History Forum / General / General Topics / April 2007

Wall Street Journal - April 28, 2007

[Man vs. nature is at its most riveting in these first-person accounts,
says author James M. Tabor http://jamesmtabor.com/ ]

1. In the Amazon Jungle http://snipurl.com/1ik4w
By Algot Lange
Putnam, 1912

In 1910, Algot Lange, an opera singer's son thirsting for adventure,
plunged into unexplored upper Amazonia between Brazil and Peru. As he
recounted in "In the Amazon Jungle," his extraordinary chronicle of the
expedition, for weeks he survived alligators, boa constrictors,
poisonous ants, tarantulas, venomous snakes, black panthers -- and then
the real adventure began. Fever and snakebite killed four Indian
companions. Alone, burning with fever, lost and starving, injecting
himself with huge precautionary doses of quinine and arsenic, Lange
finally collapsed to die. He awoke, but he was surrounded by Mangeroma
cannibals, who gleefully fried and ate other captives while nursing
Lange back to health -- for the pot, he feared. But Mangeromas in those
halcyon days ate only their enemies, and white meat was not yet on
their menu. Lange eventually returned to civilization, "an emaciated
fever-wreck, placing one foot before the other only with much
exertion." Even more surprising than Lange's survival: his return for
another Amazonian sojourn.

2. Shackleton's Boat Journey http://snipurl.com/Shackleton
By F.A. Worsley
1933

Sir Ernest Shackleton's harrowing 1914-17 South Pole expedition aboard
the Endurance http://snipurl.com/1ik5h has prompted many books on the
subject, but my favorite remains "Shackleton's Boat Journey," by Frank
Worsley, the ship's captain (first published in the U.S. by Norton in
1977). Worsley was a fine writer and even better sailor. Shackleton had
intended to lead the first sea-to-sea crossing of the Antarctic, but
polar ice crushed the Endurance in November 1915, and the goal quickly
became simple survival. Worsley saved Shackleton's expedition, his life
and his reputation by navigating a glorified rowboat, the 22-foot James
Caird, through 800 miles of the notorious Southern Ocean storms that
routinely sank large ships. It was an astonishing sailing feat and made
the bulwark of Shackleton's legend. Sir Ernest, in truth, was but a
passenger, who early on confessed: "Do you know that I know nothing
about boat sailing?" Worsley just chuckled: "Don't worry, Boss. I do."
Shackleton really was a great explorer and wrote his own fine story of
the Endurance; try to read him. But do also read Worsley's graceful and
self-effacing account.

3. The Worst Journey in the World http://snipurl.com/worst_journey
By Apsley Cherry-Garrard
Doran, 1922

English aristocrat Apsley Cherry-Garrard spent 1910-13 with Robert
Falcon Scott's ill-fated South Pole expedition. In "The Worst Journey
in the World," Cherry's writing is elegant and laced with wry English
humor but also with the grim epiphanies that come only from agony. His
lasted three long years; its terrible climax was the Winter Journey of
July-August 1911, when Scott sent Cherry and two others into the black
heart of Antarctic winter. They hauled a 757-pound sledge for five
weeks through 24-hour darkness, 70-below-zero cold and hurricane storms
-- on a hunt for penguin eggs that Scott wanted for scientific study.
The fool's errand wrecked Cherry's body and spirit. "This journey had
beggared our imagination; no words could express its horror," Cherry
wrote. He was wrong, though. His beautiful, horrifying book does
exactly that.

4. K2: The Savage Mountain http://snipurl.com/k2_savage
By Charles S. Houston and Robert H. Bates
McGraw-Hill, 1954

The Himalayan mountain K2 is 784 feet shorter than Everest but four
times deadlier. In 1953, seven Americans, led by Charles Houston and
Robert Bates, attempted K2's first ascent. At 25,000 feet, altitude
sickness immobilized climber Art Gilkey, who would die, it was
determined, unless he were immediately evacuated. K2's vicious terrain
and weather made such an attempt virtual suicide, but Gilkey's comrades
never hesitated. At 24,700 feet, five of them, joined by ropes, fell
while trying to lower Gilkey down a 45-degree slope of ice in a howling
storm. The last man standing, Pete Schoening, jammed his ax behind a
rock, held on for dear life and saved everyone from certain death.
"Schoening's Belay" resides in the pantheon of mountaineering feats. In
a more tragic irony than any playwright could devise, just hours later
an avalanche swept Gilkey away but spared the other six, who descended
alive but shattered. As Houston and Bates relate in "K2: The Savage
Mountain," climbing's true summit was the brotherhood of the rope, "men
banded together in a common effort of will and strength -- not against
this or that imagined foeman of the instant, but against their only
true enemies: inertia, cowardice, greed, ignorance, and all weaknesses
of the spirit." Their willingness to die for a friend earned them a
renown that has escaped K2's eventual conquerors.

5. Minus 148 degrees http://snipurl.com/Minus_148
By Art Davidson
Norton, 1969

In February 1967, Art Davidson, Ray Genet and Dave Johnston completed
the first winter ascent of Mount McKinley in Alaska, but on descent a
monster storm trapped them at 18,500 feet. For six days they survived --
barely -- in a coffin-size ice cave, enduring 150-mph winds and
temperatures that reached minus 148 degrees -- hence the title of
Davidson's subsequent account. This finely crafted adventure tale runs
on adrenaline but also something else: brutal honesty. Given access to
all seven expedition members' journals, Davidson revealed that every
"men vs. nature" tale has another dimension: men vs. themselves. His
story of extreme mountaineering's good, bad and ugly spares no one --
especially himself. At one desperate point he volunteers to descend
alone to "send in help." But: "I knew my reasons for a solo descent
were flimsily constructed excuses to conceal my desire to save Art
Davidson above all else." Before "Minus 148 degrees," mountain tales
glowed with heroism and self-sacrifice. Davidson's was the first to
show the darker aspects as well.