Maria CoffeyCritiques

Without risk, say mountaineers, there would be none of the self-knowledge that comes from pushing life to its extremes. For them, perhaps, it is worth the cost. But when tragedy strikes, what happens to the people left behind? Why would anyone choose to invest in a future with a high-altitude risk-taker? What is life like in the shadow of the mountain? Such questions have long been taboo in the world of mountaineering. Now, the spouses, parents and children of internationally renowned climbers finally break their silence, speaking out about the dark side of adventure.

Maria Coffey confronted one of the harshest realities of mountaineering when her partner Joe Tasker disappeared on the Northeast Ridge of Everest in 1982. In Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow, Coffey offers an intimate portrait of adventure and the conflicting beauty, passion, and devastation of this alluring obsession. Through interviews with the world's top climbers, or their widows and families-Jim Wickwire, Conrad Anker, Lynn Hill, Joe Simpson, Chris Bonington, Ed Viesturs, Anatoli Boukreev, Alex Lowe, and many others-she explores what compels men and women to give their lives to the high mountains. She asks why, despite the countless tragedies, the world continues to laud their exploits. With an insider's understanding, Coffey reveals the consequences of loving people who pursue such risk-the exhilarating highs and inevitable lows, the stress of long separations, the constant threat of bereavement, and the lives shattered in the wake of climbing accidents.

Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow is a powerful, affecting and important book that exposes the far reaching personal costs of extreme adventure.

My Review: The book was very interesting. Sad. Many of the climbers seem selfish, addicts who choose risking their lives for notoriety over their families.

The bad thing about this book is that it is very, very redundant. The theme of the pursuit of climbing the highest peaks and the stress it puts on the families of the climbers is the book premise but at times I felt like Coffey just repeated herself over and over again. I skipped a chapter or two because I felt like I had just read that part in the previous chapter. How many times do we have to read about the same climber's death and the toll it took on his family?

If you're into adventure books or mountain climbing maybe this would be a good read, but I found it a bit boring at times, a lot sad, but interesting nonetheless.

You never think about the people Coffey writes about when you devour mountain literature. There's always triumph and greatness in mountaineering, even, somehow, in tragedy. The book takes this activity to a new, hidde level. A sad one, too.

It does what it should, together with fantastic pictures of the trip. But I don't find it overly thrilling - it doesn't transport emotions and experiences as understandably as e.g. the books by Curran, although these are much less dangerous objectively..

Interesting in as far as the diversity of cultures that are represented - Pacific Islands, Africa, India and Ireland. Otherwise, more of a travelogue then anything else. It lacked a compelling purpose to weave it all together and make it more compelling for the reader.

The first and last time I jumped out of an airplane, I was 17 years old.

It was my mom who nearly died of fright. She had to sign a waiver that listed in gruesome detail all the ways her underage, unlucky son could die or sustain serious injury from skydiving. True to the odds, nothing went wrong. After four hours of “training,” the actual skydive, from Geronimo! to hard landing, lasted just a few minutes. My weekend parachute was an adrenaline rush, but hardly death-defying or life changing.

In contrast, the extreme adventurers in Mary Coffey's fascinating book “Explorers of the Infinite” push themselves physically and psychologically to the breaking point. Skydiver Cheryl Sterns jumped from an airplane 352 times in 24 hours, setting a Guinness World Record. Tanya Streeter free dove without oxygen to a depth of 525 feet below the ocean, holding her breath for almost three and a half minutes, her heart rate plummeting to five beats a minute, before resurfacing. Cyclist Jure Robic pedaled for 3,042 miles across the continental U.S. in 8 days, 19 hours and 33 minutes.
Such super-athletes suffer mind-numbing exhaustion, unbearable pain, intense solitude, sudden terror, and narrow escapes from death – conditions which parapsychologists know can generate paranormal experiences. And the heroes of this book have a journal’s worth, experiencing time distortions, altered states of consciousness, telepathic communications, out-of body experiences, precognition, premonitions of death, and visions of the dead.

