Book Review: Left for Dead

Left for Dead – My Journey Home from Everest by Beck Weather with Stephen G. Michaud

Review Rating:

Beck Weathers a Pathologist from Dallas was on a quest to join the elite band of climbers who had climbed the highest mountain on each of the seven continents as detailed by Dick Bass, the first to accomplish this task in his account “Seven Summits” (see future review). For Beck summiting Everest would be tick number six on a peak bagging list that is only surpassed by an ascent of all fourteen of the world’s 8000 metre mountains.

The year before Beck had undergone a radical eye operation and this combined with the increasing effects of high altitude on his cornea had left him practically blind on summit day. He reached as far as The Balcony some five hundred vertical metres below the top by 7:30am but knew he could not continue unless his vision improved. He agreed with Rob Hall, his expedition leader, to stay put until Rob could safely escort him back to camp after guiding fellow climbers to the summit. Beck wasted nearly ten hours in attempt to keep a rendezvous that would tragically never happen before agreeing to descend with Mike Broom. So Beck was part of the group of climbers and guides that included Lene Gammelgaard who were stranded at the South Col when the storm struck.

Unlike Gammelgaard, however, Beck never makes it back to Camp IV that night and slips in to unconsciousness exposed to the full force of the storm. Many hours pass but miraculously Beck regains consciousness during the afternoon of May 11th and is shocked into action by a combination of his own condition, thoughts or his family and the realisation that the “cavalry was not coming”. Indeed the cavalry had already been and gone assuming that he was beyond help and giving rise to the title of the book.

- "I can tell you that some force within me rejected death at the last moment and then guided me, blind and stumbling — quite literally a dead man walking — into camp and the shaky start of my return to life"

The following chapters cover the ensuing rescue – how Beck was aided down the mountain, received basic medical treatment for his horrendous frostbite injuries and evacuated from above the Khumbu Icefall by a record breaking and almost suicidal helicopter rescue.

Divided into four parts, "Left for Dead" is predominately concerned with events after his return from Everest – his rehabilitation and reconciliation with his wife and family. Those most interested in an account of the tragedy or mountaineering in general will be gripped by Part One but may be tempted, as I was, to stop reading thereafter.

I was hoping to learn more of the human side and cost of high altitude mountaineering and while this book provides much that is thought provoking I would recommend “Fragile Edge” by Maria Coffey, partner of the late Joe Tasker ahead of it.