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Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest
As featured in the upcoming motion picture Everest, starring Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Robin Wright, Emily Watson, Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, and Jake Gyllenhaal
“I can tell you that some force within me rejected death at the last moment and then guided me, blind and stumbling—quite literally a dead man walking—into camp and the shaky start of my return to life.”
In 1996 Beck Weathers and a climbing team pushed toward the summit of Mount Everest. Then a storm exploded on the mountain, ripping the team to shreds, forcing brave men to scratch and crawl for their lives. Rescuers who reached Weathers saw that he was dying, and left him. Twelve hours later, the inexplicable occurred. Weathers appeared, blinded, gloveless, and caked with ice—walking down the mountain. In this powerful memoir, now featuring a new Preface, Weathers describes not only his escape from hypothermia and the murderous storm that killed eight climbers, but the journey of his life. This is the story of a man’s route to a dangerous sport and a fateful expedition, as well as the road of recovery he has traveled since; of survival in the face of certain death, the reclaiming of a family and a life; and of the most extraordinary adventure of finding the courage to say yes when life offers us a second chance.
Praise for Left for Dead
“Riveting . . . [a] remarkable survival story . . . Left for Dead takes a long, critical look at Weathers is particularly candid about how the demanding sport altered and strained his relationships.” — USA Today
“Ultimately, this engrossing tale depicts the difficulty of a man’s struggle to reform his life.” — Publishers Weekly
“I can tell you that some force within me rejected death at the last moment and then guided me, blind and stumbling—quite literally a dead man walking—into camp and the shaky start of my return to life.”
In 1996 Beck Weathers and a climbing team pushed toward the summit of Mount Everest. Then a storm exploded on the mountain, ripping the team to shreds, forcing brave men to scratch and crawl for their lives. Rescuers who reached Weathers saw that he was dying, and left him. Twelve hours later, the inexplicable occurred. Weathers appeared, blinded, gloveless, and caked with ice—walking down the mountain. In this powerful memoir, now featuring a new Preface, Weathers describes not only his escape from hypothermia and the murderous storm that killed eight climbers, but the journey of his life. This is the story of a man’s route to a dangerous sport and a fateful expedition, as well as the road of recovery he has traveled since; of survival in the face of certain death, the reclaiming of a family and a life; and of the most extraordinary adventure of finding the courage to say yes when life offers us a second chance.
Praise for Left for Dead
“Riveting . . . [a] remarkable survival story . . . Left for Dead takes a long, critical look at Weathers is particularly candid about how the demanding sport altered and strained his relationships.” — USA Today
“Ultimately, this engrossing tale depicts the difficulty of a man’s struggle to reform his life.” — Publishers Weekly
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 682 reviews
July 8, 2020
I was hoodwinked. I feel like the author conned me with a catchy title about a survival story then delivered his-and-hers complaints about a marriage where neither partner ever confided in the other, did whatever they wanted (he's off climbing mountains, she's "playing Russian roulette" with her birth control pills) and resented each other for it. The first 20% of the book is about him actually surviving Everest, and its not that great a story. Certainly a miraculous event, but I'm surprised at how dull it was. The rest is about his home life (BEFORE Everest), how he met his wife, his depression, and the almost failure of his marriage. I am pissed. The title of the book should have been "I left my marriage for dead to go climb Everest, but in the end we made it work" But no one would buy that book.
I think the author realized by the time he was up for writing the book the deadly 1996 season had been covered by other writers, so he decided to give us a more personal account of the whole life of one of the survivors, but frankly beside what happened to him on May 10-12th 1996, his life is pretty plain and certainly not interesting enough to write a book about.
I think the author realized by the time he was up for writing the book the deadly 1996 season had been covered by other writers, so he decided to give us a more personal account of the whole life of one of the survivors, but frankly beside what happened to him on May 10-12th 1996, his life is pretty plain and certainly not interesting enough to write a book about.
November 5, 2008
Although I didn't really plan it that way, I read Beck Weather's book Left for Dead right after I read Lincoln Hall's book, Dead Lucky. The two books have some obvious and uncanny similarities. Both Beck Weathers and Lincoln Hall were left for dead just below the summit of Mount Everest, thought to be beyond all hope of rescue. Both were believed to have died on the mountain, and both of their families were told that. Both were apparent victims of particularly lethal years on Mount Everest, which occurred exactly 10 years apart. And both books describe, as best as the authors are able to recollect and piece together, what it's like to "die" on Mount Everest and then get a second chance at life.
That having been said, I liked Weathers' book a lot better than Hall's. Some reviewers have complained that Weathers included too much information about his personal and family life, regarding this as "filler" and wishing he had just stuck, Dragnet-like, to the facts. This, I think, misses the whole point of Weathers' book. He himself has said that Jon Krakauer's book, Into Thin Air, gives a far more detailed and better factual account of the deadly 1996 season on Everest. Where Weathers' book excells is in its examination of the forces (and sometimes the demons) that drive climbers to risk life and limb, and how those risks impact both the climbers and their families.
As is well known, although Weathers survived, he did not survive intact. He suffered major amputations of his hands, as well as his nose, and underwent multiple surgeries. Still, Weathers writes that if he had it to do all over again, knowing what the outcome would be, he would do so. Some might think he is saying that the climb was worth his hands, that it provided a unique sort of self validation or a challenge that made him feel fully alive. But that isn't what he means at all.
Beck Weathers' reasons for climbing were not well understood, even to himself, and even less so to his wife and children. Weathers' book is unusual in describing his climbs as unpleasant, basically not fun, but something he felt driven to do, perhaps in an effort to lessen his chronic depression. His description of climbing is gritty, realistic and not at all romanticized.
When he went to Mount Everest, Weathers was on the brink of a divorce from his wife and complete alienation from his children. Had he successfully climbed Mount Everest, he would no doubt have proceeded to again attempt to climb Mount McKinley, part of his quest to climb the highest peaks on all seven continents. As the material which he includes from his wife and children makes clear, that would no doubt have meant the end of his marriage. Instead, Weathers' near death experience caused ( or forced) him to reflect on what was important in life. In doing so, Weathers realized that his family was the most important thing in his life, more important that climbing. So, when Weathers says he would do it all over again, he means that he would be wiling to sacrifice his hands to get back his family.
Others may regard everything except the story of Weathers' few fateful hours near the summit of Mount Everest as filler. I cannot. Left for Dead is the story of one person's journey of self-exploration. Just as Everest tested Weather's physical limits, it also helped him to find his emotional identity. In that sense, it was indeed the challenge of a lifetime.
That having been said, I liked Weathers' book a lot better than Hall's. Some reviewers have complained that Weathers included too much information about his personal and family life, regarding this as "filler" and wishing he had just stuck, Dragnet-like, to the facts. This, I think, misses the whole point of Weathers' book. He himself has said that Jon Krakauer's book, Into Thin Air, gives a far more detailed and better factual account of the deadly 1996 season on Everest. Where Weathers' book excells is in its examination of the forces (and sometimes the demons) that drive climbers to risk life and limb, and how those risks impact both the climbers and their families.
As is well known, although Weathers survived, he did not survive intact. He suffered major amputations of his hands, as well as his nose, and underwent multiple surgeries. Still, Weathers writes that if he had it to do all over again, knowing what the outcome would be, he would do so. Some might think he is saying that the climb was worth his hands, that it provided a unique sort of self validation or a challenge that made him feel fully alive. But that isn't what he means at all.
Beck Weathers' reasons for climbing were not well understood, even to himself, and even less so to his wife and children. Weathers' book is unusual in describing his climbs as unpleasant, basically not fun, but something he felt driven to do, perhaps in an effort to lessen his chronic depression. His description of climbing is gritty, realistic and not at all romanticized.
When he went to Mount Everest, Weathers was on the brink of a divorce from his wife and complete alienation from his children. Had he successfully climbed Mount Everest, he would no doubt have proceeded to again attempt to climb Mount McKinley, part of his quest to climb the highest peaks on all seven continents. As the material which he includes from his wife and children makes clear, that would no doubt have meant the end of his marriage. Instead, Weathers' near death experience caused ( or forced) him to reflect on what was important in life. In doing so, Weathers realized that his family was the most important thing in his life, more important that climbing. So, when Weathers says he would do it all over again, he means that he would be wiling to sacrifice his hands to get back his family.
Others may regard everything except the story of Weathers' few fateful hours near the summit of Mount Everest as filler. I cannot. Left for Dead is the story of one person's journey of self-exploration. Just as Everest tested Weather's physical limits, it also helped him to find his emotional identity. In that sense, it was indeed the challenge of a lifetime.
July 26, 2012
I can't get enough of climbing memoirs, but Beck Weathers' book "Left for Dead" is not really that kind of book. It is, in part at least, the story of his remarkable survival in the deadly 1996 season on Mount Everest, where he was left for dead but survived.