I’ve investigated and written about these baffling phenomena for some time. So the reading pleasure for me came less from the garden-variety paranormal experiences these crazies report than from the god-awful, insane exploits which trigger them.
Fifty-five year old ultra-marathoner Marshall Ulrich had a classic out-of-body experience running the Badwater, a 135-mile, non-stop foot race across Death Valley in July when daytime temperatures can hit 129 degrees Fahrenheit. He’s done it 13 times, won it four times. Insanely, he once did it four times back and forth, non-stop, for over 77 hours, while pulling a modified baby jogger loaded with 200 pounds of water, ice and spare clothes. In 1993, while trying to break his own record, he suddenly stepped out of his body. From above, he watched himself running along, “like watching myself on a movie screen.” He remained out of body all night, until the next morning when he realized that “dawn was coming, the sun was about to rise. I knew it was time to go back into my body.” (Skydiver Sterns experienced a similar, extended OBE during her non-stop jumping.)

“Many mountaineers have sensed unexplainable presences in the high mountains,” notes Coffey. American climber Lou Whittaker in 1989 was guiding the first American assault on 28,169-foot high Kanchenjunga in the Himalayas, the third tallest mountain in the world. At his base camp, he kept sensing the presence of a middle-aged, friendly Tibetan woman spirit who communicated with him mentally, telling him everything would go OK. His wife Ingrid arrived at the base camp shortly after Lou had departed for the summit, but her ascent to 16,000 feet was so fast she suffered severe altitude sickness. She spent three days in agony in Lou’s tent, ministered to by the same Tibetan spirit. “She was wearing a headscarf and a long dress. She was shadowy and two-dimensional, like a silhouette.” The spirit would put her hand on Ingrid’s forehead, very comforting, and help her to roll over. She didn’t speak; the two women communicated telepathically. Two months later, after they had returned to the States, Ingrid finally told Lou about her strange helper. Stunned, he admitted seeing her too. They’re convinced it wasn’t a hallucination, since both sensed the same apparition. Coffee notes similar “spirit friends” assisted and comforted many well-known adventurers in their perils, including Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton during his desperate 36-hour trek across frigid South Georgia Island; aviator Charles “Lucky” Lindbergh on his record-breaking, non-stop transatlantic flight to Europe in 1927; and mariner Joshua Slocum, the first man to sail solo around the globe.

In 1997, Tony Bullimore was attempting to duplicate Slocum’s feat, competing in the around-the-world Vendee Globe single-handed yacht race. Two months into the race, a fierce storm in the Southern Ocean rolled his boat, trapping him upside down in his watertight cabin for almost five days. Race officials informed his wife Lalel his upturned boat had been spotted in huge seas; he was presumed dead. That night, kneeling by her bed, she received a telepathic message from him. He was alive, he had food and water, but he was exhausted and had to sleep. The following day, he mentally spoke to her again. “Oh Lal, I’m in a mess. It’s wet. The boat won’t stop rolling. I’m cold.” She told him to keep fighting. Back in his watery tomb, shivering and staring into darkness, he suddenly had a vision. He saw an Australian warship steaming for him, a boat was lowered, sailors started banging on the hull, and he watched himself swim to the surface where he was rescued. Twenty-four hours later, everything happened exactly as his vision had foretold.
Coffey presents dozens of such puzzling experiences while pondering their reality and meaning.

For an outdoor adventure writer, she demonstrates a surprising familiarity with parapsychological literature, referencing among others Rupert Sheldrake’s ESP research; Montague Ullman’s dream lab investigations; NDE studies by Raymond Moody and Sam Parnia; plus conventional counter-explanations from popular skeptics like Susan Blackmore and Robert Persinger.

