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Book Review, © Copyright 1997, Jim Loy
In 1939, an American expedition led by Fritz Wiessner attempted to climb K2. None of the world's tallest mountains had been climbed at that time. K2 is a particularly difficult mountain to climb, and a mistake can lead to death.
At that time, climbers thought that a person had to remain at very high altitude, to acclimatize to the altitude. But above a certain altitude is what is now called the "death zone," and staying that high results in brain damage from lack of oxygen. A person must carry oxygen, or climb the mountain rapidly, or retreat to lower altitudes now and then.
The expedition apparently went fairly well until they established camp VII. Then the leader, Wiessner, essentially abandoned the rest of his expedition, to make an attempt to climb to the top, with a Sherpa named Lama, and a fairly inexperienced climber named Dudley Wolfe. Wiessner left his #2 man, Jack Durrance, in charge of the expedition. Wolfe got frostbite on his feet, early on, but was allowed to continue climbing. They got to within 800 feet of the top. Durrance, left at camp VII, got sick and had to return to base camp. Now, no one was in charge.
Wiessner, Lama, and Wolfe returned to camp VII, to get help in making another attempt to reach the top, and found it abandoned. Wiessner later said that there were no supplies there. There were apparently plenty of supplies, although snow had collapsed the tents. Leaving Wolfe at camp VII, Wiessner and Lama descended to get help. Lama fell, and was seriously injured. They found no one on the mountain, until they reached base camp, thousands of feet below.
Wiessner sent three Sherpas up to rescue Wolfe. Wolfe and the three Sherpas were never seen again.
Although there are still unanswered questions about this tragedy, this book clears up many of the mysteries of this sad story. It's a good book.
Also, see my article, Everest and K2.
To order this book from Amazon.com (goes directly to the book that you click on).