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Nanda Devi: The Tragic Expedition
Customer Reviews
Rating:  - A self-serving book
As an avid reader of mountain books, this is one of the better ones. The story of the ascent of Nanda Devi and the unfolding tragedy is a compelling one. That being said, I have read other accounts of this expedition, and of other expeditions that included John Roskelly, and it is obvious that the author has very much climbing skill and very little emotional intelligence. This version is self-serving, and it is doubtful that it represents anything other than his perspective. One thing that is glaringly obvious- Roskelly's complete lack of respect for the Unsoeld family and their values, his distain for women (except the kind he can control), and his lack of interest in anything other than the summit.Who knows what effect this had on the expedition's outcome? I sincerely hope he has grown up by now.
Rating:  - Lessons in Climbing and Leadership
John Roskelley's "Nanda Devi: The Tragic Expedition" is a brutally honest narrative of the 1976 American-Indian climb of 25,000 foot Nanda Devi in Northwest India. The expedition never came together as a cohesive group, leading to endless arguments en route to and on the mountain, and perhaps contributing to the death of Nanda Devi Unsoeld, daughter of expedition co-leader Willi Unsoeld and named for the mountain itself.
Roskelley's description of the effort to bring a team together, gather the necessary equipment, and move it to Base Camp in India contains the early signs of trouble. The expedition co-leaders seemed unwilling to assert themselves. Perhaps worse, the expedition members did not share a common climbing philosophy. Team "A", of which Roskelley was a founding member, was focused on summitting the mountain. Team "B" seems to have entertained the notion that the trip was the adventure, with reaching the summit a seemingly secondary objective. Whatever the merits of the respective approaches, they were incompatible in the same expedition and left Team B less mentally prepared for the horrendous challenges of the actual climb.
Roskelley's description of the approach march into the remote valley at the base of Nanda Devi is fascinating. The actual climb makes for exciting reading; the expedition worked under marginal weather conditions on an untried and extremely dangerous route up the Northwest Ridge of Nanda Devi. Team A repeatedly pushes the pace, alternately bullying and shaming Team B to participate in placing camps higher on the mountain. Several climbers suffer from illness and crises of confidence. One sick climber is evacuated; another quits. In retrospect, Team B's misgivings about the route were well-taken; Roskelley describes a series of hair-raising pitches over difficult rock in poor weather and under constant threat of avalanche. Only some superb mountaineering overcomes the challenges and places three men on top. A second summit team which included Devi Unsoeld moved to the top camp but turned back when Devi sickened and died at the 24,000 foot level.
Roskelley's candid commentary appears to have been adapted from his diary entries and letters; the story is told day by day, without undue foreshadowing of the outcome.
Leadership challenges should not have been unexpected given the fierce will, competitiveness and self-confidence required to climb at high altitude. The failure to pick a more balanced team might have been the first failure of leadership. The reluctance by the expedition leaders to impose organization led to a second major failure: rolling chaos in the creation and supply of the various camps and in constant bickering over assignments. In retrospect, the lack of leadership created a third failure: a situation in which an unwell and unacclimatized Devi Unsoeld was allowed to proceed on a summit attempt against the expressed better judgement of the expedition doctor and several more experienced climbers.
Roskelley's multiple epilogues underline the hard feelings that followed the expedition. Death at altitude is a common hazard of the sport; unnecessary death made all the bickering less forgiveable. Although not within the scope of this book, an account by a member of Team "B" would be of interest in providing "the rest of the story."
This book is highly recommended to those interested in high altitude mountaineering and to those interested in some lessons in leadership.
Rating:  - Not Exactly Inspirational
I have read a number of mountain climbing books over the past few months, and this was the least enjoyable of the bunch. The problem is both the subject matter and the writing style. The expedition itself seemed like a mess--two leaders, one of whom lost interest half-way through and left the country, the other of whom didn't seem to notice or care that his lovely college-age (I think) daughter was dangerously ill. A team that had widely different ideas about what the goals of the expedition were and who never overcame those differences in philosophy and skill-level. And a climb scheduled at the wrong time of the year to accomodate the teaching schedule of the leader who left half-way through. It's surprising that Roskelley and two other members got to the top of the mountain, but by the time they did, I couldn't even take any joy in their accomplishment.
The other problem, and perhaps the more serious as far as the worth of this as a book, is that it is Roskelley's first book and it shows. It is apparent much of the time that his narration is barely edited diary entries. The narrative doesn't have the flow and the perspective that fully-fleshed-out story-telling requires. Many of his sentences are short and wooden; for example: "The weather was bad." There is little attempt to make the technical aspects of the climb comprehensible to non-climbers.
All in all, the book left me feeling depressed. Many mountain-climbing books have a tragic tale to tell, of human error and over-powering difficulties, and yet something of the human spirit, of the struggle to overcome, shine through. But perhaps as a result of the personality of John Roskelley, this story just seemed pitiful and sad.
Rating: - Nanda Devi
Between the fragmented leadership, conflicting agenda's of the climbers and general lack of cooperation between various members of the expedition it's a small wonder that more people weren't seriously injured or killed. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. The suspense that John Roskelly creates is fantastic. With so many possible things that could go wrong...
Rating: - Fantastic account
Wow. My first reaction on reading this book was amazement as to how dysfunctional this team was due to the fractured leadership style. The inability of the strongest climbers to agree on strategy and work loads contributed to the team's overall slowness on the climb. Yet they still managed to put people on top of the mountain. Other climbing expedition books often make allusions to similar types of disagreements on strategy and plan but this one really lays it all out in front of you.
My second reaction was that there are surely two or more sides to any story -- this version of the climb was surely colored by Roskelley's own self-acknowledged aggressive personality and his bias/perceptions of what his team members were thinking at each step of the way. The second afterword from Roskelley describes a bit more of other team members' own reactions.
The story was compelling but I left one star off the review because the writing style was somewhat wooden. Plus, I wanted to hear more about the climb from someone other than Roskelley to get a different perspective.
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