Nanda Devi

Nanda Devi: The Tragic Expedition by John Roskelley, 213 pages

In 1976, a team of Americans and Indians set out to climb Nanda Devi, the highest peak entirely within India, by a new route.  One of the leaders of the team was Willi Unsoeld, and one of the members was his daughter, Nanda Devi Unsoeld, whom he had named after the mountain.  From the beginning, the expedition was marred by interpersonal conflict, competing visions, and a leadership crisis that was never really resolved, ending in tragedy high on the mountainside.

It is at the moment of tragedy that the book takes a sudden sentimental turn, changing from a contentious account of struggle against the elements and each other into a celebration of the beauty of Nanda Devi, the mountain, and Nanda Devi, the woman.  Unfortunately, little in the first part prepares the reader for what follows - there is little spirituality, no rhapsodizing on the aesthetics of the mountains, and Devi Unsoeld blends in with the other climbers.  Perhaps only belatedly did Roskelley realize that the poetry of Unsoeld's connection to the mountain was the hook for his narrative, or perhaps this is due to Roskelley being a mountaineer rather than a novelist, or perhaps this is a genuine reflection of Roskelley's experience, and all of the frustrations and disagreements became insignificant in their shared loss and grief.  Whatever the cause, the jarring disconnect at the climax keeps a solid book from being a classic.