In his opening chapter, he describes himself as an "amateur climber," in my opinion someone who had not business being on Everest, and his book reads that way. It annoyed me the first time he described his crampons (essentially cleats that you attach to your boots to provide traction on ice) as knives. The fact he continued to call them knives rather than crampons thereafter drove me nuts.
I've read several other books on the Everest tragedy (including Krakauer's, Boukreeve's and Breashear's.) I had been avoiding Weathers' book for no particular reason... perhaps it was instinct that I wouldn't like it. Although he had the most dramatic story of all, Weathers' book was the worst of the lot. (Only a small portion of the book is about the expedition itself.) Perhaps my intense dislike for this book is that I expected to be a climber's book and it is more a story about depression. I found it hard to swallow the redemption story and mostly just felt sorry for Weathers' family.
In his opening chapter, he describes himself as an "amateur climber," in my opinion someone who had not business being on Everest, and his book reads that way. It annoyed me the first time he described his crampons (essentially cleats that you attach to your boots to provide traction on ice) as knives. The fact he continued to call them knives rather than crampons thereafter drove me nuts.
I've read several other books on the Everest tragedy (including Krakauer's, Boukreeve's and Breashear's.) I had been avoiding Weathers' book for no particular reason... perhaps it was instinct that I wouldn't like it. Although he had the most dramatic story of all, Weathers' book was the worst of the lot. (Only a small portion of the book is about the expedition itself.) Perhaps my intense dislike for this book is that I expected to be a climber's book and it is more a story about depression. I found it hard to swallow the redemption story and mostly just felt sorry for Weathers' family.
January 4, 2011
This book is a hot mess. Is it his journey home from Everest or his autobiography? I sincerely do not care about his growing-up years in Japan. I thought maybe by starting off with the Everest tragedy it would play out the book in a more unusual, enticing way, but not true. And the excerpts of conversations with his wife "Peach" about their dating years had to do with Everest how? I mean I understand people may have wanted to learn more about the person behind this obsessive desire of mountaineering, but not me. I think this title is a misnomer. It should have been "My Journey Prior to Everest and Everything Else You Didn't Want to Know About Me". A waste of a great story.
May 18, 2010
I was disappointed in this book. Don't get me wrong, I love to read books and watch TV program about Everest and the amazing people that decide to challenge the mountain, but this book just wasn't what I was expecting. If you are looking for a book that talks a lot about mountain climbing or his experience on Everest, this isn't the book for you. While he does talk about these things briefly, most of the book details Beck Weathers' life all the way from a child up to present day. It is narrated by different individuals throughout which makes it more difficult to read. It was also difficult to read because in my opinion Beck Weathers was a jerk. I was angry at him for the way he treated his family, and I was angry at his family for tolerating it. I've read books before about people that I didn't like, but at the end, I've been content with the way things played out. With this book, I don't feel that way.
July 8, 2014
Things I liked about this book:
-That it didn't try to be Into Thin Air. Many mountain climbing books spend a lot of time on the preparation, the carries between camps, etc., which I very much enjoy reading. However, in this instance, all those logistics from the May 1996 disaster have already been covered in multiple books, most notably Into This Air. We know the outline of what happened. Lets be honest, the only reason I read this book was to hear Beck Weathers talk about what happened between Summit Day and being airlifted off the mountain.
-The medical information post-expedition. I was glad he included information about what had happened to his hands, how they regrew his nose, the surgeries, etc.
Things I hated about this book:
-Peach Weathers. First of all, I can totally sympathize that she felt abandoned for years by a man that was emotionally unavailable, that wasn't present in her or their children's lives. There really isn't an excuse for the way Beck handled that. However, any time Beck tried to make a point ("That wasn't related to my depression though"), Peach contradicted him ("Of course that was related to the depression!"). It was like reading 200 pages of bickering between a husband and wife, which got tedious and annoying. Even though I'm sure that Peach was a strong woman through all of those years, I came away feeling like she was selfish, annoying, and nagging, which I think was largely due to the back and forth nature of the writing. But my biggest problem with Peach's behavior (and like I said, I don't excuse Beck's part in their marital problems) was what happened on Beck's return from Everest. Peach, here comes your husband who you thought was dead, who is suffering, who is saying he loves you, and who has the change of heart that you have been hoping for all these years, and your response upon seeing him is "I was going to divorce you when you got back." Um....wrong answer. Try again. She basically told him that she was going to leave him but now that he was injured to the point that he couldn't go mountain climbing, she guessed she would give him probation. Probably not what he needs at that exact moment, even though the conversation needed to happen sometime. Also, she was upset that his change of heart came about through this experience. I felt like the point was that he got there! If it was too late, why was she still married to him??
-That it didn't try to be Into Thin Air. Many mountain climbing books spend a lot of time on the preparation, the carries between camps, etc., which I very much enjoy reading. However, in this instance, all those logistics from the May 1996 disaster have already been covered in multiple books, most notably Into This Air. We know the outline of what happened. Lets be honest, the only reason I read this book was to hear Beck Weathers talk about what happened between Summit Day and being airlifted off the mountain.
-The medical information post-expedition. I was glad he included information about what had happened to his hands, how they regrew his nose, the surgeries, etc.
Things I hated about this book:
-Peach Weathers. First of all, I can totally sympathize that she felt abandoned for years by a man that was emotionally unavailable, that wasn't present in her or their children's lives. There really isn't an excuse for the way Beck handled that. However, any time Beck tried to make a point ("That wasn't related to my depression though"), Peach contradicted him ("Of course that was related to the depression!"). It was like reading 200 pages of bickering between a husband and wife, which got tedious and annoying. Even though I'm sure that Peach was a strong woman through all of those years, I came away feeling like she was selfish, annoying, and nagging, which I think was largely due to the back and forth nature of the writing. But my biggest problem with Peach's behavior (and like I said, I don't excuse Beck's part in their marital problems) was what happened on Beck's return from Everest. Peach, here comes your husband who you thought was dead, who is suffering, who is saying he loves you, and who has the change of heart that you have been hoping for all these years, and your response upon seeing him is "I was going to divorce you when you got back." Um....wrong answer. Try again. She basically told him that she was going to leave him but now that he was injured to the point that he couldn't go mountain climbing, she guessed she would give him probation. Probably not what he needs at that exact moment, even though the conversation needed to happen sometime. Also, she was upset that his change of heart came about through this experience. I felt like the point was that he got there! If it was too late, why was she still married to him??
November 16, 2010
Admittedly, I am a bit bias in my appreciation of this book. Meg, Beck's youngest child, was a classmate of mine and, at various points throughout my 8 years at Hockaday, a friend. When Beck came to speak to us at a school assembly, I remember crying and being in awe of his courage.
Surprisingly, this book has only strengthened those initial responses. This is not the story of a hero. This is not the story of a family man. This is a story of each of us when we feel alone and misunderstood and the stupid decisions we can make when acting on those emotions. This is a story of perseverance and love in its true nature - calm, complicated and, at times, painful.
The book is simply honest and, in that, inspiring.
Surprisingly, this book has only strengthened those initial responses. This is not the story of a hero. This is not the story of a family man. This is a story of each of us when we feel alone and misunderstood and the stupid decisions we can make when acting on those emotions. This is a story of perseverance and love in its true nature - calm, complicated and, at times, painful.
The book is simply honest and, in that, inspiring.
November 1, 2008
I always enjoy reading Everest books, especially while under the warmth of my covers in bed :-) I really enjoyed how the author, Beck Weathers, injected his humor throughout the book, I found myself snickering which I rarely do while reading a book......I enjoyed reading the perspective from his wife Peach as well.......it's amazing that she stayed with him. I also enjoyed the layout of the book.....starting with the 1996 account, then going back in time to how he got to that point, then wrapping it all up with how it all ended.......
February 9, 2018
Plusy:
+ emocje (widoczne zarówno w wypowiedziach samego autora, jak i jego żony, członków rodziny czy znajomych)
+ różne punkty widzenia (widzimy reakcje władz, innych alpinistów, bliskich, itd.)
+ opisy (m.in. tego, co działo się podczas wspinaczki z ciałem człowieka)
+ prawdziwość (autor nie próbował się wybielać i otwarcie mówił o tym, jak traktował rodzinę przed i po wypadku, widzimy jasne i ciemne strony pasji)
Minusy:
- kilka nieciekawych wątków (moim zdaniem niepotrzebnie znalazły się one w tej książce, ponieważ i tak nie wnosiły nic do fabuły)
- chaotyczność i wynikające z tego kłopoty z czytaniem (w mojej wersji e-booka brakowało na przykład przerw pomiędzy poszczególnymi kwestiami lub akapitami, przez co nie wiedziałam czy to wciąż wypowiedź autora, czy już innego bohatera tej książki)
- niewyszukany styl pisania (choć to może być także plusem, zależy jak na to patrzeć)
Wiem, że ta książka ma wielu przeciwników, ale mnie się spodobała. Cała pierwsza część trzymała mnie w napięciu i grała na moich emocjach. Co prawda, nie rozumiałam postępowania głównego bohatera, ale starałam się go nie oceniać (jak zawsze w przypadku książek opartych na faktach). Druga część to taka bardziej autobiografia babki, wujka, dziadka, żony i piątej wody po kisielu, dlatego trochę się wynudziłam. Warto było jednak dotrwać do końca.
