No Way Down: Life and Death on K2

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars | 1,786 ratings

Price: 15.3

Last update: 07-24-2024


Top reviews from the United States

Rick Spell
5.0 out of 5 stars Fast and Furious
Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2010
Truly a fast, furious and amazing story! I've read many mountaineering books and this is right up there with the best. Bowley short circuits the mistake many mountaineering writers make thinking we want to know every detail of the pre-climb and tedious facts and personalities. Yes, there is some but it is a short appropriate level. For example, he describes the climbers from many expeditions as getting along well whereas other books go into incredible details of minor disagreements and jealousies. let's get to the mountain and climb is how this book approaches the story.

And what a story it is! Not my first K2 book I knew of its tough unforgiving nature. With many climbers on a great day and rope still to be laid delays push the climbers to a late summit. Incredibly, let me repeat, INCREDIBLY, there is no firm deadline when people turn around. Only one climber turns back due to time. How can experienced climbers make this critical mistake that so often leads to death? Then the mountain changes. Sometimes it's weather, sometimes its movement of ice or snow. This movement cuts off the very difficult return route. Not impossible as one person makes it otherwise. But very, very difficult leaving three people dangling from a rope overnight. And amazingly, they survive till more climbers come to assist.

This mountain becomes a battlefield with the main route cut off, climbers wander around in a mentally limited state due to the altitude forcing some to spend the night exposed above 26,000 feet, the dead zone.

One of the deaths is possibly the most tragic and touching I have read with spouses together on the mountain. Also, the use of satellite phones enhances communication great distances away but also the rescue. This is different than any other story I have read before where the climbers are generally cut off from the world.

I didn't have time to read this book but the NYT review was so good that I bought it and forced my first 30 minutes of reading. What a reward as the book is an excellent retelling of an incredible story lived by many valiant climbers!
Solowe
4.0 out of 5 stars A Good, Yet Western Approach
Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2012
No Way Down by Graham Bowley is a good book concerning the 2008 K2 Tragedy. I have read every book and account concerning this incident and feel this one deserves 4 out of 5 stars. After a brief chapter of trekking to Base Camp, we jump right into Camp IV and summit day. I'm not sure the reader is able to comprehend all of the emotions that assisted in creating the `summit fever' without understanding just how long most of the teams had been waiting for the summit attempt. In addition to the 2008 summit, there are a good number of previous and more historical ascents documented as well, especially concerning Art Gilkey that lead to the Gilkey Memorial. I do commend Bowley on his research into avalanches and seracs and his explanation of these items right when they need to be mentioned. There is a great epilogue that details the author's adventures travelling to interview as many of the survivors and family of the deceased. Bowley's own opinion into the conflicting, if not controversial accounts concerning the final moments of Gerard McDonnell are well documented and almost convince me. The only thing that is missing is (all of) the Sherpa's stories. Reading One Mountain Thousand Summits or Buried in the Sky tells more of their story and doesn't have the Western approach only. I would recommend this book in addition to the previous mentioned to really grasp this tragedy.
Shawna
5.0 out of 5 stars Really great book
Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2024
Awesome book and really amazing story.
Stantz
3.0 out of 5 stars Short and sweet...but wish it was long and rich, frankly
Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2012
No question you'll finish this book in a plane ride. The story is gripping and told with the velocity of a pulp fiction adventure story, and the "I can't believe this actually happened" factor will propel you right to the end. The author does a great job of organizing facts for an event he wasn't on site to experience (a critique I've noticed from others who prefer a Krakauerian perspective), and for the minimal time it takes to read, it's worth the effort.

That said, there is something really, really light about this book. I was absolutely surprised at how little of it is devoted to either the history of K2 or an analysis of the actual events, really anything that would give this book some girth. As it is, it's bare bones. Maybe it does take the perspective of an actual climber like Krakauer to make this sort of thing feel personal or real, or to give it some context. As it is, it almost feels like one of those "An Oral History of..." magazine articles, where everyone from a particular event is interviewed, and then their quotes are put in chronological order, with little more added. It's interesting, but it's also...flat, in a way.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that this book doesn't stick with you. You'll read it, be enthralled for a couple hours by the "oh my god, how can this get worse" factor...and then it ends abruptly, and that was that.
Melisa Moore
4.0 out of 5 stars Very Interesting
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2022
Really good read. Kept my attention and made it seem as you were right there. You understood their climbing joys and hardships.
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars summit at all costs?
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2024
Great exciting and tense throughout the book. I couldn’t put this book down. Amazing what makes people want to risk their lives to summit.
Nancynan
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Gift
Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2024
This book was on a gift list for Christmas. My husband has just started it, but so far, so good. He likes these books about mountain climbers, and this fits the bill. If you are needing a gift for an outdoorsy type person,someone that climbs, skis, etc., this would probably be very interesting to them.
PK Moore
4.0 out of 5 stars A true-life adventure since most of us will never climb a mountain such as K2.
Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2014
I've always been intrigued by those who climb Everest, and now, K2. I really didn't know anything about K2 until I
saw this book. It is written well and gives one a thirst for more knowledge of those who risk their lives to climb high
mountains. It is also a sad book because of those who don't make it. Some people have determination to attempt
the climb and it's amazing that some do actually succeed. Fascinating.

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