Her references are understandably brief and occasionally incorrect –for example, her assertion that scientists know very little about the out-of-body phenomenon. Psychologists, physicians and investigators such as Charles Tart, Stuart Twemlow and D. Scott Rogo mapped the phenomenon several decades ago, and recent NDE research has advanced our understanding. We know a lot about them; it’s just that, like so many other paranormal phenomena, we can’t agree on where they fit in our current model of reality.

But Coffey can be forgiven for not penning a dry parapsychology book few would read. She offers enough science to ground her stories, but wisely focuses on the sense of surprise and wonder her eclectic community of daredevils find in their unexpected brushes with the infinite. As British BASE jumper Shaun Ellison puts it, “There’s so much out there that we don’t understand.”

Having previously read Maria Coffey's fascinating and excellent book "Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow: The Personal Costs of Climbing," I was already familiar with the broad strokes of the story in her memoir "Fragile Edge: A personal portrait of loss on Everest." I knew I would like this book because Coffey really has something interesting to say.

"Fragile Edge" is the story of her relationship with Joe Tasker, who disappeared high on Mt. Everest, along with his climbing partner Pete Boardman in 1982. They were two of England's top high-altitude mountaineers at time.

Even though it was written about six years after their deaths, Coffey's book comes across as very raw. Emotions tumble out as she struggles with Tasker's devotion to climbing and putting his life in danger and willingness to leave her behind (even before his death.) Coffey, who is not a climber herself, has an interesting viewpoint that is not often explored in mountaineering-related memoirs.

This is a fascinating look at Vietnam at a time when it was just about to change. You come out with a tremendous admiration for Maria Coffey and her partner - they did not want a tourist experience, and they certainly didn't get one but at times the difficulties were almost overwhelming. It is not a journey most of us would want to take, but in the end it obviously had huge rewards.½

Was wie eine "Lambing Season" erscheint ist die Erfahrung mindestens dreier Aufenthalte im Frühjahr in Irland. Dadurch entsteht eine große Dichte mit zum Teil köstlichen Szenen.

I picked this up at a book exchange as I had visited Vietnam a few years ago, and am interested in returning.

Coffey heads to Vietnam, the journey was a while in being realised as life got in the way, but here are her travels, with her husband.

As the title says, this is a journey done by boat and bicycle (as much as possible), which doesn't sound too adventurous until you see when the journey was done. When I visited the north in 2005, I found Hanoi very well geared towards tourism - hostels, tours, lots of people who spoke English. This trip was done a decade before, when Vietnam started opening its borders to more tourists and also they stray very much from the beaten track. This is what makes it a good read, the people they meet, the places they visit, the food they eat, even the actual travelling, all add to the flavour of the book.

I recommend this to anyone who has been or is planning to head to Vietnam.½

Maria Coffey's deceptively simple style works perfectly in this book allowing the reader insight into the deeply personal and often profound emotions experienced by the families of High Altitude climbers. She perfectly encapsulates the obsessions of the mountaineer, yearning for the mountains from home and yearning for home in the mountains. The dilemma facing their loved one, do they try and stop the climbing and change the person they love forever, or do they live with the fears and let them climb. Coffey, whose boyfriend, Joe Tasker, disappeared on Everest, sensitively explores her own grief and that of others who have lost loved ones, or part of themselves in the mountains.. But she also tries to get to the heart of what drives these men and women to leave hearth and home to risk frostbite, mountain sickness and possible death. This is a superb companion book to the testosterone filled climbing canon.

This is an amazing book. Maria Coffey was in love with Joe Tasker, writer and committed climber, who disappeared on Everest in 1982 alongside his climbing partner Peter Boardman. Coffey is very open about their lifestyle and the problems of being in love with someone addicted to high-altitude climbing, especially as one by one Tasker's friends are killed in various climbing incidents. I felt her frustration at Tasker's inability to commit to her, while there is still one more mountain to climb. Following Tasker's disappearance, Coffey and Hilary Boardman, Peter Boardman's widow, journey to Tibet seeking some kind of resolution. This is an emotional book which somehow seems to perfectly encapsulate the dilemma of being in love with someone addicted to danger, and should be required reading for anyone interested in mountaineering,

Disarming, disillusioning and distressing. Where The Mountain Casts Its Shadow is all of these and more. It is a saga of human endurance, of the complicated dynamics of our relationships and of the embers that are left simmering long after the fire is gone.

