THE CLIMB

By now you’ve probably heard about the extreme risks of going up into thin air, thanks to several accounts by Jon Krakauer and numerous documentaries, including an IMAX production. Anatoli Boukreev was a climbing guide for the American expedition that lost its leader, Scott Fisher, on the May 1996 attempt to summit Mt. Everest. Four others died trying to descend from the summit that fateful day in May, but Boukreev used his extensive high-altitude expertise and unbelievable physical strength to work at 24,000+ feet without supplemental oxygen to save all the clients of the Fisher group. Although James engages vocal emotion to capture the terror of unstable crevasses, relentless wind, frostbite and oxygen-starved struggles to walk, he fails to employ a distinct Russian accent for the passages that represent Boukreev’s recollections, making it difficult to keep track of which climber is relating events. J.E.G. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 98]