Polecam dla samej historii.
#bookiswiata
+ emocje (widoczne zarówno w wypowiedziach samego autora, jak i jego żony, członków rodziny czy znajomych)
+ różne punkty widzenia (widzimy reakcje władz, innych alpinistów, bliskich, itd.)
+ opisy (m.in. tego, co działo się podczas wspinaczki z ciałem człowieka)
+ prawdziwość (autor nie próbował się wybielać i otwarcie mówił o tym, jak traktował rodzinę przed i po wypadku, widzimy jasne i ciemne strony pasji)
Minusy:
- kilka nieciekawych wątków (moim zdaniem niepotrzebnie znalazły się one w tej książce, ponieważ i tak nie wnosiły nic do fabuły)
- chaotyczność i wynikające z tego kłopoty z czytaniem (w mojej wersji e-booka brakowało na przykład przerw pomiędzy poszczególnymi kwestiami lub akapitami, przez co nie wiedziałam czy to wciąż wypowiedź autora, czy już innego bohatera tej książki)
- niewyszukany styl pisania (choć to może być także plusem, zależy jak na to patrzeć)
Wiem, że ta książka ma wielu przeciwników, ale mnie się spodobała. Cała pierwsza część trzymała mnie w napięciu i grała na moich emocjach. Co prawda, nie rozumiałam postępowania głównego bohatera, ale starałam się go nie oceniać (jak zawsze w przypadku książek opartych na faktach). Druga część to taka bardziej autobiografia babki, wujka, dziadka, żony i piątej wody po kisielu, dlatego trochę się wynudziłam. Warto było jednak dotrwać do końca.
Polecam dla samej historii.
#bookiswiata
June 4, 2016
To be honest, I skipped a large part of the book (part 3) - his getting into mountain climbing to escape his life. As others have said, after seeing the movie I was more interested in a first hand account (thus, my next book will be "Into Thin Air" ;) but this book spends way too much time on personal matters that I was not interested in. Also, even if you are interested in resolving marital problems, very little insight is given - just that they somehow, magically, managed. I think his wife must be divine, or stupid, for sticking with him after he turned the family's life upside down.
Anyway, I digress. The first part (of four) details the incident. Then, he jumps all the way to practically his birth and gives his life story. Which is fine, if that's why you want to read the book. If you want to know about the 1996 incident, find a different book.
Anyway, I digress. The first part (of four) details the incident. Then, he jumps all the way to practically his birth and gives his life story. Which is fine, if that's why you want to read the book. If you want to know about the 1996 incident, find a different book.
December 27, 2019
Beck Weathers reached instant celebrity status during his descent of Mt Everest in 1996, during a storm which took the lives of 8 mountaineers. Having been truly left for dead in a hypothermic coma on the South Col, Beck woke up almost a full day later and walked himself back to the safety of the tents at High Camp. Beck's recounting of this sphincter-clenching ordeal is told in the first 66 pages - a terrifying account that resulted in the loss of both his hands and his nose.
The remaining 220 pages are the dull transcripts of a completely dysfunctional marriage in counselling. Reading this was like watching paint dry - but the paint was on a side of a plane as it crashed, making it difficult to turn away.
Coming from a childhood of true white privilege, Beck has had every opportunity placed before him. He comes through it all with a quiet humility and a drive for perfection. Beck's sarcastic humour comes through thinly in his passages, usually by making belittling put-downs or sweepingly insulting generalizations. That said, Beck only sees good in the people around him. Throughout his life, he has had a wide range of interests and hobbies which he pursues with ferocity, mountaineering being only one of them, which are actually his way of dealing with his sometimes paralysing depression.
Peach', his wife, tarries back and forth with Beck through this narrative. She is a nest of vipers who is shuffling through life under her self-made black cloud. She is unable to make herself happy and expects Beck to sit around at home creating her happiness for her. She refuses to go places without air-conditioning or places that are cold and wouldn't participate in his previous interests of sailing or motor-sports. She is so uninteresting and only sees her potential for happiness being squandered by Beck. Blind to his decades-long depression, she needles him endlessly between bouts of silent-treatment. It is a sad display of non-communication and is one of those examples where staying together 'for the kids' was probably the worst thing possible for the kids.
Perhaps I was supposed to come away with the feeling that this family pulled together during a crisis but instead I am so sad that Beck is now trapped at home with this woman and unable to escape to the mountains any longer.
I hope he takes up sailing once again. I hope that his next book is about waking up from a marriage-induced coma and realising his long-time dream of sailing solo around the world.
The remaining 220 pages are the dull transcripts of a completely dysfunctional marriage in counselling. Reading this was like watching paint dry - but the paint was on a side of a plane as it crashed, making it difficult to turn away.
Coming from a childhood of true white privilege, Beck has had every opportunity placed before him. He comes through it all with a quiet humility and a drive for perfection. Beck's sarcastic humour comes through thinly in his passages, usually by making belittling put-downs or sweepingly insulting generalizations. That said, Beck only sees good in the people around him. Throughout his life, he has had a wide range of interests and hobbies which he pursues with ferocity, mountaineering being only one of them, which are actually his way of dealing with his sometimes paralysing depression.
Peach', his wife, tarries back and forth with Beck through this narrative. She is a nest of vipers who is shuffling through life under her self-made black cloud. She is unable to make herself happy and expects Beck to sit around at home creating her happiness for her. She refuses to go places without air-conditioning or places that are cold and wouldn't participate in his previous interests of sailing or motor-sports. She is so uninteresting and only sees her potential for happiness being squandered by Beck. Blind to his decades-long depression, she needles him endlessly between bouts of silent-treatment. It is a sad display of non-communication and is one of those examples where staying together 'for the kids' was probably the worst thing possible for the kids.
Perhaps I was supposed to come away with the feeling that this family pulled together during a crisis but instead I am so sad that Beck is now trapped at home with this woman and unable to escape to the mountains any longer.
I hope he takes up sailing once again. I hope that his next book is about waking up from a marriage-induced coma and realising his long-time dream of sailing solo around the world.
January 22, 2016
DNF. No. Just awful I can't finish it.
August 31, 2016
This book is about a mountain climber who was climbing MT Everest at the wrong time. He was climbing it when there was a blizzard hit while he was in sub-freezing weather. He was left by the other mountain climbers thinking he was dead, but he survived.
When I first saw this book, I thought I would like it. I thought it was going to talk about how he miraculously survived a bad blizzard 25,000+ feet in the air the WHOLE book. Turns out it only explained the event in less than half of the book. Usually, books and movies have the rising action until close to the end, where the climax and falling action is. Not this book. The climax of the book was in the middle of the first part and the rest of the book was kind of boring. I read and finished part one and some of part two on the edge of my seat, but then in the rest of part 2, 3, and 4 it had me not interested anymore. It talked about his troubles with his wife and children and how him climbing mt. Everest had helped and hurt some of those relationships. It was not what I expected.
Overall the book has its ups and downs, but it is mostly down. It was still a good book, but it just didn't keep my attention throughout the book.
August 22, 2007
If you already collect 1996 Everest stories, you may read the whole thing. But if you don't, you'll probably want just Part One, which satisfies. The rest of the book becomes too much detail too late, and reads like filler.
PS to the audio reader: we don't need you to do voices for the same reason we don't need dialogue printed in different fonts and colors. It's annoying, and we get it that different people are talking.
PS to the audio reader: we don't need you to do voices for the same reason we don't need dialogue printed in different fonts and colors. It's annoying, and we get it that different people are talking.
April 20, 2021
This book is not about Everest.
It's about the power of accepting who you are, what you're really seeking for, what happiness trully means.
I think a better title for this book would be something like "The Pursuit of Happiness" .
"For the first time in my life, I'm comfortable inside my own skin. I searched all over the world for that which would fulfill me, and all along it was in my own backyard."
It's about the power of accepting who you are, what you're really seeking for, what happiness trully means.
I think a better title for this book would be something like "The Pursuit of Happiness" .
"For the first time in my life, I'm comfortable inside my own skin. I searched all over the world for that which would fulfill me, and all along it was in my own backyard."
February 7, 2024
I don't know what it is about this mountain but I have been finding myself reading a lot about the climb and climbers experience. Frankly, I don't think we have any business climbing Everest (hello you're climbing to the altitude jet airliners fly!) But it does make for hair raising reads...just plain yikes!
April 30, 2009
I found Beck Weathers' Everest story fascinating and enjoyed his stories of mountaineering and how he found his way through depression to mountain-climbing. The "aside" comments from family and friends were pleasant additions and offered insight and depth. I think the whole life-story could have been edited down considerably, and I kept looking for some additional summarized statements at the end of "what we learned from this", but all-in-all it was interesting and gave a great perspective on what is really important in life.
