Everest: The Unclimbed Ridge

by Chris Bonington, Charles Clarke, Clint Willis (Editor)

Adrenaline Classics continues to bring to the fore the work of the father of modern mountaineering, the celebrated climber and writer, Sir Chris Bonington. Everest—The Unclimbed Ridge is a genuine classic of Everest literature, a book that series editor Clint Willis calls "the real climber's Into Thin Air." Bonington and coauthor Charles Clarke tell the story of Bonington's most tragic expedition—a bold attempt on the fearsome Northeast Ridge of Everest. This is the expedition that killed two of Bonington's closest friends—two young men who were part of mountaineering's greatest generation; Joe Tasker and Peter Boardman set out one morning and never made it back. With 24 black-and-white photos and spectacular, edge-of-your-seat climbing, the book offers some of the most moving and powerful moments in modern mountaineering writing. "This was an epic, groundbreaking ascent by one of the most talented teams ever to hit the Himalaya."—Stephen Venables (author of Everest: Alone at the Summit)

Genres: Mountaineering, Nonfiction, Adventure, Climbing, Travel

304 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1983

About the author

Chris Bonington was educated at University College School, London and the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. He was commissioned in the Royal Tank Regiment in 1956. He spent three years in North Germany in command of a troop of tanks and then two years at the Army Outward Bound School as a mountaineering instructor.It was during this period that he started climbing in the Alps, making the first British ascent of the South West Pillar of the Drus in 1958 and then the first ascent of the Central Pillar of Freney on the south side of Mont Blanc in 1961 with Don Whillans, Ian Clough and the Pole, Jan Dlugosz. At that time this was one of the most difficult climbs in the Alps and even today is considered one of the great classics of the Mont Blanc region.He made the first British ascent of the North Wall of the Eiger in 1962.

Reviews

[Nigel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Those with an interest in Everest and mountaineering generally will probably know something about this expedition which ends with Joe Tasker and Pete Boardman disappearing on the ridge. I don't recall reading anything specifically about this expedition before but I'm glad I've read this.

I found it a little strange to get into as the narrative is shared between Chris Bonnington and Charles Clarke (the expedition doctor). From reading this it is clear just what a massive challenge they were attempting for this era of climbing (1982). To attempt this degree of difficulty without oxygen was remarkable. Interesting book which I enjoyed and which fills in a gap in my knowledge - certainly good for those with an interest.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everest, the unclimbed ridge erzählt die Geschichte des erfolglosen Versuchs einer britischen Expedition, den Mount Everest über Nordostgrat zu besteigen. Dabei kamen die Bergsteiger Peter Boardman und Joe Tasker ums Leben. Expeditionsleiter war Chris Bonington.

Als China wieder ausländischen Expeditionen zuließ, eröffneten sich neue Möglichkeiten für die Bergsteiger aus aller Welt. Chris Bonington hatte schon lange die Besteigung des Mount Everest auf der bis dahin nicht begangenen Route durch den Nordostgrat im Sinn. 1982 konnte er seine Pläne endlich verwirklichen. Der Versuch endete tragisch und mit Joe Tasker und Peter Boardman kamen zwei der besten Expeditionsbergsteiger ihrer Zeit ums Leben.


Wer das Buch liest, weiß schon im Voraus, wie die Geschichte ausgehen wird. Gerade deshalb hat es mich so berührt, die Stimmen der Teilnehmer aus den Seiten heraus zu hören. Auch wenn Chris Bonington und Charles Clarke die Ereignisse aufgeschrieben haben, kommen doch alle Teilnehmer durch ihre Tagebucheintragungen zu Wort.

Dabei ist mir aufgefallen, wie unterschiedlich die Persönlichkeiten waren. Chris Bonington als Leiter der Expedition war derjenige, der sich naturgemäß die größten Sorgen machte. Er war sich durchaus bewusst, dass er nicht der stärkste Kletterer der Gruppe war. Aber wie viel Kraft ihn der Aufstieg letztendlich kosten würde, hat er nicht vorausgesehen. Seine Schwäche und das Gefühl, die Anderen zu behindern, hat ihn frustriert und in seinen Aufzeichnungen hat er deswegen mit sich gehadert. Aber auch wenn seine Kameraden sein ständiges Zurückbleiben bemerkt haben, haben sie ihm keinen Vorwurf gemacht. Im Gegenteil: sie waren besorgt.



