Dark Shadows Falling

By Joe Simpson

Book Overview

In 1992 an Indian climber was left to die on the South Col of Mount Everest by other climbers who watched his feebly waving hand from their tent. He was filmed in his last hours for a television feature. Why did onlookers not hold the dying man's hand and comfort him? The answer appals Joe Simpson who was himself left for dead in a cervasse in Peru in 1985 - 'because it might compromise their summit bid'. It is an ethical question that Joe is forced to confront as he climbs a hazardous route on Pumori.

Now that Everest has become the playground of the rich where commercial operators offer guided tours to the top camping admist the detritus and unburied corpses of previous less fortunate climbers Joe wonders if the noble instincts that once characterised mountaineering have been irrevocably displaced - as in politics in business in the media and in other facets of society.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0099756110
• ISBN13: 9780099756118
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: Vintage Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.8" x 0.6" x 5.1"

Customer Reviews

dark shadows falling

book in excellent condition arrived really quick to the middle of the desert in australia thanks heaps

my favorite Joe Simpson book

Let's face it, Touching The Void is such a fantastic story that it has to be Simpson's best book. It's certainly his most famous.But this one is my favorite, I think because it is more about "climbing" than about "Joe Simpson".Simpson makes a compelling case for the idea that the ethics of mountaineering have been harmed by the commercialization of climbing.I usually figure that any story about "the good old days" when people were noble is likely BS. But that's not really what Simpson is claiming here. Instead, he is really talking more about the differences between a small and self-selected community (like "climbing" 30 years ago) and a large and public activity (like "climbing" today).I'm not sure if non-climbers would really appreciate this book, but as a climber I have found it invaluable for helping me to frame my own questions about what it means to be a climber, and ultimately a human being.

An Amazing and Honest Book

An Excellent book, so honest. It's great to read a climbing book by someone not entrenched in all the commercialism, someone who is able to offer honest and thoughtful opinions on the tragic state of Himalayan climbing today. The book reads very well, a must for everyone interested in Himalayan climbing today. Joe Simpson is a genius.

If you are a climber, you must read this Book!

I first cme into contact with Simpson when my father convinced me to read "Touching the Void." Although I haven't read all of them the ones I have read have been Unputdownble in every sense. If you have read into thin air by Jon Krakauer then this is an excellent follow up book. The harrowing first chapter introduced me to an element of climbing that I had never seen and do not want to ever see. Again, if you are a climber then you must read this book!

Refreshing and honest,a must

Great book again by Joe.I read all his books and although this one is a bit different from the others in that it's more about the ethics of climbing than the actual climbing it's great to see a climber being so honest and daring to tell the nasty stuff that unfortunately goes on in the climbing-"business"...