July 24, 2014
With the exception of one or two genuinely interesting chapters detailing the events that we all found so gripping from the spring of '96, Weathers dedicates the rest of the book in an attempt at contrition to his family, which stuck with him through the obsession that nearly killed him.
March 25, 2025
This is more Beck Weather's autobiography than a Mt. Everest memoir, but I enjoyed it. Good on him for taking his near-death experience and using it to reframe his life and tackle some deeply ingrained personal problems.
September 17, 2016
Mount Everest has teased and haunted me since my early 20s. For some unknown reason I was filled with a desire to climb that mountain after watching a documentary on PBS(?), approximately 3 decades ago. I wanted so badly to climb that mountain but the one obstacle that I couldn't overcome was crossing the gaping crevasses by walking across the aluminum ladders. The high altitude, thinning air and possibility of frostbite weren't a concern but putting one foot in front of the other on a ladder paralyzed me. So needless to say I put that dream to sleep or more like in an induced coma.
A couple of weeks ago I watched the movie Everest which was released in 2015 starring Josh Brolin. I was fascinated by the events that unfolded on that mountain and especially Beck Weathers' story. So I requested Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer and Left for Dead from the library. I received Jon's book first and man did he set the bar high. Even though Jon did an excellent job of recounting the tragedy, I thought it would be interesting to hear of Beck's account and experiences.
I didn't get much of his experiences on the mountain or his account of being left for dead. IIRC the book is broken into four parts. Part one talks about his time on the mountain and the full-service he was offered at the Yak and Yeti. As I was reading about his ordeal and rescue off the mountain so early in the book, I wrongly assumed that the rest of the book would be about his road home. Maybe issues dealing with his injuries and his family coming to grips with losing him only to rise again shortly thereafter. I definitely expected there to be more of his experiences on the mountain.
What I got was a whole lot of I climb because... This could have been called Mountaineering: Why I self medicate my depression with one of the world's most dangerous activities. A good portion of the book deals with his recurring depression and how he keeps it at bay by going on mountaineering trips at the expense of his family. He missed important events in his kids' lives and I think even missed a wedding anniversary. At one point one of his kids states that they got used to not having him at home because even when he was there, he wasn't. I have an adult son who lives in another state, but it would crush me if we lived in the same household and he couldn't care less if I were there or not because he got used to my absence. This saddened me most of all - that he was to all intents and purposes, a roommate. Maybe I'm being harsh but the role of husband is something I take very seriously (says the never-married man behind the curtain). I noticed another reviewer renaming the book, outstanding!
One thing I did like about the story was there were plenty of tears and as well as humor from Beck and his wife Peach. Their dysfunctional relationship provided plenty of both and they appeared to share quite a bit. It was interesting to see how out of touch Beck was. His solution or response to the criticism he received for spending so much time and money on his mountaineering obsession was that his wife should get a hobby; something that she was passionate about. I was so happy when Peach finally realized Beck was being selfish.
There was a part of Beck that was very funny and I identified with him because they were things I would do or say and I kept thinking he keeps stealing my lines (which is something Beck accuses others of doing in the book).
I didn't care for the bait and switch so much that I lowered my original star rating of four to three stars after writing this review. I am happy that in the end this beautiful family is still together.
A side effect of having watched that movie was a rekindling of the desire to climb Mount Everest. I've worked out the kinks on my fear of crossing the crevasses. I think I can do it. My concern now is dysentery. There was a lot of that up on the mountain. This is worse than the ladders. I think I'll stay down here closer to sea-level.
A couple of weeks ago I watched the movie Everest which was released in 2015 starring Josh Brolin. I was fascinated by the events that unfolded on that mountain and especially Beck Weathers' story. So I requested Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer and Left for Dead from the library. I received Jon's book first and man did he set the bar high. Even though Jon did an excellent job of recounting the tragedy, I thought it would be interesting to hear of Beck's account and experiences.
I didn't get much of his experiences on the mountain or his account of being left for dead. IIRC the book is broken into four parts. Part one talks about his time on the mountain and the full-service he was offered at the Yak and Yeti. As I was reading about his ordeal and rescue off the mountain so early in the book, I wrongly assumed that the rest of the book would be about his road home. Maybe issues dealing with his injuries and his family coming to grips with losing him only to rise again shortly thereafter. I definitely expected there to be more of his experiences on the mountain.
What I got was a whole lot of I climb because... This could have been called Mountaineering: Why I self medicate my depression with one of the world's most dangerous activities. A good portion of the book deals with his recurring depression and how he keeps it at bay by going on mountaineering trips at the expense of his family. He missed important events in his kids' lives and I think even missed a wedding anniversary. At one point one of his kids states that they got used to not having him at home because even when he was there, he wasn't. I have an adult son who lives in another state, but it would crush me if we lived in the same household and he couldn't care less if I were there or not because he got used to my absence. This saddened me most of all - that he was to all intents and purposes, a roommate. Maybe I'm being harsh but the role of husband is something I take very seriously (says the never-married man behind the curtain). I noticed another reviewer renaming the book, outstanding!
One thing I did like about the story was there were plenty of tears and as well as humor from Beck and his wife Peach. Their dysfunctional relationship provided plenty of both and they appeared to share quite a bit. It was interesting to see how out of touch Beck was. His solution or response to the criticism he received for spending so much time and money on his mountaineering obsession was that his wife should get a hobby; something that she was passionate about. I was so happy when Peach finally realized Beck was being selfish.
There was a part of Beck that was very funny and I identified with him because they were things I would do or say and I kept thinking he keeps stealing my lines (which is something Beck accuses others of doing in the book).
I didn't care for the bait and switch so much that I lowered my original star rating of four to three stars after writing this review. I am happy that in the end this beautiful family is still together.
A side effect of having watched that movie was a rekindling of the desire to climb Mount Everest. I've worked out the kinks on my fear of crossing the crevasses. I think I can do it. My concern now is dysentery. There was a lot of that up on the mountain. This is worse than the ladders. I think I'll stay down here closer to sea-level.
December 8, 2008
It's pretty rare that my opinion of a book changes dramatically over the course of reading it. Sure, a book that starts off well can turn out to be less interesting as time goes on, or a bad beginning can be saved by an increasingly good plot. But it's far less common to be considering putting the book down permanently after 100 pages, then end up enjoying it immensely by the end. Such was the case with “Left for Dead”. After the first third, I thought it was poorly written and expected the rest of the book to be boring filler. As is turned out, it just keeps getting better and better, eventually turning into a quality read that I would recommend to almost anyone.
After reading “Into Thin Air” earlier this year, I was curious to read one of the multitude of other books written about the 1996 Everest disaster, in which over a dozen people were killed in a single day by a sudden storm. Many of the those books were written in response to Krakauer's magazine article and book, which paints a fairly unflattering picture of some of the other climbers involved. I wasn't too interesting in reading books about the back and forth of differing viewpoints and opinions on who did or did not do the right thing that day. More appealing to me was “Left for Dead”, which is about the near miraculous survival of Beck Weathers. He had spent the entire duration of the storm laying in the snow, blind, frozen, and lost. When he was found the next day, he was still breathing but it was decided to leave him behind. The other climbers knew that physiologically he had no chance of survival and to attempt to rescue him would simply endanger the others. Hours later, barely conscious, he walked back to camp himself. Still at extremely high altitude and near death, the other climbers again assumed that he would pass away during the night. The next morning he insisted on walking further down the mountain with them, where he was eventually rescued by the highest altitude helicopter flight in history.
This story is related in the first hundred pages of the book. While the story itself is amazing and a true testament to the human will, the writing is simply sub-par. Characters are introduced with barely a description then not mentioned again, the pacing of the adventure is all off, and the reader just doesn't get a good feel for what it was really like up there (unlike in Krakauer's book, where the descriptions make you feel like you're on the mountain yourself). Most surprisingly of all, after the first 100 pages of a 350 page book, the Everest story is over! “What a rip off!”, I thought, where's my adventure story? I was already mentally preparing my negative review. When the following chapter started to detail his early life, I felt that the book was just going to keep getting worse.
Instead, it got a whole lot better. Weathers, his family, and friends all give personal, first person accounts of their lives leading up the expedition to Everest. The story of survival is amazing, but it becomes even more fascinating as a story about an individual, a human with flaws just like everyone else. This wasn't some athletic superhero up there; Weathers was a man suffering from depression and a danger obsession that was ruining his marriage and family. By telling the story of his life and especially his relationship with his wife (which at times is brutally honest and open) the reader starts to see the human context his which the events on Everest took place. This makes the story vastly more interesting, and Weathers' survival on Everest becomes just one part of a wonderful redemption story.
If you go into this book, as I did, expecting to read “Into Thin Air” from a different perspective, then you will be disappointed. On the other hand, if you are interested in a book about real people struggling with their demons and the power of life and death situations to change lives, read “Left for Dead”.
