at the same time I taste exaltation and fear. Exaltation, because I have the feeling of dominating the whole world. Of having traversed hundreds, even thousands of vertical meters, and of dominating this light world, with its seas of clouds, its somber valleys. But at the same time, there is this fear, even this terror. I truly have the feeling of being very far away from everything, in an extremely precarious situation. Of being very far from my bases in life. Of being lost at the end of the world—at the top of the world. Of not being able even to imagine how to find the way back.” — Pierre Béghin

Ed Viesturs pays homage to generations of Himalayan climbers who reached the peak of Annapurna—his final 8,000 meter climb. In some ways, this is a history of that climb. In other ways it’s an analysis of the stories, achievements, and philosophies of a handful of legendary mountaineers.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another exceptional Ed Viesturs book

[Raeder Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

One man’s journey and story to climb Annapurna but in the context of his climbing career (last of the fourteen 8000ers) and history of the mountain. Didn’t realize Annapurna was the most dangerous mountain in the world. Favorite chapter was the second to last that went through the story of his successful summit of Annapurna. Ed’s account of climbing in the Himalayan’s made it seem possible and so realistic but at the same time made me realize I will never do something so difficult and extreme. I have alpine mountaineered a few Cascade range mountains and found inspiration and admiration from Ed’s story.

[Erika · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read a lot of books on mountaineering in the Himalayas and Karakorum, and some are more exciting than others. This gave a thorough history of the major ascents of Annapurna, but I found it dry and tedious to get through. I also didn't like Viesturs's judgmentalism, especially around Blum's all-woman team. He claimed to keep his opinions to himself, but it was obvious he didn't care for her or her attempt to get women climbers to the top. He makes it very clear in his book who he respects and who he doesn't, which makes the book sound a little smug.

[Suman]

Meh. A couple interesting stories (especially Loretan's traverse of the East ridge of Annapurna), but not nearly as interesting or polished as Viestur's book about K2.

[Evgenia Kuvshinova · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so far from those heroes. But they are my heroes...

[Wendy (bardsblond) · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone who read Ed Viesturs’ No Shortcuts to the Top, you will know that his biggest challenge in climbing all 14 8,000+ meters peaks came on Annapurna. First climbed by Maurice Herzog in 1950, it was the first 8000+ peak to be successfully summitted. Nonetheless, it has the highest fatality rate among the 8000+ peaks (or it is at least comparable with K2), with approximately one in four people who make the summit dying in the process. A combination of unpredictable weather that is prone to avalanche plus very steep terrain and, of course, the altitude, Annapurna has proved treacherous to even the most expert high altitude climbers.

I remember when I read No Shortcuts to the Top that Ed Viesturs repeatedly considered whether Annapurna might just be too risky to summit. Of course, he did eventually summit Annapurna as his 14th and final 8000+ peak in 2005. This book is his little ode to Annapurna. He tells the history of those explorers who preceded and succeeded him in their attempts to summit Annapurna. Of note, he delves into the little known expedition by Erhard Loretan and Norbert Joos along the east ridge in 1986 – his account of this climb is gripping and all the more astonishing since it was one of the most astonishing traverses in history but relatively unknown outside of Switzerland.

I always enjoy Ed Viesturs’ climbing books – all the more so because he has such a grounded and sensible approach to climbing: “Getting to the top is optional, Getting down is mandatory.” One of the few elite climbers who has never fallen in the clutches of summit fever, Viesturs is also a capable storyteller and I’m always happy to pick up his books.

[Bill Higgins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four and a half stars! Excellent stories about the history of climbing on Annapurna, the world's deadliest peak. (It has the highest ratio of # of fatalities vs # of people who summit, 33%. K2 is the only other mountain close to that ratio at 25%. Everest is "only" 9%). Having read Herzog's Annapurna exactly 30 years ago, I was immediately drawn in to Ed's review of that 1950 expedition to successfully climb the first 8000 meter peak. It also covers the history of the first few people to climb all 14 8000ers; Annapurna is 10th tallest. Ed was also on Everest during the '96 disaster and goes over that a bit while telling Anatoli Boukreev's story. So much good information in one place! And I've read quite a few mountaineering books. I always love when there are high quality color photos of the mountain showing the different routes so you can try to pick out where on the route they are during the stories. I go back to those pictures many many times during the book. Nice job Ed Viesturs and Dave Roberts.

