This book, like a lot of this summer's "blockbuster" movies, enjoyed a major build-up. It did not live up to its hype. It was full of ego and ultimately left me wondering why I bothered to finish it.

This is yet another perspective of the 1996 Everest tragedy by a survivor of the fiasco. Written in journal style, the author at times frames her thoughts in a staccato, stream of consciousness, rambling fashion, coupled with new age psycho babble. At other times, she intones in a pseudo-profound way about Everest. The author comes off as a silly, vapid individual. <p>It is interesting to note that while the author refers to Scott Fischer's expedition (of which she was a member) as an environmental one with a mission to clean up the debris on Everest left by expeditioners, nowhere does she state what it was that those on Scott Fischer's expedition were going to do to ameliorate the mess on the mountain. While she climbs up and down Everest, acclimatizing herself, she does not appear to be doing anything that remotely resembles conservation or clean up. Nor does she indicate any affirmative interest in doing anything constructive to that end.<p>She intones about the consequences of hubris up on the mountain. Yet, she, who had never before climbed Everest, was insisting that she would climb it without oxygen. She was even getting into arguments about it with Scott Fischer, the expedition leader who had the sense to tell her in no uncertain terms that she would be climbing with oxygen. As it turned out, he was right. She could barely make it with oxygen. She should thank her lucky stars that he was so insistent that she climb with oxygen, otherwise she, too, would probably have died on Everest.<p>She also incessantly refers to herself as a mountain climber, but she didn't even know what gear she should take, relying on the recommendations of others, and then criticizing their recommendations when they ran counter to her expectations. It is clear, no matter how she wants to dress up her reasons for climbing Everest, that it was just a trophy mountain for her. She hoped that climbing Everest would gild the path for her to some pseudo-celebrity status in her country of Denmark. <p>Her take on mountain guide Anatoli Boukreev is much more sympathetic than was Jon Krakauer's in his book "Into Thin Air". She saw Anatoli as an asset and misunderstood because of his taciturn demeanor. Anatoli comes off very well in this account. In fact, her take on him is much more sympathetic than her take on Scott Fischer, in whom she was apparently disappointed as an expedition leader. While her criticism may have had some merit, given the events that unfolded, I must say if she acted the way she described in her book, then Scott Fischer, who was a true mountaineer, must of been heartily sick of her bravado about climbing Everest without oxygen. Her inflated sense of self is truly staggering at times. When she talks about hubris, she would do well to look no further than her own mirror. <p>Notwithstanding all of this, her account has some merit. As an Everest junkie, I found parts of her journal to be of interest, which is why I rated it three stars, rather than two.

I seem to be the odd person out in that I liked this book. This is not a book that will cause controversy by laying blame on those who survived, or even more unacceptably on those who perished. This is a memoir by a woman who was qualified to be on the mountain. She raised sponsor money to make the attempt possible. She was not someone with more personal wealth than judgment that simply wrote a check for a thrill seeking adventure.<br> <br>Scott Fischer was an extraordinary mountaineer according to any book that I have read. He invited Lene Gammelgaard on the expedition, and also was interested in marketing his company in Europe via this woman's summit attempt. This woman was not a paid journalist; she was not the person who wanted to turn her climb into a media circus with a major American Network. If the expedition had not become a tragedy I doubt most non-climbers would even know her name. This was hardly the case with several others who were on the mountain at the same time. Lene summitted Everest, she survived the storm, she assisted others when they needed help, and she left the mountain with her body intact. One of the reasons for the last note is that she lacked the ego, or stated differently, had the good sense to talk to those who had climbed Everest, to inquire about what was most appropriate to bring, what their on the mountain experience had taught them. Far from being a sign of weakness it is an endorsement of her good judgment. Asking Anatoli Boukreev about the protection he uses for his hands on summit day is the kind of thinking that I would look for in a fellow climber. I would not want to be following those who were lugging satellite phones, computers and other nonsense to make daily appearances on national television.<br> <br>This is a book about her experience from well before she ever stepped on a plane to the Himalaya. It is a very personal book, and her style of writing together with her philosophies of life may not read like a thriller, however the facts of what happened in May of 1996 need no embellishment. To me these are factors that brought her to the top and back down safely. This woman is no thrill seeker, she is not deluded about what an attempt on Everest means, and she shared her experience, she did not write a book embellishing the horror of an event that requires nothing more than a statement of facts. She also refrained from taking apart the conduct of other climbers. She was not shy about expressing her opinion, however she was generally on the mark with her thoughts. And finally, far from taking the Sherpa guides for granted, she repeatedly spoke of them as critical to her success and her survival.