After reading “Into Thin Air” earlier this year, I was curious to read one of the multitude of other books written about the 1996 Everest disaster, in which over a dozen people were killed in a single day by a sudden storm. Many of the those books were written in response to Krakauer's magazine article and book, which paints a fairly unflattering picture of some of the other climbers involved. I wasn't too interesting in reading books about the back and forth of differing viewpoints and opinions on who did or did not do the right thing that day. More appealing to me was “Left for Dead”, which is about the near miraculous survival of Beck Weathers. He had spent the entire duration of the storm laying in the snow, blind, frozen, and lost. When he was found the next day, he was still breathing but it was decided to leave him behind. The other climbers knew that physiologically he had no chance of survival and to attempt to rescue him would simply endanger the others. Hours later, barely conscious, he walked back to camp himself. Still at extremely high altitude and near death, the other climbers again assumed that he would pass away during the night. The next morning he insisted on walking further down the mountain with them, where he was eventually rescued by the highest altitude helicopter flight in history.
This story is related in the first hundred pages of the book. While the story itself is amazing and a true testament to the human will, the writing is simply sub-par. Characters are introduced with barely a description then not mentioned again, the pacing of the adventure is all off, and the reader just doesn't get a good feel for what it was really like up there (unlike in Krakauer's book, where the descriptions make you feel like you're on the mountain yourself). Most surprisingly of all, after the first 100 pages of a 350 page book, the Everest story is over! “What a rip off!”, I thought, where's my adventure story? I was already mentally preparing my negative review. When the following chapter started to detail his early life, I felt that the book was just going to keep getting worse.
Instead, it got a whole lot better. Weathers, his family, and friends all give personal, first person accounts of their lives leading up the expedition to Everest. The story of survival is amazing, but it becomes even more fascinating as a story about an individual, a human with flaws just like everyone else. This wasn't some athletic superhero up there; Weathers was a man suffering from depression and a danger obsession that was ruining his marriage and family. By telling the story of his life and especially his relationship with his wife (which at times is brutally honest and open) the reader starts to see the human context his which the events on Everest took place. This makes the story vastly more interesting, and Weathers' survival on Everest becomes just one part of a wonderful redemption story.
If you go into this book, as I did, expecting to read “Into Thin Air” from a different perspective, then you will be disappointed. On the other hand, if you are interested in a book about real people struggling with their demons and the power of life and death situations to change lives, read “Left for Dead”.
October 29, 2019
What an awful book.
If you pick this up, you probably already know the interesting part of Weathers' story -- being left for dead as part of a disastrous attempt to climb Mount Everest. He adds little insight here, if any, as that story has been told elsewhere, more than once, and by better writers (notably Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer).
That's where this account starts and everything -- literally and figuratively -- goes downhill from there. The middle section -- interminable -- is his biography, told by himself and a variety of family members in inserted snippets. The problem is that he's a little bit dull and more than a little bit asshole. He grew up in a Southern military family at various bases around the world and just sort of accepts that brown people are available to serve white folk. You might hope there would be some "aha" value to this in his discussion of climbing Everest, where all the hardest work (carrying supplies / oxygen, fixing rope and ladders) is done by Sherpas, but they barely figure in. In related news, he only survived because -- as a rich Texas doctor -- his family is politically connected enough to pressure the Nepalese army to find a helicopter pilot brave (and crazy) enough to fly higher than safely possible to pluck him off the mountain. Weathers acknowledges the pilot -- one Madan K.C. -- but takes the rest of his rich, white privilege for granted.
His bio shows how he is competitive, compulsive, and manages to alienate most of his family in pursuit of mountaineering goals - the big one is to climb the "Seven Summits," the highest peaks on each continent. He frequently blames his depression, which is kind of handy as it absolves him of accepting responsibility for his own actions as he pursues his own agenda at the cost of everyone around him.
The end -- I confess I was skimming by that point -- has details on Weather's surgery and a little self-reflection, occasioned largely by the death of his brother. It provides a little saving grace for Weathers -- he empathizes with his brother -- but not much.
To top it off, the book's not well-written. Co-author Stephen G. Michaud either is a dull read or didn't convince Weathers that a book should have any grace or art to it. Climbing at altitude is by all accounts a plod: You take a step, then try to recover, then take another step, advancing essentially through willpower. Kind of like reading this book.
If you pick this up, you probably already know the interesting part of Weathers' story -- being left for dead as part of a disastrous attempt to climb Mount Everest. He adds little insight here, if any, as that story has been told elsewhere, more than once, and by better writers (notably Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer).
That's where this account starts and everything -- literally and figuratively -- goes downhill from there. The middle section -- interminable -- is his biography, told by himself and a variety of family members in inserted snippets. The problem is that he's a little bit dull and more than a little bit asshole. He grew up in a Southern military family at various bases around the world and just sort of accepts that brown people are available to serve white folk. You might hope there would be some "aha" value to this in his discussion of climbing Everest, where all the hardest work (carrying supplies / oxygen, fixing rope and ladders) is done by Sherpas, but they barely figure in. In related news, he only survived because -- as a rich Texas doctor -- his family is politically connected enough to pressure the Nepalese army to find a helicopter pilot brave (and crazy) enough to fly higher than safely possible to pluck him off the mountain. Weathers acknowledges the pilot -- one Madan K.C. -- but takes the rest of his rich, white privilege for granted.
His bio shows how he is competitive, compulsive, and manages to alienate most of his family in pursuit of mountaineering goals - the big one is to climb the "Seven Summits," the highest peaks on each continent. He frequently blames his depression, which is kind of handy as it absolves him of accepting responsibility for his own actions as he pursues his own agenda at the cost of everyone around him.
The end -- I confess I was skimming by that point -- has details on Weather's surgery and a little self-reflection, occasioned largely by the death of his brother. It provides a little saving grace for Weathers -- he empathizes with his brother -- but not much.
To top it off, the book's not well-written. Co-author Stephen G. Michaud either is a dull read or didn't convince Weathers that a book should have any grace or art to it. Climbing at altitude is by all accounts a plod: You take a step, then try to recover, then take another step, advancing essentially through willpower. Kind of like reading this book.
September 13, 2016
3.5 stars
As an editor, this book made my fingers itch. So much potential!
When I read Jon Krakauer's account of the same disaster--"Into Thin Air"--I was touched by the story of Beck Weathers, the mountaineer people kept leaving for dead who stubbornly survived anyway. As soon I discovered he'd written his own story, I knew I had to read it, no matter how negative a lot of the reviews were.
Beck's brief account of his struggle to survive on Everest and his recovery afterwards are riveting. As other people have mentioned, they account for less than a third of this book. What his story is really about is how he decided to use the second chance he'd been given and become a different, better person.
Which I don't mind at all--I find stories like Beck's very powerful, even inspirational. But there are about 50 pages in the middle that I suspect have led to the majority of the complaints, as well as readers giving up on the story entirely. How depression led Beck to grow more and more obsessed with mountain climbing--interesting. His preparations for and experience on Everest--interesting. The multiple surgeries he endured to put him back together and how he became a new man, literally and figuratively--interesting. Even the back-and-forth with his wife about the challenges of their relationship were mildly interesting. What we did not need was the biography of his family tree, how his parents met, and a detailed account of the personalities of their two deceased cats. At this point in the book, Beck was rambling--it felt like free-association writing. It's an easy fix--why an editor or co-writer didn't catch it is beyond me. You could lift that chunk right out and have a much stronger book, with no one realizing anything is missing.
People have complained about the exchanges with his wife, "Peach." For the most part I didn't have an issue with them, but when they became arguments on the page, it was a bit silly. It cheapened Beck's story, IMO.
"It wasn't the depression."
"Yes it was!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
Sigh.
That said, if you endure the soggy middle (or skip through it, which is probably the wisest use of your time) the first and last sections of this memoir are quite good. And worth the read. Beck's humour, his incredible strength of character, and his tenacity are admirable. All in all, he tells a good story and he's a very likeable man.
He just needed a better editor.
As an editor, this book made my fingers itch. So much potential!
When I read Jon Krakauer's account of the same disaster--"Into Thin Air"--I was touched by the story of Beck Weathers, the mountaineer people kept leaving for dead who stubbornly survived anyway. As soon I discovered he'd written his own story, I knew I had to read it, no matter how negative a lot of the reviews were.
Beck's brief account of his struggle to survive on Everest and his recovery afterwards are riveting. As other people have mentioned, they account for less than a third of this book. What his story is really about is how he decided to use the second chance he'd been given and become a different, better person.
