Eiger Dreams

John Krakauer          Lyons Press, Reprint 2009.

 4.5 /5.0
Before it symbolized the apex of middle school backpacks and rarified polyester winter fleece, "the north face" generally referred to the most cantakerous, onerous side of a norhtern hemisphere peak.  Return to simpler, more dangerous times with John Krakauer's first book.  Eiger Dreams is twelve tales of climbing drawn from stories of Krakauer's circle of mountaineering peers as well as from sorties of his own.  All but one of the stories have been printed before -some in Outside and Smithsonian, the sorts of magazines doctors put in their waiting rooms to convince the clientele that they are about to probed by a very interesting person.  The short, dense accounts resemble a collection of short stories and come with the inherit benefits and deficits of such an edition.  Each chapter is a complete yarn unto itself, yet I could never stop with just one.  The better stories made me want keep the journey going and after a sub-par tale I had a stubborn hope that the next would be better.  To avoid a similar dilemma I suggest you start with a few tedious days in basecamp with "Chapter IV - On Being Tentbound" before ascending to the summit of an iconic, southern Alaskan peak in "Chapter XII - The Devils Thumb".  Fill in the steps of your ascent with:
X The Burgess Boys
V The Flyboys of Talkeetna
VII Chamonix
IX A Mountain Higher than Everest?
III Valdez Ice
II Gill
VI Club Denali
XI A Bad Summer on K2
VIII Canyoneering
I Eiger Dreams