[Dace Znotiņa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bieži dzirdēts kalna nosaukums, bet pa visām citām kalnu grāmatām, kas lasītas, tā arī Anapurna bija palikusi kā "viens no 14 astoņtūkstošniekiem". Šajā grāmatā autors stāsta ne tikai par saviem trim mēģinājumiem sasniegt virsotni, bet apskata citu alpīnistu kāpienus cauri desmitgadēm. Sākot no pirmā kāpiena un tad dažādus īpašākus - vai nu varonīgus vai īpaši traģiskus, vai nestandarta. Stāsts gan nav tikai par Anapurnu, jo katrā nodaļā tiek veltīta uzmanība kādam kāpienam un arī kontekstam - kas ir šie cilvēki, kur vēl kāpuši, kādi nozīmīgi notikumi ietekmējuši. Daudzi stāsti ietver arī traģiskus mirkļus, kad kāds no kompanjoniem tā arī neatgriežas. Bija, gāja, kāpa, un tad vienā brīdī šī cilvēka vairs nav. Būtisks aspekts ir risks un cik tālu katrs ir gatavs iet, lai sasniegtu virsotni vai aizsniegtos vēl tālāk - līdz elitārajam visu 14 virsotņu sasniegušo klubiņam. Un reizēm var ievērot visus drošības pasākumus (cik nu tas ir iespējams, pieņemot lēmumu doties uz tik bīstamu un sarežģītu vietu), bet vienalga nepaveikties.

[Joshua Tree · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was not as cohesive as his previous works - the flow of the work was jolting as Ed jumped from scenario to scenario. The book chronicles attempts on Annapurna in sequence since the initial summit on the first attempt (the only 8000m peak to do so) and Viesturs covers each historical epoch with fantastic detail, there are too many references to other experiences on other mountains to keep the entire story straight. Facts and people become easily confused to the reader. Sometimes you had to wade through paragraphs before coming back around to the central narrative of the chapter. He definitely was attempting to do with Annapurna as he had for "K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain" and I hope he attempts to do so for other 8000m peaks down the line - the K2 book was absolutely enthralling. I believe Ed to be an absolutely fantastic Mountain Historian and "The Will to Climb" wasn't bad at all - just not as good as his other two previous works.

[Emma (M) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love reading Ed Viesturs climbing books and The Will to Climb is no different. However this is the least favourite of the three I’ve read of his. I highly recommend his K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain or No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks if you want to read him for the first time.

Although I couldn’t think of anything worse than high altitude climbing (or any climbing to be honest) I really love reading about it. I personally think anyone who wants to climb these peaks are madmen or women but their endeavours sure are entertaining.

[Anvesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always been a fan of Ed Viestur's books and had picked this one knowing how the mountain taunted him and was his last 8K mountain on his way to achieve 14 8K peaks. Annapurna also carries the thrill for me owing to book of Maurice Herzog which is the first mountaineering book I read as narrated by the person who is part of expedition.

Ed is a personal hero for me for his clear conceptualization of acceptable risk which was instrumental in him getting back home from all his 8K expeditions. Considering how difficult it was for him to claim Annapurna and death rate of 1 for every 3 attempted, this mountain to me is the most dangerous one to attempt a summit. This book also reminded me that fascination about mountains is not sufficient, it requires immense hard work, dedication to the sport of mountain climbing to consider an attempt at any 8K peak let alone something as scary as Annapurna.

PS - This book is only for those who read lot of literature on mountaineering.

[Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is intense. How do you get more intense than talking about climbing a mountain that every 2 people that reach the summit, 1 man dies. Or woman, actually....let me start over.