Der Bericht von Bonington und Clarke und die Aufzeichnungen der einzelnen Expeditionsmitglieder haben mir einen guten Eindruck von dem vermittelt, was während der Besteigung passiert ist. Allerdings habe ich nichts darüber erfahren können, was letztendlich schiefgelaufen ist. Sowohl Peter Boardman als auch Joe Tasker haben nicht erkennen lassen, dass sie wegen irgendetwas besorgt waren. Mit dem Erreichen des Gipfels waren sie kurz davor, Geschichte zu schreiben. Sicherlich waren sie angespannt, aber nicht mehr, als man das in ihrer Situation erwarten würde.

Bonington und Clarke haben die Beiden von ihrem Lager aus mit Ferngläsern noch beobachten können. Plötzlich seien sie verschwunden. Zunächst haben sich die Männer im tieferen Lager nichts gedacht, erst später wurde ihnen klar, dass ihre Kameraden nicht zurückkommen würden. Peter Boarmans Leiche wurde 1992 gefunden, Joe Tasker bleibt verschwunden.

Everest, the unclimbed ridge zeigt, dass auch mit der besten Vorbereitung Dinge schrecklich schiefgehen können. Die Geschichte wird ohne Schuldzuweisungen erzählt, sondern mit Trauer und Respekt für die Freunde, die am Berg geblieben sind.

[Peter McGinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read, and continue to read, a lot of first person accounts of summit attempts by mountaineers. So I have gotten to the point where I don’t spend a lot of words when I review them. What interests me is, of course, whether they are interesting, but also that they are fairly detailed and honest accounts. Now of course you can’t know for certain whether an account is honest, but if the author/climber admits to having difficulties or making questionable decisions, you can figure they are being fairly up front about their expedition overall.

Chris Bonington’s account certainly meets those criteria for me. The only weak spot in the book in my opinion was in a way unavoidable. The book seemed a little fragmented as he relied upon journal entries or chapters written by other climbers. I say it was unavoidable because two of the best mountaineer writers of that era both tragically perished in the summit expedition. They were Peter Boardment and John Tasker. If you read mountaineering books you know who they are; if you don’t know, be sure to read their earlier books. You will see why a mountaineering writing annual prize was named after them. Without their accounts to work with, Bonington relies on his own and another climber’s descriptions, as well as journal entries or even letter written by Boardman and Tasker before their demise.

(As a side note, in their previous books as I recall, they had close calls and times when they felt close to death, but it is in the nature for these extreme adventurers to long to be back home d=safe, but then within weeks or months start longing to take on their next climbing challenge. Death almost inevitable for the elite climbers because they keep putting in their ca=tampons.)

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If anyone from Goodreads reads this review, please correct the author names since we can no longer add books and this is the correct ISBN. Chris Bonnington and Charles Clarke are the correct names.

This was one of my dad's signed copies so it's special because it was his and an interest we shared.

I had heard about the loss of Pete and Joe in 1982 but never actually read about it. The efforts the rest of the team went to for answers were extreme compared with more recent expeditions, but I guess that is partly because the communications equipment meant so much less was known. A great group of people who seemed to genuinely care for each other and be aware of their own limitations. There wasn't any blame or throwing under the bus in the diary excerpts of any of them. They also all admit their emotions which a lot of more recent climbing stories do not. They admit they cried, had self-doubt and are human.

This book is worth reading for the photos alone. I've never seen an Everest book before where they manage to capture photos that show how steep it is and make it clear how dangerous it is in parts. I get this was a previously unclimbed ridge, but most books tend to minimise how steep some sections are and how dangerous it is. I guess the bare honest truth would not be good for commercial climbing and this book was pre that.

Well worth the read.

[Tom Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read several of Bonington's books - been a few years now - useful summation of his four Everest books. Helpful for giving a perspective of 'Into Thin Air' by Jon Krakauer.

So many dead bodies of climbers remain on Everest. It's nice to read on page 245, "efforts have been made to cover the bodies of dead climbers with stones."

Quite a few typos which I dislike to see - shoddy effort by the publisher. One was egregious - the last sighting of Peter Boardman (and Joe Tasker) given as 17 December instead of 17 May.

