Buried in the Sky

by Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan

I probably grabbed Buried in the Sky as an impulse buy at a $1-a-bag library book sale. I don’t remember exactly, but the book was sitting on my shelf in the unofficial climbing/adventure section. The story was a welcome transport from 115 degrees in the city desert to the harshly beautiful Karakorum and up one of the world’s most dangerous mountains—K2, or sometimes known locally as Chogori.

Buried in the Sky details the highly-publicized 2008 tragedy on K2 which resulted in the deaths of 11 climbers in twenty-seven hours. The book’s byline reads “The extraordinary story of the Sherpa climbers on K2’s deadliest day.” This subheading is curiously misleading as the story’s focal point are the stories of individuals from various ethnic groups—Sherpa, Bhote, and Shimshal—who identify as sherpas (lower case to signify the job description) or high-altitude porters (HAPs), although these terms are politically charged and complex as the story elucidates further.

The book weaves histories and context to climbing K2 as well as personal stories of the climbing team members with special attention to Chhiring Dorje Sherpa, Pasang Lama, and Shaheen Baig. Many climbing books set in the Himalayas or Karakorum relegate Nepalis or Pakistanis to secondary characters in the background, while the predominately white European or U.S. counterparts are seen as the “real” mountaineers. So, this is a refreshing take on whose story gets told, and even if the story itself is limited by being told by white journalists from the U.S., the authors clearly did extensive interviews and research.

While some may criticize the book for taking too long to get to the meat of climbing and the tragedy itself, or using the more candid descriptor here—the entertainment—I appreciated the humanization of the people who are often little more than a footnote in mountaineering stories. The avoidable and unavoidable factors that led to so many deaths during this climb is made even more glaring and disturbing once recognized how much deeper the risk is to the climbing staff.

These individuals were hired members of climbing teams, with the exception of Pemba Gyalje Sherpa who was on this expedition as a mountaineer. That is notable, as Buried in Sky does not discuss Pemba’s story of spending 70 hours working to rescue climbers in the Death Zone which led to his 2008 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year award. I’m not sure why his story was omitted, however, he co-authored The Summit and was also interviewed in-depth in the documentary with the same name which also chronicle the 2008 K2 tragedy. I haven’t read the book, however, the documentary is worthwhile and includes Pemba’s story. Likewise, the documentary barely mentions Chhiring, Pasang, or Shaheen among others focused on in Buried in the Sky. So, perhaps you need to read and/or watch both to get a more comprehensive narrative.

But on the topic of dismissed stories: It is ironic that Buried in the Sky (and The Summit documentary for that matter) makes the Korean team appear amateurish and stereotypically weak, without ever interviewing or seeking their account of events. Ms. Go Mi-Sun was the one person on the Korean team discussed in Buried in the Sky and seemed to be an endearing person and well-liked by climbing staff, however she is hardly mentioned in the actual climb itself. She did summit K2 and, as a side note not found in the book, unfortunately died a year later climbing Nanga Parbat. Her climbing partner Mr. Kim, the Korean team’s leader, is vilified throughout the book. And while Mr. Kim did sound like an incredible asshole, he surely wasn’t more of an asshole than Wilco Van Rooijen from the Dutch Norit team.

So, for a book that has 24 pages of background notes and outlines the bizarre but amusing brief history of Shimshal, Pakistan (Chapter 5: Insha’ Allah), it certainly left out some seemingly vital stories to give a full picture of K2’s deadliest day. The book did, however, tell some phenomenal stories that don’t appear to be told elsewhere—such as Chhiring and Pasang’s harrowing descent with one ice ax between the two of them.

Verdict: Recommended with the few caveats already listed. It takes a while to get to the climbing details, but you can skim through the history lessons if desired to get there faster.