Which I don't mind at all--I find stories like Beck's very powerful, even inspirational. But there are about 50 pages in the middle that I suspect have led to the majority of the complaints, as well as readers giving up on the story entirely. How depression led Beck to grow more and more obsessed with mountain climbing--interesting. His preparations for and experience on Everest--interesting. The multiple surgeries he endured to put him back together and how he became a new man, literally and figuratively--interesting. Even the back-and-forth with his wife about the challenges of their relationship were mildly interesting. What we did not need was the biography of his family tree, how his parents met, and a detailed account of the personalities of their two deceased cats. At this point in the book, Beck was rambling--it felt like free-association writing. It's an easy fix--why an editor or co-writer didn't catch it is beyond me. You could lift that chunk right out and have a much stronger book, with no one realizing anything is missing.
People have complained about the exchanges with his wife, "Peach." For the most part I didn't have an issue with them, but when they became arguments on the page, it was a bit silly. It cheapened Beck's story, IMO.
"It wasn't the depression."
"Yes it was!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
Sigh.
That said, if you endure the soggy middle (or skip through it, which is probably the wisest use of your time) the first and last sections of this memoir are quite good. And worth the read. Beck's humour, his incredible strength of character, and his tenacity are admirable. All in all, he tells a good story and he's a very likeable man.
He just needed a better editor.
June 29, 2018
This book felt like a bait and switch. I went into it thinking I would hear primarily of his experience with what he went through on Everest, like the title implies...”My Journey Home From Everest.” While the first part tells of that story, the book as a whole was mostly a hodgepodge of his whole back story, as well as peppering in his other mountain climbing experiences. Along with a counseling session with his wife. Don’t get me wrong, I expected there to be a bit of a back story told leading up to his fate with Everest. But I was definitely not prepared for the randomness this book became. Granted, I did finish it so it kept my interest to some degree. So I have to give it credit for that. His story really is a miracle and intriguing... but I didn’t care to hear all about his parents life and his wife’s parents life and all that other stuff. Too much dude, too much.
August 6, 2021
Not really a mountain climbing book like I expected, but rather a memoir about a man who realizes what's important in life after a near death experience. What I found fascinating was his wife's candid first person account of their marriage and her views of her husband as a father and husband. It's not often that a contentious marriage (that doesn't end in divorce) is revealed so frankly. A solid read that I would recommend to people who enjoy memoirs.
April 23, 2019
Have read numerous books on Everest, this is not the one to choose...
March 10, 2022
Where do I even start.
This was just... something else. First of all, in regards to the rating: it was OK. It really was just... OK. I think if it hadn't been for the characters of the people involved in this book, that's all I would have to say on the subject. It's OK, for what it is. As a story about one man's survival during one of the deadliest days on Mount Everest, it sucks. It really sucks. But if you're like me, and you do admittedly enjoy basically being a fly on the wall during somebody's marriage counselling sessions, then you might enjoy this a little more. Even so, it is still just OK. The sheer entertainment I got from hating this man was enough to give it a whole extra star.
So, the book is marketed as the story of Beck Weathers' miraculous survival of a storm on Mount Everest that killed many other climbers. Weathers' survival, in all fairness, is extraordinary. He was so frozen, so hypothermic and frostbitten, that he slipped into a coma and spent hours out in the storm. He was so messed up that when he was discovered, they left him right where he was, because they figured if he wasn't dead yet, he would be soon. Somehow, against all odds, Weathers woke up from this deeply hypothermic state. He dragged himself back to camp. He survived the night. He was airlifted off the mountain in a dangerous rescue far above any altitude regarded as remotely safe. He lost both of his hands and had to have serious reconstructive surgery on his face, but he lived. It's an impressive story. It's an exciting story. What a shame I got all of the juicy details from Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer, and not a single piece of new information from the man himself.
No more than 60 pages of this book are dedicated to the incident on Everest, and even fewer of those are about the storm itself rather than the lead-up or the aftermath. So what is the rest of this 300-page book about? It's about how much Weathers and his wife hate one another. Of course, that's not explicitely said. This book is supposed to be about how Weathers realised he was neglecting his wife and children emotionally and, after his near-death experience, returned home a new man ready to make amends. It would be a heartwarming study of humility and growth, if not for the fact that his wife quite clearly still despises him. To be honest, I can hardly blame her. Weathers was fifty years old when this happened, and for his whole marriage he had been absent. He hadn't seen his kids grow. He had neglected and all but abandoned his wife. That's a lot of time that he can't get back, and it's a lot of crap he pulled on his family. Everything from spending money on expensive camera equipment rather than getting his wife a decent engagement ring, to running off on family vacations in the rare moments he was around to go on them, ignoring his wife and kids to go hiking or mountain climbing -- he openly admits that he knew what he was doing was unfair, but that basically he didn't give a rat's ass. In an attempt to add a more sympathetic twist to the whole thing, he blames his battles with depression, and I don't deny that this had something to do with it. However, from all the other evidence in this book, Weathers just seems like a jerk. It's quite clear that he and his wife are just not compatible as people, and I think that if he hadn't spent so much time travelling the world without his family, Peach would have divorced his ass decades before they got to this point.
All in all, it's an infuriating read. Weathers has his moments of humour, but overall he comes across as a real piece of work. His treatment of his family is awful and, to an extent, unforgiveable. Looking at his history, a part of me wonders if his near-death experience really shocked him straight, or just made him realise that his mountaineering days were over and there's now no escape, so the best thing he can do is suck up to his wife in the hope he's not abandoned in his old age. Throughout the whole book, he never really convinced me that he thought he was wrong. He seems utterly dedicated to his side of the story and frequently glosses over things. The book is told in segments, with members of his family and some friends chiming in to give their perspectives (a choppy and juvenile way to tell the story, but that's far from the biggest issue here), and in Peach's segments she'll be saying about how hurt she was, or the stress she was under, or a health crisis that had happened... and then it swaps to Weathers' point of view and he's essentially like "anyway, I was having the time of my life at this point, Peach who?" It's clear that Peach resents him deeply, and even in this book -- which was supposed to be a joint project where they showed off their repaired marriage -- she is constantly bringing up things he's done to her, and even insulting him at times. She insists there's something wrong with him for being a loner, and that he's messed up in the head; he maintains that her problem is that she doesn't have any hobbies, and she's just jealous of him because she's boring by comparison. I cannot emphasise this enough, guys: if you're reading this, just get divorced. This ain't it.
The whole book is basically Weathers laying out what a jerk he is, both in terms of family and overall, but then blatantly ignoring it to brag about his fitness or his muscles -- subjects that come up so frequently that he even makes sure to include things other people have said to him that praise such things. On top of this, there's a streak of real racism in him that comes out uncomfortably clearly; he doesn't seem to criticise at all the fact that his family had servants when he was growing up as a military brat, living in countries were people of "lower" ethnicities or castes have to basically work as slaves; there's also a part where he's regaling an expedition to another mountain and he speaks very disrespectfully of the native tribe, even insinuating that he was in danger of being cannibalised by them. These were tribespeople employed to lug all their equipment up the mountain, so a little respect and appreciation would be nice. While he is more respectful in regards to the Sherpa guides, this respect does not extent to the Sherpa villages he passes through, which he constantly insults for being unsanitary despite admitting that this is because these villages were never intended to support so many people, and the problems they face are a direct result of people like him trekking through to climb Everest. Even after admitting this, he still goes on to describe the place as though the Sherpa are choosing to live in filth. It's honestly infuriating.
What else? Ah -- to go back to the issue of this being a book about a reconciliation with his wife, he has more kind things to say about literally everybody else mentioned in the book than he does about his wife. This includes people who are basically strangers to him. All he can say about Peach is that she's "nice". Or that she "gets people". I think once he called her "a good person". He clearly does not know her at all. As for Peach, the whole book is a litany of her grievances against him, and I can honestly hardly blame her. I think the major area where she was at fault was when she didn't run after Weathers was constantly putting off proposing to her. In the end she twisted his arm with an ultimatum, but she should have just let him go. You've never seen a more incompatible couple in your life. Oh, another criticism that just proves to me that these guys are never going to reconcile: she tricked him into having a baby. She decided she wanted a baby and didn't want to wait, so by her own admission she "played Russian roulette" with her contraceptive pills. What in the hell. When you have a couple this at odds, with both of them doing some mighty heavy shit against one another, I really don't see how anybody could think that a book about a so-called "reconciliation" will help. For a start, there has to be a reconciliation to begin with. I don't think even a near-death experience on Everest can fix this mess. Not to mention the back-and-forth between them in the narrative literally made me feel like I was their marriage counsellor. Take this incredible passage, for example:
I'm not summarising speech there. The book is laid out like that, with the different sections for each person. This is the stuff they include in their book about their saved marriage: just constant bickering! Not to mention how Weathers avoids speaking about his wife whenever he can, and Peach just criticises and insults him all the way through. It's evident that she's being uncharitable because of her resentment in some places, too -- while a lot of her criticisms are valid, there are places where she is way off. For example, when she said that everyone rolled their eyes and always tried to get away from her husband whenever he started talking about mountain climbing, because it was so boring, but then several people remark how they found it very interesting and liked how they were told things they would never otherwise know about, and how Weathers was an entertaining storyteller, etc. It's clear Peach has a very negative view of him, born of valid criticisms, but now probably drastically unfair. Even if Weathers has changed, I doubt she'll ever forgive him, nor will she stop treating him like the old version of himself. If he's truly remorseful, this is an unfair situation for him to be in.