On his descent from the summit, 1985, page 238, "I reached the top of the snow slope that stretched down to the Col, cramponed down it cautiously, zigzagging from side to side, then noticed what looked like another tent in the middle of the slope. I veered towards it without thinking and, as I came closer, realized that it was a woman sitting very upright in the snow, fair hair blowing in the wind, teeth bared in a fixed grimace. I didn't go any closer but looked away and hurried past. I guessed that it was the body of Hannelore Schmatz, the wife of the leader of the 1979 German expedition. She had reached the summit but had died from exhaustion on the South East Ridge on the way down." Perfect example of the hazards of climbing Everest.

[Dale Lehman · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are numerous stories of tragedy connected with Mt. Everest. Sometimes they're coupled with triumph, but this account of the 1982 British Expedition to climb Everest's Northeast Ridge offers little in the way of solace. A small team, climbing without oxygen and packing their own gear, tackles a route that would not be successfully climbed until 1995. One team member suffers a stroke and is forced to leave the mountain altogether. Efforts to place shelters and equipment high on the mountain leave another too exhausted to continue, and the remaining two disappear on their summit bid.

That's the short version of the history. The book is more than just an account of the expedition, though. As with all good mountaineering books, it helps us get to know the players and feel their hopes and fears, their elation and pain as they undertake one of the toughest physical and mental challenges to which people apply themselves. Bonnington and Clarke do a good job of bringing the expedition to life. If you're interested in the subject, you can't go wrong with this title.

[Robert Hennessy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tale about the expedition whose legacy is the loss of the two greatest climber-authors of the last (or any) generation. Sadly, we don't get the sharp and insightful prose of either Tasker or Boardman, except a bit of Pete's oft-shorthand diaries. I don't know how you write this tragedy properly, so no criticism of Bonington or Clarke--they just don't seem any more up to the monumental task of capturing this epic loss than they were up to climbing the ridge itself. Who would be? RIP Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker.

[Ellie Cripps · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this account from the perspective of an individual who is as much involved in the logistics as they are in the climbing. Not brilliantly engaging in style but an interesting read all the same.

[Colin Nichols · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read but sad finish

[Ken Peters · Rating 3 out of 5]

After 19 Himalayan expeditions (as well as being part of the first British ascent of the north face of the Eiger in 1962), Sir Christian Bonington is an extremely accomplished mountaineer, and so I was glad to have found this old book in a used book store last summer. It's the first book I've read by Bonington, and it's about a tragic and unsuccessful attempt in 1982 to climb Mount Everest via the northeast ridge without supplemental oxygen (at a time when only two people prior to this had successfully summited Everest without supplemental oxygen). It is tragic because two members of the four-man climbing team lost their lives. The authors are not afraid to be honest in their account of this climb, and truly, reading it left me with a growing feeling that the expedition was simply too ambitious for such a small team and that it was doomed from the start. Despite the expected justifications at the end, this felt like one climb that simply shouldn't have been attempted.

[Ranjan Atreya · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who has experienced just a miniscule of how mountains can be, this book is everything that I wanted to read about the Himalayas. The beauty, the ambition and the fear are something that can only be felt in the face of true greatness and it is probably the reason why expedition after expedition men try to defy the odds by living above 8,000m. The book is a through account of the 1982 British expedition with a daring four man climbing team. It managed to confuse me a little with all the technical explanations of the mountains but its a gripping read. I wish they had dwelled a bit more on the climax but given the nature of the events that panned out, I'm glad that they did not. For everyone who has ever seen a mountain and wanted to climb it, this one is for you.

[Ambar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is fascinating for me as Bonington still the great mountaineer from British's tradition. His managerial skill is the key to understand about expedition and how to combine adventure with difficult personalities and situation. I found him a mastermind, with aim to pursue a success, including consequences of death from fellow climbers. He lead four major expeditions to Everest from both side, and difficult West Face. Even though he was a leader, he was not on the summit Everest until 1982 with Norwegian Team. He such a rare mountaineer who did not pursue individual goals but rather as whole team.

[Kyri Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heart-breaking, tense and on some level maddening, this is the story of Pete Boardman and Joe Tasker's last expedition. Copious quotes, especially from Pete's diary, give it its emotionally touching quality. Bonington chillingly describes the survivors' long wait and gradual realization that something has gone terribly wrong. No one really knows what happened to Boardman and Tasker, especially since their bodies were later found, indicating they were not killed in a fall as Bonington surmised. This book cannot illuminate the mystery, but can illustrate the magnitude of the loss.

[Nitin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book on Everest