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Title: K2: The Story of the Savage Mountain by Jim Curran ISBN: 0-89886-683-9 Publisher: Mountaineers Books Pub. Date: December, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95

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Average Customer Rating: 3.8 (5 reviews)

Rating: 1
Summary: K2 The Unreadable Story
Comment: This book starts out with a great premise; to tell the story of the expeditions to the Karakoram region of the Himalaya with the eventual climbing and summiting of the second highest mountain on the planet, K2. In the beginning the author tempts you with some history, including with how the mountain was named and how difficult exploration was in yesteryear. The story progresses to epic struggles to climb the mountain for the first time, then wends its way to the present,with the every increasing body count from continuing suicidal attempts to defy nature. So far so good. The author has an enormous wealth of information to draw from, and to paint a picture of the history of K2. However, he fails miserably. The profusion of names and camps and who is going up and who is coming down gets mixed in a miasma of poor grammar and storytelling. Some examples: Page 139, "In the event it was only four who had the opportunity, but this was to be a long way off." Page 190, "Now, just below the Shoulder, they were faced with a tent shortage and, in what came to be seen as one of the most controversial moments of the summer, they did a deal with the Korean expedition whereby they carried a Korean tent and some fixed rope up to the Shoulder and in exchange for fixing the rope above the Bottleneck they would be allowed to use the tent for their first summit push.". If you can read these two examples less than twice and understand what the author is saying, then you will enjoy this book. My opinion is that this is what happens when your friends do your editing. Words such as "learnt", phrases such as "to try and", and "caught them up", would have easily been spotted and corrected by any decent editor. In short, I expected alot from this book and was disappointed by the painful way I had to get it. I would stick to Reinhold Messner's books, and pass on this one.

Rating: 4
Summary: scary mountain time
Comment: This book from Jim Curran charts the chequered past of the second highest mountain in the world. From the first survey of the mountain where it received its name to the events surrounding the 1995 tragedy in which Alison Hargreaves (and others) lost their lives, this is a chronological history of the mountain. It recounts the early expidtions (one including Aleister crowley, famed for black magic and general weirdness), through to the first 'real' attempts in the late thirties. The stupendous story of the 1953 american expedition where Seven climbers risked all in a vain attempt to save american mountaineer Art Gilkey is also covered in depth, as is the Italian dinosaur of an expedition that first reached the summit in 1954. Then onto the warts and all American expeditioins of the seventies, the Chris Bonington expidition that retreated after the loss of Nick Estcourt in 1978, and onto the 1985 calamity that cost many lives including Britons Al Rouse and Julie Tullis. Nothing new here, but what is covered is factually correct and interesting. If you want a concise history of the mountain, look no further.

Rating: 5
Summary: More than a book..a trip to the history and adventure
Comment: I've read many books about himalayas and k2 particularly, and this one shows in great way the whole story of the mountain, it shows how amazing was to finally discover a pass to reach its base camp after many years....and that's just the beginning.The rest is great.

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