Chapters 1-2 Summary and Analysis

"The Climb" is a collaborative effort by high-altitude climbing guide Anatoli Boukreev and writer G. Weston DeWalt to tell the story of the tragic attempt to climb Mt Everest in May, 1996, in which several people died. Alternating between passages written by Boukreev and DeWalt, the book examines the increased commercialization of climbing where clients pay to be led to the summit by guides like Boukreev, and describes Boukreev's rescue efforts as a guide for one of these climbing companies, Mountain Madness.

In Chapter 1, called "Mountain Madness," DeWalt opens the book in the early spring of 1996, introducing the leaders of some of the climbing operations intending to climb Everest that year. Henry Todd, an Englishman, is the founder of Himalayan Guides, which is a commercial guide company that has had moderate success. Todd and his lead Sherpa, Kami Noru, are...