Savage Summit - The True Stories of the First Five Women Who Climbed K2, the World's Most Feared Mountain - Jennifer Jordan

[Jane B]

I came across Jennifer Jordan's Savage Summit after reading Graham Bowley's No Way Down: life and death on K2, about the 2008 climbing tragedy on K2 when 11 climbers died on their descent from the summit of the second tallest mountain on earth. I was interested in reading her story of the first 5 women who had reached the summit (at time of publishing in 2004) of what is considered the world's most dangerous peak and Jordan's book is a riveting account of these driven women who faced not only the dangers of high altitude climbing (most of them without supplemental oxygen or support) but also the overt sexism of the male dominated mountaineering world which is so embedded that some of their accomplishments and motivations have been called into question. I have always wondered at what drives people to dice with death at high altitudes where death is merely an avalanche, a foot placed wrongly, too much time spent in the death zone or a savage windstorm away and how these people can be so selfish as to leave loved ones at home wondering if they will make it home alive and Jordan's book gives insight into what drove these women to strive for the top of the world. An inspirational read (from the comfort of a sea level altitude!)