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Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains
by
Jon Krakauer
No one writes about mountaineering and its attendant hardships and victories more brilliantly than critically acclaimed author Jon Krakauer. In this collection of his finest work from such magazines as Outside and Smithsonian, he explores the subject from the unique and memorable perspective of one who has battled peaks like K2, Denali, Everest, and, of course, the Eiger.
...morePaperback, 208 pages
Published
February 10th 2009
by Lyons Press
(first published 1990)
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I read Eiger Dreams many years after Into Thin Air, which detailed the tragedy on Everest in 1996. Eiger Dreams is a compendium of magazine articles Krakauer wrote in the 80s. I always wondered how Krakauer could be such a selfish, cowardly, and ultimately detestable human being, as he admits being near the summit of Everest, as he cowers safely in his tent after his own successful summiting, while others freeze to death in a blizzard on the mountaintop.
Well, now I know. Krakauer has...more
Well, now I know. Krakauer has...more
Another fabulous book by Jon Krakauer. This is actually his first book from way back in 1990, six years before the Mt. Everest disaster. This book is a collection of essays about different climbing locations. It contains two first hand accounts of him climbing the Eiger in Switzerland and the Devil's Thumb in Alaska when he was 23. He also tells fascinating stories about the history of climbing at K2, El Capitan in Yosemite, canyoneering in the Mogollon Rim in Arizona, and Mt. Blanc in Franc...more
In a previous book I had read by Krakauer "Into Thin Air"---about mountain climbing-- there was a quote that has stuck with me. One of the Everest mountaineers who chose not to try and help a climber (who subsequently died from being left behind) said this to justify his actions:
"There is no morality above 26,000 feet".
I had one foray into mountain climbing. It was 1998 and myself and two friends, Kevin and Lacey, were going to attempt the '14er' called Lon...more
"There is no morality above 26,000 feet".
I had one foray into mountain climbing. It was 1998 and myself and two friends, Kevin and Lacey, were going to attempt the '14er' called Lon...more
Although I enjoyed this collection immensely, the writing wasn't Krakauer's strongest -- in fact, I'd label it his weakest effort to date when compared with Into the Wild and Into Thin Air. With the exception of the last piece, "Devil's Thumb," the book was composed entirely of clipped magazine articles. And it showed.
Complaints aside, however, the book was wonderful and showed a humanity that I haven't often found in other climbing/mountaineering/alpinist books. Readin...more
Complaints aside, however, the book was wonderful and showed a humanity that I haven't often found in other climbing/mountaineering/alpinist books. Readin...more
Before the recognition he received for Into the Wild and Into the Mist, Jon Krakauer was a serious outdoors type, writing about other serious outdoors types. In this collection of essays, Krakauer relates several stories of his personal adventures, one about a youthful, and maybe foolish venture to a particularly difficult climb in Alaska, another about his attempt at Eiger. And these are quite good. But I most enjoy Krakauer when he writes about the Damon-Runyon-esque characters who inhabit the...more
A collection of short stories about the people that climb mountains. Sometimes it is about majestic peaks, sometimes it is a tale of personal understanding, sometimes it is about those who wish to challenge themselves with the technical world of bouldering. What all of these people have in common is that they are all addicted to what they do, either finding meaning or imposing meaning onto it and trying to come to terms with their climbing and with themselves as people.
At times the ...more
At times the ...more
I haven't climbed any mountains. I have hiked the Grand Canyon, but that was climbing down, not up. I don't like heights. In fact, one time, my family and I went up some mountain on one of those cable car things. My hands were sweating so badly that the cover of the book I was reading came off the book. And it was the first time I was reading the book.
So I'm not a mountain climber.
Yet, I like reading Jon Krakauer. He makes you cold when he talks about the mountians....more
So I'm not a mountain climber.
