The Summit Audiobook By Pemba Gyalje Sherpa, Pat Falvey cover art

The Summit

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The Summit

By: Pemba Gyalje Sherpa, Pat Falvey
Narrated by: Pat Falvey
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On 1 August, 2008, 18 climbers from across the world reached the summit of K2, the world's second-highest and most dangerous mountain - a peak that claims the life of one in every four climbers who attempt it. Over the course of 28 hours K2 had exacted a deadly toll: 11 lives were lost in a series of catastrophic accidents.

Over the course of three days, a Nepalese Sherpa called Pemba Gyalje, along with five other Sherpas, was at the center of a series of attempts to rescue climbers who had become trapped in the Death Zone, unable to escape its clutches and debilitated by oxygen deprivation, chronic fatigue, delirium and a terrifying hopelessness.

The tragedy became a controversy as the survivors walked from the catastrophe on the mountain into an international media storm, in which countless different stories emerged, some contradictory and many simply untrue.

Based on Pemba Gyalje's eyewitness account and drawing on a series of interviews with the survivors which were conducted for the award-winning documentary The Summit.

The Summit: How Triumph Turned to Tragedy on K2's Deadliest Days is the most comprehensive interpretation of one of modern-day mountaineering's most controversial disasters.

©2014 Beyond Endurance Publishing (P)2014 Beyond Endurance Publishing Travel Writing & Commentary Sports
Gripping Adventure • Compelling Survival Story • Well-paced Narration • Authentic Perspective • Detailed Account
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Exciting book and well told but I prefer American narrator. Although narrator speaks well, he can't say his "th" in English words such as the word thought.

Summit Audio Review

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Glad I didn’t listen to reviews regarding narration. I would have missed a gripping story and fantastic perspective of this tragedy on K2. Highly recommend.

amazing

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This was a well written and read story. It was interesting to learn about the complexities of coordinating multiple teams ascending K2, how things can go wrong, and the different reactions people have when they do.

Sad story well written and read

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Great book about the K2 tragedy. However, the narrator had such a heavy accent that it detracted from the story. At times I had to rewind to try and figure out what he had said. I’ve never once complained about a narrator, it was a first for me to have to grind through the reading of what is a fascinating story.

Not the Best Narrator

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August 1, 2008 is believed to be the deadliest single day on the mountain K2, which is sometimes called the “savage mountain.” It is considered the most dangerous mountain for climbers, even more so than Mt. Everest. As noted in this book, 1 in 4 climbers eventually die in their expedition to reach the summit of K2 compared to 1 in 11 climbers on Everest. This book tells about the tragedy of that day from interviews and also the stories of one of the Sherpas on the mountain that day, Pemba Gyalje Sherpa.
This is the second book I have read on this tragedy – the other one was an account from a survivor of the American team attempting to summit K2. At that time, there were several nations with teams attempting to climb the second highest mountain in the world. In addition to the Americans, there was a Norwegian husband and wife part of a larger team from that country, as well as teams from the United Kingdom, Serbia and South Korea.
This many climbers led to many issues that the climbers and Sherpas had to address, the biggest of which was that in the short window of good weather to get to the summit, there was a logjam in the bottleneck on the safest path to the top. While there was a very good account of the attempt so set the fixed ropes in the proper place, that did not go as planned and was just one of the many issues that resulted in the deaths of the 11 people.
Why I chose this particular part of the book for illustration purposes is that I felt it was the best example of the full picture the listener will get while listening to the book (or reading it if that is your preference). While it does take a little bit into the book to fully understand Falvey’s narration, once that is done, the accident and what led to it will be described in full with excellent observations by Pemba. It is a little more technical than the other book I read on this disaster, but nonetheless it is still an excellent account of the deadliest day on the savage mountain.

Very good account of a deadly day on K2

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My only hesitation in recommending this audiobook is the author/narrator’s strong Irish accent. This story needed a neutral voice. Imagine listening to a book like Kon Tiki read by a person with a deep Southern accent. It would be jarring, just as this narrator’s accent was. He also couldn’t pronounce the th sound, which, if I was simply conversing with him wouldn’t bother me at all. However, as the narrator of a story about climbing K-2 it became distracting and even annoying.

Good, unbiased account

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I enjoyed the book, but I really struggled to maintain a presence during the story. I suffered an inability to understand a great amount of the wiring due to the thick accent. That was a bummer

Thick accent

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Really enjoyed the book and having the views and perspective of a Sherpa, rather than a westerner, for one. But the narration was tough. After two attempts at listening to the audio book, I gave up. And will finish it by reading the Kindle version instead.

Great account of the 2008 K2 tragedy.

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This is an amazing story! Unbelievable what they all went through and the will to help others and to endure to save their own lives as well.

Incredible story of endurance to survive!

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This rendition of the events on K2 in 2008 was riveting. While I was at times distracted by the narration, it was not enough to detract from the story.

Moving story

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