How do you get more intense than talking about climbing a mountain that every 2 people that reach the summit, 1 WOMAN dies.

It's a personal saga of his many failed and eventually successful attempt to reach the summit of the most dangerous peak in the world. I was cringing throughout the read. It's an amazing and in depth history of the attempts to conquer Annapurna. Well I know an Anna and she's almost as deadly.

The Will to Climb....Five Stars.

[Aron · Rating 2 out of 5]

This reminded me of the xkcd strip about wine connoisseurs. To quote:

“If you locked people in a box for a year with 500 still frames of Joe Biden eating a sandwich, by the end they’d be adamant that some were great and some terrible.”

I do not have aspirations to climb 8000-meter peaks. I was hoping for Viesters’ insights, especially given the choice of title, but this book was probably 60% mountaineering history, 39% memoire, and only 1% relating any of that to “normal” life.

Takeaways:

1. Very strong friendships are build when lives are on the line
2. When pursuing rare activities, kinship is built even among people who have never met

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

After a while all the harrowing stories seem to blend together, which I know is not fair. And I had never considered that there is almost a whole genre of mountain climber story books; this one's pretty good. Then, when you consider that different climbers had different viewpoints on 'who did what' on some particular mountains/seasons, you should wonder how anyone who sets out to do a Himalayan peak could come to he party ill-prepared.

If you only ever read one mountain climbing book, this one's a good choice, but Jon Krakauer's "Into Thin Air" might be a better bet.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a huge fan of Ed Viesturs and David Roberts. I’ve previously read No Shortcuts and K2, so it was natural that I read The Will To Climb. Absolutely brilliant book. Kept me turning the page so much that I read it quicker than any other book I’ve read.

If you enjoy this book and you haven’t already read it, I’d highly recommend reading Maurice Herzog’s Annapurna. Viesturs references it quite a bit in this book and it’s an incredible read about the first ascent of an 8000 metre peak (not to mention on the deadliest mountain!)

[Stephen Heiner · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book Ed Viesturs manages to tell his own story of closing the loop on all fourteen 8,000m peaks, but interweaves the narratives of those who went before, giving us the right questions to frame the analogue between climbing and life:

1) why are you doing this?
2) are you okay with turning around when there is a risk that is too great?
3) can you put your ego in check, particularly when it means being part of a team instead of being an individual climber?
4) can you take the time to savor victories?

Well worth a read.

[Josh reading · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great mountaineering volume by Ed Viesturs! Having read Ed’s volume on Everest as well as his account of climbing all 14 of the world’s 8000 meter peaks, I was super excited to dive into his book on Annapurna. Annapurna which is one of the tallest mountains in the world is also incredibly unpredictable. Through this volume Ed discusses the history of climbs on Annapurna including his own attempts at the summit. When compared to the other books I’ve read by Ed Viesturs, this ranks up there with all the others as well researched and equally breathtaking and thrilling!

[tanja · Rating 4 out of 5]

My second book by Ed!! This is definitely different than "No Shortcuts to the Top", in the sense that while Ed does go into detail about his own climb he focuses much more on other famous climbs on Annapurna which I didnt know before going into the book!! Hearing personal accounts and feelings is my favorite part of these books, which is why I only gave it four stars but I still really enjoyed this and especially the way these expeditions are talked about with so much respect and compassion! Of course my favorite parts were the sections Ed spends on friendship, especially with his climbing companions or any passages where you can tell he's a fan of the climbers he writes about. I'll be checking out his other books in the same style on K2 and Everest pretty soon I think!

I also loved the inclusion of one of Anatoli's quotes at the beginning of the book, the same one found at his memorial in Annapurna base-camp.
"Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion."

[Tobias Mcevoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite liked this book, Viesturs has amazing stories to tell, but it does bother me a bit that it was Co-written. David Roberts is also a well known climber and became part of the narrative at times — I found this little off putting and confusing (who’s book is this?). I’ve seen Viesturs speak, he’s very articulate, he obviously has a lot to say, I know he went to college... so write your own book dummy