Yet, I like reading Jon Krakauer. He makes you cold when he talks about the mountians....more
Jon Krakauer is my favorite non-fiction author, so when I found this at the library I picked it up to read. It's a collection of articles he wrote for climbing magazines, and I don't climb at all. So, I was a bit skeptical that I would enjoy the book or relate to it at all. While it's true I did not relate to it, I did enjoy it very much. The articles vary in topic from serious climb expeditions to a guy who climbs "boulders" only. It has made me NEVER want to seriously climb mou...more
This collection of short stories started off somewhere between one and two stars. A failed Eiger climb, a bio of a boulderer, a truncated history of ice climbing and Valdez hot (cold?) spots, and a less than humorous humorist essay on tent companions, were all superbly bland. It picked up a little with a snapshot of some Alaskan bush pilots, a chapter on canyoneering, and the final story of a man searching for himself in a remote corner of Alaska. In between these three keepers were some othe...more
Collection of short essays. The essay "Gill" about John Gill the guy who gives bouldering its start is by far the most cerebral piece in the book and Krakauer mainly through the quotes of reflections of Gill gets at the metaphysical side of climbing. Its the one essay in the book that isn't about the rampant adolescent desire to climb to fill an inner hole with something showy. Also "Devils Thumb" about Krakauer's attempt at the norwand of a classic Alaskan spire is a good re...more
Krakauer has become a favorite. His deviant nature, although not malicious, is attractive because of the dangers represented by counter culture. Ironically, Krakauer and his comrades engage in a culture that is counter not to society, but logic and life. The knife like edge between the crests of mountaintops, and the holds of inverted boulders, periodically and frequently cut away at the fragile life of hundreds of climbers every year. Why you ask? Read a chapter or too, and let the mouth of...more
Eiger Dreams is a collection of articles and short stories by adventure author Jon Krakauer. His method of explaining and detailing nearly every aspect of mountaineering is so thorough that you'll feel as though you are on the mountain with him...which is good, because almost none of us will ever actually experience these circumstances. Those who have read Into the Wild will recognize the last chapter of this book, "The Devils Thumb" - Krakauer's account of his solo climb of a 6000 f...more
This book, a collection of twelve mountaineering articles, really was well written. Jon Krakauer is a great writer and story teller, and having loved some other books of his, I thought this would be just as captivating. The fact that it was not is my error, not his. Though I love mountaineering accounts, I would say this book is just meant for people who actually do some climbing themselves. But if you like climbing stories, I'd say it's worth a read regardless- pick it up when you have extra ti...more
Didn't liek the book as much as I *loved* his other books, but then it is a much different book. Rather than being a journalistic venture into particular events and lives, and attempting to draw deeper, introspective truths from them, this is a compilation of essays he wrote from the 80's and 90's that appeared in magazines, when he was first beginning his writing career. The lack of subsequent depth given the limitations of the 2000 word form means that those deeper truths don't appear in the...more
Even though I love climbing and like Krakuaer's work, I had a hard time getting into Eiger Dreams. The book had a dated feel, which is not surprising since it consists of previously published essays and only one original piece (the material of which is also largely covered in a chapter in the later-published Into The Wild). That said, there is good stuff here. Krakauer presents many interesting characters, some climbers and some not, as well as the harrowing experiences that can be found at the ...more
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It's hard to pinpoint the genius of Jon's writing. The strong sense of "being there" definitely helps. His climbing stories also seem accessible to non-climbers without boring or condescending to climbers. He transcends narrative, digging into motivations and consequences, without condemning the actors. This collection is a good starting point for his writing (and alpine adventure in general). Even cover-to-cover it's less of a commitment than Into Thin Air, and of course one can always put it d...more
This book is beautifully written, and takes you into the lives of extreme mountain climbing. The author will take you to see the fearless glacier pilots of Alaska, the chic French sport town of Chamonix, the blizzard-scoured West Buttress of Denali, the steep slopes of K2, the frozen waterfalls of Valdez, the sheer north face of the Eiger in Switzerland, and then take you along on a solo attempt up the unclimbed north face of the Devils Thumb in Alaska. The people who are obsessed with climbing ...more
Eiger Dreams, a book composed of a collection of magazine articles, showcases Jon Krakauer's not inconsiderable talents as a writer and climber. Krakauer has the knack of writing with great originality. The topics touched upon in this book would be ordinary, almost mundane in the hands of a lesser writer, but Krakauer makes them come alive, whether describing the odd sports of bouldering and canyoneering or writing about unique friends or own climbs. This is a small but satisfying book, a collec...more
I would say 4.5 stars, but maybe I'm being stingy. I love Krakauer's work and thoroughly enjoyed this book, but I was hoping for his take on the Kurz and Hinterstoisser story, which he barely mentioned in less than a paragraph. Krakauer's account of his OWN encounter with the Eiger was very cool as well. The writing is amazing, as usual, and he has an incredible ability to act as an almost invisible bridge to his subjects, human or mountain. Although some of the stats are, as expected, a li...more
John Krakauer is such a talented writer. He conveys with amazing dexterity how small one feels in front of the mountains and similar places of similar vastness. The most remarkable feat of Krakauer in every book of his is the capacity that he has to erase himself from the stories that he's telling, despite the fact that in most of the cases he can perfectly be read as the protagonist. Another thing that I really like about this book (and of the majority of Krakauer's books)is what one of my teac...more
It is worth seeking out books by Krakauer - he has a extremely engaging style of writing that keeps the reader engaged and emotionally involved with the subject. He has broadened out his subject matter of late, but he is very at home with this topic since he is a climber by background.
