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  • Dark Summit

  • The True Story of Everest's Most Controversial Season
  • By: Nick Heil
  • Narrated by: David Drummond
  • Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (301 ratings)
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Dark Summit cover art

Dark Summit

By: Nick Heil
Narrated by: David Drummond
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Summary

In early May 2006, a young British climber named David Sharp lay dying near the top of Mount Everest while forty other climbers walked past him on their way to the summit. A week later, Lincoln Hall, a seasoned Australian climber, was left for dead near the same spot. Hall's death was reported around the world, but the next day he was found alive after spending the night on the upper mountain with no food and no shelter.

If David Sharp's death was shocking, it was not singular: despite unusually good weather, ten others died attempting to reach the summit that year.

In this meticulous inquiry into what went wrong, Nick Heil tells the full story of the deadliest year on Everest since the infamous season of 1996. He introduces Russell Brice, the outfitter who has done more than anyone to provide access to the summit via the mountain's north side---and who some believe was partially responsible for Sharp's death. As more climbers attempt the summit each year, Heil shows how increasingly risky expeditions and unscrupulous outfitters threaten to turn Everest into a deadly circus.

Written by an experienced climber and outdoor writer, Dark Summit is both a riveting account of a notorious climbing season and a troubling investigation into whether the pursuit of the ultimate mountaineering prize has spiraled out of control.

©2008 Nick Heil (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Here is humanity itself, personified in exemplary fashion by Nick Heil, addressing the Everest culture's lack of compassion and coming up with the right answers." (Bob Shacochis, author of The Immaculate Invasion)
Through rock-solid reporting and vital prose, Heil leads us up into this rarefied world, step by hypoxic step." (Hampton Sides, author of Ghost Soldiers)

What listeners say about Dark Summit

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Utterly full of journo speak

Well the boook is interesting enough if you want every mind numbing detail about the climbers and their background. If you want to learn about mountaineering though stop after the prologue. it gets boring after that. it reads like a journalistic piece cum documentary full of ‘he said’ and ‘she recalled’ stuff like that. The naration isn’t bad onsidering the mterial he has to work with but the whole book makes mountaineering sound like the kind of thing you could do if you were in a wheelchair as long as you have thee cash to pay for it that is, it cheapens the sport if such a word might apply but then commerce does that anyway i guess. Not good for the purist I’m afraid.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Too dry and emotionless

After reading Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, a book that got me interested in reading and watching more content about Everest, I stumbled upon this book. I knew about the case of David Sharp before I listened to the book and I was interested in learning more about him, what pushed him, what motivated him, and the circumstances surrounding his death. However, upon finishing the book, I can't say I know a lot more about David Sharp.

The book does a good job at giving you the history of Everest - you'll hear about everything from the discovery of Everest, first climbing attempts, first summits, deaths, many, MANY mountaineers who'd climb it or attempted to reach the top. On one hand, I applaud the writer for doing such in-depth research. On the other hand, large parts of the book sounded like he was doing a history project in school. If you are reading about Everest for the first time, that might be interesting to you to learn about its history, but I thought the book would focus more on David Sharp and the whole 2006 season.

The book contains so many names and states so many facts and events, but it does just that - states the facts without any emotion or reason to it, so it's so easy to forget about the said names. It's difficult to follow it at times.

With all the names and facts crammed into this book, the overall feeling is that the book is dry. It has no emotion or feeling. I couldn't help the feeling of listening to a lengthy paper article.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Good in parts

Hard to follow in places as an audio book but informative and interesting read .

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

will give this a second listen

When you read or listen to a book it can be better the 2nd time round. This is what I'm hoping for with this a/book. I thought the story wandered a wee bit too much at times but this may not have been helped by a reader with quite a plain uninteresting voice. The story of that years climbing on Everest is well known to me but I was interested in one more viewpoint on the events. I found the writer to be fair and unbaised and will definately give this a/book another listen.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Simply Brilliant!

One of the best books I've listened to!



Such an interesting book.



Very well written!



Kept me on the edge og my seat!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

An impressive collection of high altitude death accounts and the struggle for survival at 8k metres.

This book is great and I flew through it initially but at times it was confusing who was who due to so many names and people being mentioned. it gave great background and history to Everest climbing and amazing descriptions of how dangerous it is to summit.
A must read for adventure enthusiasts. Amazing to listen to and close your eyes to imagine it all. I would listen again. I wish the narrator was English not American though.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

In depth research and balanced viewpoint

Great read with lots of background information. Always enjoy reading another Everest book and learning about climbing on the north side this time.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good story

A good story full of facts regarding the climbing of Everest over the years. Stating successes, failures and disasters alike.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great listen

Brought home just how challenging, uncomfortable and dangerous scaling Everest is. This served to confirm my total respect for those who achieve the summit, and all my views on why I'd never consider attempting it!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Mr T review..

Too much of a documentary with dates, places, times etc blah blah blah..Well read and pleasant to listen to but not much of a story about Everest..

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