I received this book as a gift and it sat on a shelf for 2 or 3 years before I actually read it. I usually prefer books on how to do things, not stories. That has been changing a little over the past couple of years. So I read this book when it was still a bit out of character for me to read such a book.

I found it a compelling read. I don't have mountaineering aspirations or strong feelings about whether others should and this book did nothing to change my feelings one way or the other.

I didn't read reviews of the book until after I'd read it myself. Some of the criticisms seemed to me to amount to arm chair quarterbacks with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. I'm not saying the actions of all invovled were necessarily the best; I'm just saying I don't know what the best actions would have been and I'm not sure it's appropriate to judge too harshly without being in that situation.

I recall reading something that I think was by Jon Krakauer but I'm not sure. In it he talks about a climb in Alaska where he is tent bound and chain smoking. I had always envisioned climbers as being somewhat fit as a necessity. Of course I know in the military there are some very fit individuals who smoke. Why this is the nugget of information that sticks with me I don't know. I'm not a smoker but I'm not a militant anti-smoker either. I feel adults can make their own decisions, whether it's to climb mountains or to smoke cigarettes.