Paths of Glory by
Jeffrey Archer
My rating:
3 of 5 stars
The author takes one to Himalayan heights. The book is about the mountaineer George Mallory who made the first attempt to scale Mount Everest.
Nobody knows for sure if he made it, but in the book he and his partner make it to the top of the world. On the way back both die a tragic death and so the secret remains with them.
The book starts with the early life of George Mallory and his tryst with mountains which start in the Scottish hills. He then hones his climbing skills in the Alps where he does Matterhorn and Mount Blanc the tallest in Europe.
He sets his eyes on scaling Mount Everest but it takes a while before the Empire can get a permission from the Tibetan authorities to enter their territory for somebody to make an attempt.
In this first attempt he goes with his closest rival an Australian. His rival insists on usage of Oxygen, but George and his colleagues are opposed to it. In a discussion they have in the Himalayas, George argues that use of Oxygen amounts to cheating as it is use of artificial aid to climb and that it does not test the human endurance limits. Finch argues that by that count the boots, the gloves, the warm clothes all amount to cheating. This talk and his own experience when they go past the 27000 feet mark convinces George that Finch has a point. They have to return as the monsoons begin and they are unable to make it to the top.
After that George promises that he will not make another attempt. But he finds that his coffers are empty. His attempt at earning dough by addressing the public also fails as he is not able to draw enough audience. In the meantime his wife is convinced by one of his friends to prod him to make the second attempt. So his wife reluctantly prods him and he jumps at the prod and goes enthusiastically preparing about for the second attempt.
In the second attempt he fails to secure a place with his rival and partner Finch whose activities have enraged the National Geographic Society which is sponsoring the trip and instead he has to settle for a young inexperienced partner as one of his climbing partner in addition to his usual team.
This time they make it to the 23000 feet without much issues. But then the first team to make an attempt fails as they go without the aid of Oxygen tanks.
The second attempt is made by George and the young lad who seems to have adjusted to the heights pretty well and is open to using Oxygen. Both of them set out with another old partner of George they progress without much ado to 27000 feet. There they realize that it will be possible to accommodate only two people on that ledge and so the old partner goes back to the camp lower down.
George and his young companion start their ascent and after overcoming great difficultly they reach the summit where George places the photograph of this wife which he has carried with him all along the trip.
But they do not make it back and leave the whole world in suspense.
All in a good read from Jeffrey Archer. A slightly different book from the author.
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