The Sherpas were dead, two more victims of an attempt to scale Mt. Everest. Members of a French climbing expedition, sensitive perhaps about leaving the bodies where they could not be recovered, ...rolled them off a steep mountain face. One body, however, crashed to a stop near Sherpas on a separate expedition far below. They stared at the frozen corpse, stunned. They said nothing, but an American climber observing the scene interpreted their thoughts: Nobody would throw the body of a white climber off Mt. Everest.
For more than a century, climbers from around the world have journ-eyed to test themselves on Everest's treacherous slopes, enlisting the expert aid of the Sherpas who live in the area. Drawing on years of field research in the Himalayas, renowned anthropologist Sherry Ortner presents a compelling account of the evolving relationship between the mountaineers and the Sherpas, a relationship of mutual dependence and cultural conflict played out in an environment of mortal risk.
Ortner explores this relationship partly through gripping accounts of expeditions--often in the climbers' own words--ranging from nineteenth-century forays by the British through the historic ascent of Hillary and Tenzing to the disasters described in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air. She reveals the climbers, or sahibs, to use the Sherpas' phrase, as countercultural romantics, seeking to transcend the vulgarity and materialism of modernity through the rigor and beauty of mountaineering. She shows how climbers' behavior toward the Sherpas has ranged from kindness to cruelty, from cultural sensitivity to derision. Ortner traces the political and economic factors that led the Sherpas to join expeditions and examines the impact of climbing on their traditional culture, religion, and identity. She examines Sherpas' attitude toward death, the implications of the shared masculinity of Sherpas and sahibs, and the relationship between Sherpas and the increasing number of women climbers. Ortner also tackles debates about whether the Sherpas have been spoiled by mountaineering and whether climbing itself has been spoiled by commercialism.
Though the Alps may appear to be a peaceful place, the famed mountains once provided the backdrop for a political, environmental, and cultural battle as Germany and Austria struggled to modernize. ...Tait Keller examines the mountains' threefold role in transforming the two countries, as people sought respite in the mountains, transformed and shaped them according to their needs, and over time began to view them as national symbols and icons of individualism. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Alps were regarded as a place of solace from industrial development and the stresses of urban life. Soon, however, mountaineers, or the so-called apostles of the Alps, began carving the crags to suit their whims, altering the natural landscape with trails and lodges, and seeking to modernize and nationalize the high frontier. Disagreements over the meaning of modernization opened the mountains to competing agendas and hostile ambitions. Keller examines the ways in which these opposing approaches corresponded to the political battles, social conflicts, culture wars, and environmental crusades that shaped modern Germany and Austria, placing the Alpine borderlands at the heart of the German question of nationhood.
Objective Rock climbing is a widely performed sport. This prospective single-institution study evaluated the demographics of climbing-related injuries to improve our comprehension of current injury ...characteristics. Methods During a 4-year period, 836 patients with a total of 911 independent climbing injuries were prospectively evaluated using a standard questionnaire and examination protocol. Results Of all injuries, 833 were on the upper extremities, 58 on the lower. Seventeen injuries were Union International des Associations d’Alpinisme (UIAA) grade 1 injuries, 881 were grade 2, and 13 were grade 3. No higher UIAA graded injuries occurred. Overall, 380 were acute injuries (359 were seen in clinic, 21 were seen through the emergency department), and 531 were overstrain injuries (all seen in clinic). Finger injuries accounted for 52% of all injuries, the shoulder being the second most frequent location. Pulley injuries were the most frequent finger injuries. Of 20 injured young climbers under the age of 15 years, 14 had an epiphyseal fracture (all epiphyseal fractures: mean age 14 years, range 12 to 15 years). Male climbers were significantly older ( P < .05), had more climbing years ( P < .05), and were climbing at a higher climbing level ( P < .01). Older, more experienced climbers had significantly more overstrain injuries than acute injuries ( P < .05). Conclusions When comparing this study with our previous study from 1998 to 2001, there are some notable differences. Although pulley injuries are still the most common climbing injury, there are now more A4 pulley injuries than A2. Shoulder injuries are becoming more common, as are epiphyseal fractures among young climbers. It is important to understand current patterns of climbing injuries so that health providers can target interventions appropriately.
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