Savage Summit: The Life and Death of the First Women of K2 |  | Author: Jennifer Jordan
Publisher: It Books
Category: Book
List Price: $13.99
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Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 86,213
Media: Paperback
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.3 x 1
ISBN: 0060587164
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN: 9780060587161
ASIN: 0060587164
Publication Date: January 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Though not as tall as Everest, the "Savage Mountain" is far more dangerous. Located on the border of China and Pakistan, K2 has some of the harshest climbing conditions in the world. Ninety women have scaled Everest but of the six women who reached the summit of K2, three lost their lives on the way back down the mountain and two have since died on other climbs. In Savage Summit, Jennifer Jordan shares the tragic, compelling, inspiring, and extraordinary true stories of a handful of courageous women -- mothers and daughters, wives and lovers, poets and engineers -- who defeated this formidable mountain yet ultimately perished in pursuit of their dreams.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 7
 Great Adventure Reading June 24, 2007
Walter W. Willard (San Francisco, CA United States)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Savage Summit by Jennifer Jordan is a must read for those who appreciate true-life adventure stories. As a non-climber who lives vicariously through the adventures of others as told in their books, I can't attest to what really goes on during an expedition or the ins and outs of the social-politics of the climbing community, especially high altitude climbers. I can say that Jordan's book seems to be well researched and recounts the adventures of the five subjects in the manner that made me feel a part of their lives and their climbs.
As a collection of adventure stories the book did not disappoint me in the least. I will admit that I was expecting a book about the first five women who climbed K2 that was written by a woman would be heavily slanted with a sexiest bias against the mostly male community of mountain climbers. Instead I found the book to be about 5 people who have that special inner drive to climb who also happened to be women. In telling the stories of these special people, Jordan also describes the bias and prejudice that some were faced with as they joined expeditions led by experienced men. This is especially true in the telling of Polish climber Wanda Rutkiewicz's adventures when women were a rare sight in climbing and as Jordan tells Wanda's stories and the stories of the other women she acknowledges that each was a person in her own right with their own strengths and weaknesses. Putting gender aside, Wanda Rutkiewicz had a personality that alienated many outside of a handful of people who understood her and even those closest to Wanda admit she could be difficult on an inter-personal level.
In telling the story of Chantal Mauduit Jordan clearly acknowledges that Mauduit, a happy-go-lucky sort who enjoy much luck climbing 8,000 meters peaks, used her feminine and sexual attributes to her advantage and thus enjoyed an advantage as she manipulated the males on her teams to carry the heavy loads and break routes that she could easily follow on her summit attempts.
The stories of Liliane Barrard, Julie Tullis and Alison Hargreaves were all exciting recounts of their climbing careers and their ultimate climbs to the summit of K2. Each of these women were beloved by friends and family, each recognized the dangers in high altitude climbing and each of them struggled with the pull of their loved one against the pull of the mountains. Ultimately, the mountains won and each died as accomplished climbers, not women, doing what they were drawn to do.
Bottom Line: Savage Summit is a great adventure read about 5 people who loved climbing and were eventually drawn to the attraction of solving a problem that is much greater than the well worn routes of Mt. Everest on the world's second highest peak, K2.
Great book November 22, 2009
Mahesh Andar (Pune, Maharashtra India)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Great book. A well written account of six great women mountaineers, their travails and the agony and ecstasy of climbing the world's second highest mountain. Very highly recommended .
Adventure and mountain history January 6, 2010
Allie Modrow
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is an excellent account of the 5 women that reached the summit of K2 as well as their extensive backgrounds. Each of the women was from a different walk of life, from women who were nationally sponsored to a house wife who had to live out of her car and bring her children to base camp with her. But one thing was present in all the women, the desire to climb mountains and the draw that the mountains had when they went back to their "normal" lives. The author's research is apparent in the numerous sources for her accounts of the lives of these women, from climbing partners to children, journals to radio transmissions, her writing is filled with accuracy. But this is also an adventure story that you won't want to put down. While you already know the outcome, you want to learn how these 5 women lost their lives to the mountains. An excellent adventure story.
Inspirational March 9, 2010
Anthony M. Frasca (East Setauket, NY USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Savage Summit is essentially a biography of women mountaineers who have climbed K2. A number of world famous female mountaineers are celebrated extensively including Wanda Rutkiewicz, Chantal Mauduit, Alison Hargreaves, Julie Tullis and Liliane Barrard. The book was extremely well-written and extensively researched. It see-saws from uplifting to grievously sad. All the women met their deaths in the mountains between ages 33 and 49 leaving a trail of grieving parents, siblings, friends, lovers, husbands and children. Jordan captures their emotions, as well as her own, in a page turning exhibition of outstanding writing.
Bravo!
A Wonderful Book! March 23, 2010
G. FitzGerald (Springfield, MA)
I've read over a dozen books on high-altitude climbing in the past six months, some wonderful stories -- classics and newer releases, but this one made my heart ache. I couldn't wait to get back to it, and I hated for it to end. Great history, great biography, beautifully written. I shed more than one tear for these brave, unique women, all of whom, it seemed, deserved much more of life than they got. This is a wonderful book, even if you have no interest in high-altitude climbing or about K2.
In the end, you could feel Jennifer Jordan's genuine sorrow for her subjects, and you want to share her pain and give her a hug for her labors. The best written mountaineering story of all I've read.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 7
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