When Edmund Hillary first conquered Mt. Everest, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay was at his side. Indeed, for as long as Westerners have been climbing the Himalaya, Sherpas have been the unsung heroes in the background. In August 2008, when eleven climbers lost their lives on K2, the world's most dangerous peak, two Sherpas survived. They had emerged from poverty and political turmoil to become two of the most skillful mountaineers on earth. Based on unprecedented access and interviews, Buried in the Sky reveals their astonishing story for the first time.
Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan explore the intersecting lives of Chhiring Dorje Sherpa and Pasang Lama, following them from their villages high in the Himalaya to the slums of Kathmandu, across the glaciers of Pakistan to K2 Base Camp. When disaster strikes in the Death Zone, Chhiring finds Pasang stranded on an ice wall, without an axe, waiting to die. The rescue that follows has become the stuff of mountaineering legend.
At once a gripping, white-knuckled adventure and a rich exploration of Sherpa customs and culture, Buried in the Sky re-creates one of the most dramatic catastrophes in alpine history from a fascinating new perspective.
When you read books about Everest or K2 you never really hear the back story about the men who carry all the equipment needed to stage a climb, Buried in the Sky introduces you to the men that make that possible.
What was interesting about this book that instead of focusing on the climbers it centered more around the porters who make it possible. Sherpa's have been assisting climbers since Hillary reached the summit of Everest in 1953. There are low altitude porters and high altitude porters, they come poverty, political and ethic strife to become the most skillful mountain climbers. One in every four people who have attempted the summit have died trying. It is more difficult and hazardous to reach the peak of K2 from the Chinese side; thus, it is usually climbed from the Pakistani side.
The book is well written and very readable, one of the best books I have read on the 8,000ers.