Finally, I didn't like how Weathers dealt with his depression in the narrative. At best it was kind of shoehorned in whenever the narrative needed something to hold it together, and at worst it was written without tact or sensitivity. I don't deny that he has suffered from depression, and that these are his own personal feelings, but I do think he has a responsibility to emphasise that. It's not nice to see him talking blatantly and uncriticially of his depression as a "weakness" -- something he evidently believes. Fair enough if he wants to beat himself up that way, or if that's how he internalises it so he can fight against it, but he shouldn't be publishing that as fact. Depression is not a weakness, and it's not a flaw on a person's character. It's also offensive how Peach criticises him in that respect, making him out to be a freak for struggling with things that depression makes a person struggle with (being able to open up to people, strange emotional responses or lack thereof, etc). None of this is ever acknowledges as bad, and I just don't think it's appropriate or fair.
I could probably go on, but I think this is long enough. As I said, two stars because it was just OK -- as in, the stuff about the mountain was OK, nothing more -- and also because I did get a lot of entertainment out of watching this absolute trainwreck of a marriage. Probably not what they intended, but hey, that's what's there.
This was just... something else. First of all, in regards to the rating: it was OK. It really was just... OK. I think if it hadn't been for the characters of the people involved in this book, that's all I would have to say on the subject. It's OK, for what it is. As a story about one man's survival during one of the deadliest days on Mount Everest, it sucks. It really sucks. But if you're like me, and you do admittedly enjoy basically being a fly on the wall during somebody's marriage counselling sessions, then you might enjoy this a little more. Even so, it is still just OK. The sheer entertainment I got from hating this man was enough to give it a whole extra star.
So, the book is marketed as the story of Beck Weathers' miraculous survival of a storm on Mount Everest that killed many other climbers. Weathers' survival, in all fairness, is extraordinary. He was so frozen, so hypothermic and frostbitten, that he slipped into a coma and spent hours out in the storm. He was so messed up that when he was discovered, they left him right where he was, because they figured if he wasn't dead yet, he would be soon. Somehow, against all odds, Weathers woke up from this deeply hypothermic state. He dragged himself back to camp. He survived the night. He was airlifted off the mountain in a dangerous rescue far above any altitude regarded as remotely safe. He lost both of his hands and had to have serious reconstructive surgery on his face, but he lived. It's an impressive story. It's an exciting story. What a shame I got all of the juicy details from Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer, and not a single piece of new information from the man himself.
No more than 60 pages of this book are dedicated to the incident on Everest, and even fewer of those are about the storm itself rather than the lead-up or the aftermath. So what is the rest of this 300-page book about? It's about how much Weathers and his wife hate one another. Of course, that's not explicitely said. This book is supposed to be about how Weathers realised he was neglecting his wife and children emotionally and, after his near-death experience, returned home a new man ready to make amends. It would be a heartwarming study of humility and growth, if not for the fact that his wife quite clearly still despises him. To be honest, I can hardly blame her. Weathers was fifty years old when this happened, and for his whole marriage he had been absent. He hadn't seen his kids grow. He had neglected and all but abandoned his wife. That's a lot of time that he can't get back, and it's a lot of crap he pulled on his family. Everything from spending money on expensive camera equipment rather than getting his wife a decent engagement ring, to running off on family vacations in the rare moments he was around to go on them, ignoring his wife and kids to go hiking or mountain climbing -- he openly admits that he knew what he was doing was unfair, but that basically he didn't give a rat's ass. In an attempt to add a more sympathetic twist to the whole thing, he blames his battles with depression, and I don't deny that this had something to do with it. However, from all the other evidence in this book, Weathers just seems like a jerk. It's quite clear that he and his wife are just not compatible as people, and I think that if he hadn't spent so much time travelling the world without his family, Peach would have divorced his ass decades before they got to this point.
All in all, it's an infuriating read. Weathers has his moments of humour, but overall he comes across as a real piece of work. His treatment of his family is awful and, to an extent, unforgiveable. Looking at his history, a part of me wonders if his near-death experience really shocked him straight, or just made him realise that his mountaineering days were over and there's now no escape, so the best thing he can do is suck up to his wife in the hope he's not abandoned in his old age. Throughout the whole book, he never really convinced me that he thought he was wrong. He seems utterly dedicated to his side of the story and frequently glosses over things. The book is told in segments, with members of his family and some friends chiming in to give their perspectives (a choppy and juvenile way to tell the story, but that's far from the biggest issue here), and in Peach's segments she'll be saying about how hurt she was, or the stress she was under, or a health crisis that had happened... and then it swaps to Weathers' point of view and he's essentially like "anyway, I was having the time of my life at this point, Peach who?" It's clear that Peach resents him deeply, and even in this book -- which was supposed to be a joint project where they showed off their repaired marriage -- she is constantly bringing up things he's done to her, and even insulting him at times. She insists there's something wrong with him for being a loner, and that he's messed up in the head; he maintains that her problem is that she doesn't have any hobbies, and she's just jealous of him because she's boring by comparison. I cannot emphasise this enough, guys: if you're reading this, just get divorced. This ain't it.
The whole book is basically Weathers laying out what a jerk he is, both in terms of family and overall, but then blatantly ignoring it to brag about his fitness or his muscles -- subjects that come up so frequently that he even makes sure to include things other people have said to him that praise such things. On top of this, there's a streak of real racism in him that comes out uncomfortably clearly; he doesn't seem to criticise at all the fact that his family had servants when he was growing up as a military brat, living in countries were people of "lower" ethnicities or castes have to basically work as slaves; there's also a part where he's regaling an expedition to another mountain and he speaks very disrespectfully of the native tribe, even insinuating that he was in danger of being cannibalised by them. These were tribespeople employed to lug all their equipment up the mountain, so a little respect and appreciation would be nice. While he is more respectful in regards to the Sherpa guides, this respect does not extent to the Sherpa villages he passes through, which he constantly insults for being unsanitary despite admitting that this is because these villages were never intended to support so many people, and the problems they face are a direct result of people like him trekking through to climb Everest. Even after admitting this, he still goes on to describe the place as though the Sherpa are choosing to live in filth. It's honestly infuriating.
What else? Ah -- to go back to the issue of this being a book about a reconciliation with his wife, he has more kind things to say about literally everybody else mentioned in the book than he does about his wife. This includes people who are basically strangers to him. All he can say about Peach is that she's "nice". Or that she "gets people". I think once he called her "a good person". He clearly does not know her at all. As for Peach, the whole book is a litany of her grievances against him, and I can honestly hardly blame her. I think the major area where she was at fault was when she didn't run after Weathers was constantly putting off proposing to her. In the end she twisted his arm with an ultimatum, but she should have just let him go. You've never seen a more incompatible couple in your life. Oh, another criticism that just proves to me that these guys are never going to reconcile: she tricked him into having a baby. She decided she wanted a baby and didn't want to wait, so by her own admission she "played Russian roulette" with her contraceptive pills. What in the hell. When you have a couple this at odds, with both of them doing some mighty heavy shit against one another, I really don't see how anybody could think that a book about a so-called "reconciliation" will help. For a start, there has to be a reconciliation to begin with. I don't think even a near-death experience on Everest can fix this mess. Not to mention the back-and-forth between them in the narrative literally made me feel like I was their marriage counsellor. Take this incredible passage, for example:
BECK: I'd been hiding the fact I was miserable for a long time. But it was not my intention to say, "What's wrong with us is you." Or, "What's wrong with me is you."
PEACH: I think he was looking for a way to ditch all of us.
BECK: That's not true!
PEACH: You said you were depressed, and that it was my fault.
I'm not summarising speech there. The book is laid out like that, with the different sections for each person. This is the stuff they include in their book about their saved marriage: just constant bickering! Not to mention how Weathers avoids speaking about his wife whenever he can, and Peach just criticises and insults him all the way through. It's evident that she's being uncharitable because of her resentment in some places, too -- while a lot of her criticisms are valid, there are places where she is way off. For example, when she said that everyone rolled their eyes and always tried to get away from her husband whenever he started talking about mountain climbing, because it was so boring, but then several people remark how they found it very interesting and liked how they were told things they would never otherwise know about, and how Weathers was an entertaining storyteller, etc. It's clear Peach has a very negative view of him, born of valid criticisms, but now probably drastically unfair. Even if Weathers has changed, I doubt she'll ever forgive him, nor will she stop treating him like the old version of himself. If he's truly remorseful, this is an unfair situation for him to be in.
