The Other Side of Everest: Climbing the North Face Through the Killer Storm

by Matt Dickinson

Book Overview

May 1996 began like most other climbing seasons on Mount Everest. The arrival of spring brought the usual pre-monsoon period, with teams of hopeful mountaineers ready to reach for the roof of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812931599
• ISBN13: 9780812931594
• Release Date: April 1999
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 233 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Excellent! Excellent!

I didn't think I would find a book to top "Into Thin Air" and one that would take a different view of the 1996 tragedy. I could NOT put this book down. I made it last a week and didn't want it to end. Dickinson really achieves putting the reader into the story. I live under the High Sierra and have summited Mt.Whitney in Calif. Driving by that mountain that seems to shoot straight up into the sky, I remembered Dickinson's description of the Himalaya valley floors that were at 18,000 feet. I imagined the towering 14,000 foot peaks of the Sierra buried under 4,000 feet of dirt and that would be only the valley FlOOR of the Himalays with 11,000 feet to go to the summit of Everest. THEN I could visualize the unbelievable height of this mountain. THEN I could realize the effort it takes (and what it takes OUT of someone) to get to the summit.Dickinson's writing is funny, tragic and extremely descriptive of the area, the people and the hard-to-imagine-summit he finally made. I know his wife would like him to stay home, but I hope he makes another trip to the Himalayas and writes another book!

An excellent companion to 'Into Thin Air'

I was a bit hesitant to read The Other Side of Everest; it was beginning to seem to me that there wasn't a person anywhere near the mountain during 1996 that *hadn't* written a book. I figured this one would be a rehashing of the story we all know so well, from Into Thin Air and other books. How wrong I was. The Other Side of Everest offers a different perspective of the 1996 tragedies, but it's well told - *and* the book offers a great deal more.Dickinson, in my opinion, did a better job than Krakauer at writing for the non-climbing audience, perhaps because he isn't really a climber at all. He doesn't use much jargon, and when he does - "the Death Zone," for example, which was the UK title of this book - he defines his terms. He also answers a lot of the questions non-mountaineers and armchair adventurers have about climbing; for once and for all, he explains why climbers dread calls of nature above 8,000 meters, as just one example.Dickinson writes very differently than most climbers, especially the ones who have written about Everest 1996. His narrative retains the tension and, in some places, tragedy that are common to the best expedition accounts, but he also uses humor in places where it's appropriate. I found myself laughing out loud in several places. The Other Side of Everest is also different in that it doesn't have the haunted, agonizing tone that Into Thin Air did, perhaps because Dickinson was farther from the tragedies, relatively speaking, or perhaps just because he waited longer than Krakauer did to write about it. Also, The Other Side is an account of a successful, "easy" Everest climb, not a disaster, which changes the perspective and the tone a lot from the other books about the 1996 season. In additional to the Everest-disaster-season story, The Other Side has another story to tell: how a non-climber got to the top of the world. Dickinson's case of summit fever drives him to the top of a mountain he didn't really expect to climb - after all, he's clumsy even at sea level - and so his book is a good look at the way normal people with little mountaineering experience (i.e., commercial expedition members) handle high-altitude climbs - and, to the extent that it can be explained at all, why.This book was written by a film director, so perhaps it isn't a surprise that the pictures are so good, but it's lovely anyway. I'm also pleased that the publishers sprung for two different insets of color photos, at least in the hardcover edition; some of them are truly breathtaking. In short, The Other Side of Everest is well worth reading for all lovers of adventure travel and climbing writing; even those who feel they've read Everest to death should enjoy this one. The book is a welcome addition to climbing literature, and would give pleasure on almost anyone's bookshelf.

Yep, another one - still holding the interest

I read this after Krakauer and Boukreev's stories, and found it every bit as gripping. Must admit to having become a fanatical armchair Everesteer, and it has to be a pretty bad book to not hold my interest (Lene Gammelgard manages though!) And, yes, it is called 'The Death Zone' in the English and Australian editions at least.

A Cameraman's View of Everest

Matt Dickinson, the clumsy, inexperienced, determined cameraman, left behind debts and a family to shoot Brian Blessed, a famous British actor, climb Everest via the less traveled North Face. Little did the group of climbers know that they would be stuck on Everest with the worst storm in modern history hovering above their heads. Matt shows that the illusion of a "nice climb" on Everest does not ehxist. Waiting for good weather at base camp is nerve wracking, while getting news that many people including Rob Hall and Scott Fischer have died. When good weather finally arrives, Matt, Brian Blessed, Al Hinkes - and experienced climber, Kees - Matt's friend, and Barney - the leader for group A, leave to summit Everest. Altitdue bites at their minds and they move too slowly to continue together with Brian, the weak link. together, Al and Matt attempt a summit, while the others head back to base camp. This book shows the true effects of altitude and a great mountain, against inexpeience and determination. A very good book. Though I was not glued to the book, something made me want to go on and read more. I was waiting to finish it for it showed the other side of Everest, the north face, and the other side through the climber's mind. Very solid, intense, yet through Matt's point of view - a likeable character who the reader can relate to - an average person/climber who got stuck with more than he thought he could handle. Two thumbs up!