This book is essentially a retread of other articles he has written for magazines and other publications. Normally this type of book is unsatisfactory, failing to really develop engagement with the char...more
This book is essentially a retread of other articles he has written for magazines and other publications. Normally this type of book is unsatisfactory, failing to really develop engagement with the char...more
Now why would someone who generally hates cold weather and snow become so intrigued by books and videos about mountaineering? I was fooling around with my IPODs (have one of each generation being an addict to electronic devices) that plays video and just for laughs downloaded The Discovery Channel's Everest series from iTunes and watched it on my little iPod. Clarity and resolution are astonishing.
That got me back into Eiger Dreams. It's outstanding. I had already read Into Thin Ai...more
That got me back into Eiger Dreams. It's outstanding. I had already read Into Thin Ai...more
I loved Into Thin Air and I liked Into the Wild quite a bit more than the Sean Penn movie, and some of the stories in this collection of articles written primarily for Outside and Smithsonian magazines were enjoyable enough. Krakauer's not a great writer, and for being a chest-thumping Hemingway type he still needs to work on making his sentences more active, but all-in-all he keeps things simple enough and moving at a decent clip, so I can forgive him his trespasses.
None of these s...more
None of these s...more
An excellent collection of Jon Kraukauer's magazine stories. I get a kick of his descriptions of the climbing/mountaineering subculture and all its bravado and bravery, its strange mix of hedonism and asceticism.
If you enjoy travel writing, this books takes you the ends of the earth and everywhere climb-worthy in between: Nepal, Tibet, China, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, France, Switzerland.
But to digress a little, have you ever heard of the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon? It ...more
If you enjoy travel writing, this books takes you the ends of the earth and everywhere climb-worthy in between: Nepal, Tibet, China, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, France, Switzerland.
But to digress a little, have you ever heard of the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon? It ...more
This book is written by one of my favorite authors Jon Krakauer who wrote Into Thin Air and Into the Wild. Before reading Alive by Piers Paul Read I was not into the topic of mountains and climbing and I never understood the concept of climbing a mountain. I used to think these people are crazy and don't care about living. However, thanks to authors like Read and Krakauer I've come to appreciate climbers who do it for a hobby and use climbing as a way to get away from real life for a bit. Eiger ...more
Steve
rated it
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
climbers and climber wannabees
Shelves:
fun-nonfiction
Of the three Jon Krakauer books I read (during that period of my life when I devoured anything climbing-related, including, I am embarrassed to say, watching _Cliffhanger_ (oh what a bad movie)), this one has stuck the most with me, perhaps because I came closer to sympathizing with the protagonists than in either Into Thin Air or Into the wild, and really, all I remember is Krakauer's story of himself as a young man trying to climb the Moose's Tooth in Alaska and how utterly foolish it was ......more
Another highly readable and enjoyable book by Jon Krakauer. This work is a collection of stories on climbing - high altitude, high risk climbing - and related adventures. With his great abilities to tell a story, Krakauer brings these real-life stories so vividly to you. It is also in many ways a search into his own soul for Krakauer. He writes about the high-risk venture that mountain climbing is and speculates whether people like Reinhold Messner have raised the bar too high by going to Everes...more
Krakauer has a way of making me care about something I normally would never think to read. I'm no outdoorsman, no adventurer, and though I like a picturesque scene, I wouldn't risk life, limb or even slight anxiety to do any of what he describes. Which makes it all the more compelling - this is as close as I'm going to get dangling off the side of a cliff, and he makes it feel pretty dang close. He's an impressive descriptive writer, and beyond that, he weaves a real intimacy into the narrativ...more
I would love to tell you all about how I've loved Krakauer's writing since I've read Into Thin Air a couple years ago and that I give this book 5/5 stars just based on the fact that I can't put the book down. I can't, in good faith, do that. To be quite honest, through most of the book I was nothing short of bored. This was disappointing considering how much I've enjoyed his books in the past.
Parts of the book (the chapter about the Burgess Brothers or a bad summer on K2) were int...more
Parts of the book (the chapter about the Burgess Brothers or a bad summer on K2) were int...more
This has been on my bookshelf since I first read Krakauer's Into Thin Air</i years ago. Finally started reaing it after watching North Face, a German movie based on a true story of a 1936 attempt to climb the North Face of the Eiger in the Alps.
Twelve articles that mostly appeared earlier as magazine articles--covered a range of topics on mountaineering: being stuck in a tent with an incompatible companion, big names in the mountaineering world, and actual climbs Krakauer has a...more
Twelve articles that mostly appeared earlier as magazine articles--covered a range of topics on mountaineering: being stuck in a tent with an incompatible companion, big names in the mountaineering world, and actual climbs Krakauer has a...more
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Jon Krakauer is an American writer and mountaineer, well-known for outdoor and mountain-climbing writing.
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“Most climbers aren't in fact deranged, they're just infected with a particularly virulent strain of the Human Condition.”
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