Books about women adventurers probably fill about half the shelves of those about men. Maybe
less. Yeah, probably less. But it’s great when a good book comes along about women adventurers, for women adventurers.
Or for whoever. Jennifer Jordan’s account of
the first five women to climb to the top of K2 is called
Savage
Summit, and it appears to be a hit.
The Times
reviews the book today and gives it a half-hearted thumbs up, saying the book is compelling but that some of the
biographical sketches are “thin”.
K2 is called the “Savage Mountain” because it kills without mercy. Lower than Everest, it none the less is
far more dangerous. The fact is, K2 has some of the harshest climbing conditions and weather of any place in the world
and at the beginning of the 2004 climbing season, ninety women had successfully summited Everest, but only five female
climbers had reached the peak of K2. Today, all of them are dead.
You can read the first chapter
here.