(This book begins here.)
Kevin Flynn is feeling better this time around and has a winner's attitude. It gets him up to the South Col, and then things slow down. He straggles behind his climbing companions, but even after several delays carries on to the summit, last man on top. He's spent and his personal Sherpa, Mingma, talks him down the mountain until two others arrive with a warm drink and new oxygen near the South Col camp. He feels sick, and struggles down the mountain over the next two days, and finds out in base camp that he has pneumonia and potentially HAPE. He pays for a helicopter evacuation, and after a brief visit to the doctor in Kathmandu, makes an early departure for home. It is not until the plane flight from Hong Kong that he begins to reflect upon his accomplishment. Congrats, dude!
Overall, the book is enjoyable and seems to be a pretty good guidebook for potential amateurs looking to mount Everest. The editing is a little squirrely, but shouldn't bother most readers. The bit about the reindeer (copulating) hat confuses me somewhat, since elsewhere in the book, he writes f-, s-, and a-. He occasionally repeats explanations of terms, such as Sherpa. Also, somewhere in there, the second person perspective disappears---I think perhaps somewhere near the beginning of the second trip. I appreciate his honesty in his analysis of his motives and actions, and he seems like a really nice guy.
Up next, an all-star cast!
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