Finally, I didn't like how Weathers dealt with his depression in the narrative. At best it was kind of shoehorned in whenever the narrative needed something to hold it together, and at worst it was written without tact or sensitivity. I don't deny that he has suffered from depression, and that these are his own personal feelings, but I do think he has a responsibility to emphasise that. It's not nice to see him talking blatantly and uncriticially of his depression as a "weakness" -- something he evidently believes. Fair enough if he wants to beat himself up that way, or if that's how he internalises it so he can fight against it, but he shouldn't be publishing that as fact. Depression is not a weakness, and it's not a flaw on a person's character. It's also offensive how Peach criticises him in that respect, making him out to be a freak for struggling with things that depression makes a person struggle with (being able to open up to people, strange emotional responses or lack thereof, etc). None of this is ever acknowledges as bad, and I just don't think it's appropriate or fair.
I could probably go on, but I think this is long enough. As I said, two stars because it was just OK -- as in, the stuff about the mountain was OK, nothing more -- and also because I did get a lot of entertainment out of watching this absolute trainwreck of a marriage. Probably not what they intended, but hey, that's what's there.
February 9, 2025
In the 1996 Everest disaster, Dr Beck Weathers was discovered so near death, it was not wise to risk more lives for a fruitless rescue attempt. Hours later, he miraculously arrived at camp. These are the details he recalls. It’s an incredible story of perseverance, and a bold, selfless rescue. It’s also very much about his flailing marriage and the part mountaineering played in his often being an absent father / husband.
March 15, 2025
DNF: 15 chapters in
Not worth the read. Covers his rescue off of Everest in the first 2-3 chapters and then turns into a random biography of his life for what seems like forever. Mostly just talks about his train wreck of a marriage. Who would have thought that galavanting around the globe on mountaineering trips and being emotionally unavailable puts a strain on your relationship!
Not worth the read. Covers his rescue off of Everest in the first 2-3 chapters and then turns into a random biography of his life for what seems like forever. Mostly just talks about his train wreck of a marriage. Who would have thought that galavanting around the globe on mountaineering trips and being emotionally unavailable puts a strain on your relationship!
November 9, 2009
i really wish there was an option for half-star reviews, because this is more of a two-&-a-half star book for me. i am being charitable because the book wasn't quite what i expected, & although i was disappointed at first, i found the change in tone strangely refreshing. plus you can read the entire book in like two hours. or, i did, anyway.
so this is another account of the may 19996 everest expedition that jon krakauer describes in into thin air. if you are looking for a really exhaustive, detailed account of what happened when a blizzard descended upon the upper portion of mount everest on may 10, trapping at least a dozen climbers overnight without shelter, oxygen, food, water, or medical attention in the infamous "death zone," leading to several tragic deaths, krakauer's book is indispensable & seriously compelling. but one of the most compelling aspects of krakauer's book for me was the story of what happened to beck weathers.
krakauer & weathers were team members attempting the summit together, led by seasoned mountaineer & guide rob hall. krakauer succeeded in reaching the summit & managed to make it back to high camp before being caught in the storm. beck weathers was forced to abandon his summit attempt when the high altitude reacted badly with his surgically corrected vision, rendering him effectively blind on the mountain. weathers agreed that it was be a suicide mission for him to attempt the summit with compromised vision, & hall insisted that weathers wait on a ledge just above camp for hall's return from the summit, so that hall could guide weathers back to camp. unfortunately, hall didn't start his descent from the summit until after the blizzard hit, & he was slowed by another incredibly fatigued climber. both hall & the climber he stayed behind to assist froze to death in the storm, though weathers wouldn't know that until later. as the day wore on & darkness started to fall, along with the storm affecting travel up & down the mountain, weathers knew he couldn't wait for hall & had to find another way down the mountain. he joined up with another group of struggling climbers from a fellow expedition. together, they reached the plateau where the tents were pitched, but in the white-out, they found themselves walking in circles, increasingly in danger of walking right off the side of the mountain before finding camp. they took shelter behind a small boulder & tried to keep each other awake & alive through the night. when the storm broke, the stronger climbers left for camp to recruit rescuers for the others, but when help came, weathers was one of two climbers who had fallen into a hypothermic coma. although he was breathing, shallowly, there was no other sign of life & the rescuers were forced to leave him for dead, since rescues at such a high altitude risk the lives of everyone involved in the rescue, & the likelihood of survival after falling into a coma like that & being in the elements for over twelve hours are almost zero.
astonishingly, weathers woke up from his coma, & even though his eyes were frozen, he managed to guesstimate the route to camp & stumbled in, a dead man walking. he was rushed into a medical tent with hot water bottles & sleeping bags, but his fellow climbers didn't expect him to live through the night. but he did, & he was able to climb mostly under his own power down to the ice fall, where he was rescued in the highest altitude helicopter evacuation ever. he lost on arm halfway up to his elbow, & all the fingers on the other hand, as well as some toes & his nose, but...he lived.
so that is the story i was expecting to read. & i got that, but to stretch it out to book-length, weathers augmented it with some memoir-ish background about what drove him to climb mountains, the toll his hobby took on his family, recollections of other climbs he did before attempting everest, & his life-long struggle with depression. it really wasn't what i was expecting...but i kind of appreciated it, since i struggle with depression too. i could relate to a lot of what he had to say, although it certainly did not motivate to take up mountaineering as a remedy. the whole book kind of felt like a huge apology to his wife for risking his life over & over again & finally having to come within a hair's breadth of death before centering his family in his life & trying to be a present husband & father, but...it would be difficult not to write something similar under those circumstances. weathers isn't a journalist like krakauer, & he acknowledges that krakauer's book is the definitive account for the details of most of what happened on the mountain. weathers offers a more personal account, without apportioning blame, & it was pretty interesting. the dark humor sprinkled throughout was also a real treat.
so this is another account of the may 19996 everest expedition that jon krakauer describes in into thin air. if you are looking for a really exhaustive, detailed account of what happened when a blizzard descended upon the upper portion of mount everest on may 10, trapping at least a dozen climbers overnight without shelter, oxygen, food, water, or medical attention in the infamous "death zone," leading to several tragic deaths, krakauer's book is indispensable & seriously compelling. but one of the most compelling aspects of krakauer's book for me was the story of what happened to beck weathers.
krakauer & weathers were team members attempting the summit together, led by seasoned mountaineer & guide rob hall. krakauer succeeded in reaching the summit & managed to make it back to high camp before being caught in the storm. beck weathers was forced to abandon his summit attempt when the high altitude reacted badly with his surgically corrected vision, rendering him effectively blind on the mountain. weathers agreed that it was be a suicide mission for him to attempt the summit with compromised vision, & hall insisted that weathers wait on a ledge just above camp for hall's return from the summit, so that hall could guide weathers back to camp. unfortunately, hall didn't start his descent from the summit until after the blizzard hit, & he was slowed by another incredibly fatigued climber. both hall & the climber he stayed behind to assist froze to death in the storm, though weathers wouldn't know that until later. as the day wore on & darkness started to fall, along with the storm affecting travel up & down the mountain, weathers knew he couldn't wait for hall & had to find another way down the mountain. he joined up with another group of struggling climbers from a fellow expedition. together, they reached the plateau where the tents were pitched, but in the white-out, they found themselves walking in circles, increasingly in danger of walking right off the side of the mountain before finding camp. they took shelter behind a small boulder & tried to keep each other awake & alive through the night. when the storm broke, the stronger climbers left for camp to recruit rescuers for the others, but when help came, weathers was one of two climbers who had fallen into a hypothermic coma. although he was breathing, shallowly, there was no other sign of life & the rescuers were forced to leave him for dead, since rescues at such a high altitude risk the lives of everyone involved in the rescue, & the likelihood of survival after falling into a coma like that & being in the elements for over twelve hours are almost zero.
astonishingly, weathers woke up from his coma, & even though his eyes were frozen, he managed to guesstimate the route to camp & stumbled in, a dead man walking. he was rushed into a medical tent with hot water bottles & sleeping bags, but his fellow climbers didn't expect him to live through the night. but he did, & he was able to climb mostly under his own power down to the ice fall, where he was rescued in the highest altitude helicopter evacuation ever. he lost on arm halfway up to his elbow, & all the fingers on the other hand, as well as some toes & his nose, but...he lived.
so that is the story i was expecting to read. & i got that, but to stretch it out to book-length, weathers augmented it with some memoir-ish background about what drove him to climb mountains, the toll his hobby took on his family, recollections of other climbs he did before attempting everest, & his life-long struggle with depression. it really wasn't what i was expecting...but i kind of appreciated it, since i struggle with depression too. i could relate to a lot of what he had to say, although it certainly did not motivate to take up mountaineering as a remedy. the whole book kind of felt like a huge apology to his wife for risking his life over & over again & finally having to come within a hair's breadth of death before centering his family in his life & trying to be a present husband & father, but...it would be difficult not to write something similar under those circumstances. weathers isn't a journalist like krakauer, & he acknowledges that krakauer's book is the definitive account for the details of most of what happened on the mountain. weathers offers a more personal account, without apportioning blame, & it was pretty interesting. the dark humor sprinkled throughout was also a real treat.
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