Maria Coffey's simple yet stark style of writing disarms one upfront and makes one plunge into the lives of the families of High Altitude Mountaineers. One sees them torn between two loves - their's for the mountaineers, and the mountaineer's for the mountains. The mountains are jealous lovers, yet the mountaineers go back to them leaving everything behind and the ones who love them are left waiting...sometimes forever.

This side of the story of the celebrities of mountaineering is disillusioning - the stardom comes with a price, only the price is paid by the families. And the distressing part is to see the families and friends caught between the two loves with nowhere to go.

Yet, the book somehow does not make extreme sports repulsive...somewhere it only exposes and hence eases the acceptance of the choice made by our loved ones. Helen Keller had said, "If you keep your eyes to the sun, you won't see the shadow". This book turns your attention towards the shadows - the reality of brightness. And the hard truth is, for someone looking at the far away sun, it is only the shadow that is closer. Highly recommended reading.

A feline odyssey for kids 2 to 6.

This is a very good book, presenting a very different perspective on mountaineering. This is the impact that the sport / lifestyle has on those at home - the loved ones.
Maria Coffey provides a frank account of her life in and around the hard-partying, high stakes lifestyle of the British climbing community in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She falls in love with Joe Tasker, who disappeared on Mt Everest in 1982 with Pete Boardman. They were part of the British team attempting the east north east ridge ascent. Chris Bonington was part of that team.

After their death, Maria, and Hilary, Boardman's widow undertake their own journey to Tibet - seeking resolution, answers, closeness to their lovers...

She is very frank about the nature of her relationship with Tasker and her fears, his shortcomings as a partner etc. The second part is about the journey Maria takes, both physical, and emotional in dealing with the loss of a partner.

In a way, it seems Hilary was better able to deal with the emotional trauma because of the surety of her relationship with Boardman. Maria and Joe had yet to make a long-term commitment.

A frank and revealing and very personal story. If you are addicted to Everest and mountaineering books (as I am) this is a worthy one to add to the collection.

This book asks all the right questions.

A terrific successor to Fragile Edge by the same author. That book was a personal journey - a quest for answers - followed by the author after the death of her famous mountain climber boyfriend on the slopes of Everest.
This book looks at the effect of following this most dangerous of passions on the partners left behind and some who sometimes accompany their loved ones. Even more interestingly, Maria Coffey looks at the point of views of those who have no choice in their relationships with those whose addiction seems as self-serving and as inevitable as any other addiction - parents and children.

I really liked Coffey's earlier book, and I recommend this one as much. I believe she has matured as a writer as well. She has the knack of addressing very large picture issues yet not losing sight of the personal and `small moments'.

Some of the personal testimonies about coming to terms with loss and dealing with grief are true not only for losses under such circumstances, but there are some universal truths particularly for anyone who has had to deal with death and the "loss of a future", rather than a mere celebration of a life fulfilled (as many older person funerals have become in my culture in recent years).

An understated but important subtext for me is what this has to say about gender relations. It is no accident that most of those off risking their lives, and the fur=tures of those around them are male. Ms Coffey does touch on this, and especially the unusual circumstance of women with children who still pursue the apex of whatever mass of rock and ice they have their heart set on. However, she never table thumps an agenda . . . you are lft to ponder your own conclusions.

A remarkable achievement.That Ms Coffey has the confidence of so many associated with the pursuit is a testament to her insight and empathy.

I rate this alongside Ed Douglas's book "Chomolungma Sings The Blues" as my favourite books discussing ethical and spititual concerns about mountaineering.