Amanda Padoan

Buried in the Sky is the story of the deadliest day on the world's second-highest mountain, K2. Situated in Pakistan, K2 is 28,250 feet high, and a much less benevolent mountain than Everest. (Everest is 780 feet higher than K2.) The weather is much worse, the sheer drops more frequent and more challenging, and its camps less friendly, often existing on narrow, dangerous ridges.

On August 1, 2008, eleven climbers, both mountaineers and high-altitude porters (HAPs) died on K2. The book tells the story of the high-altitude porters (HAPs), usually called sherpas, and describes their backgrounds and their role helping mainly unskilled, rich foreigners climb the deadly mountain.

The book was good reading, the sort of adventure story I love to sink into, tragedy and all. I finished it in one (long) sitting, and was generally satisfied with the story. The book has photographs and excellent, detailed maps.

I picked up this book because I absolutely loved Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, which is about the 1996 disaster on Everest. Krakauer was one of the mountaineers who summitted Everest that year, witnessed much of the tragedy, and knew personally all the climbers and porters. I think that's what made Into Thin Air so good, that the author was so invested in telling his story, his point of view. Buried in the Sky fails in that respect, as the authors were not in the climb they write about, and the difference is marked.

The book is thoroughly researched, interesting, and gripping. However, it's not going to be like Krakauer's book, which I've read so many times that its cover is frayed. Buried in the Sky is a good, sad, tragic story, but lacks the passion it needed to compel me further.… (plus d'informations)

An exciting story to start with that is almost upstaged by the fascinating history of the area and the sherpa climbers. Not a dull chapter in the whole book. You'll come away with a real appreciation of the men who do the heavy work on these expeditions. The author did some impressive research but it wouldn't have been so effective without his writing style. Even the gruesome details of how death took some of the climbers was presented in a respectful way--but it still left me shaken. Great read.… (plus d'informations)