Rongbuk—In the Wake of the Cultural Revolution Summary and Analysis

Messner declares that the silence and loneliness of Everest are helping his relationship with Nena. All his tension prior to the start of the expedition has disappeared, he claims. As Messner waits for the right weather conditions, Tsao procures a jeep and the four of them, including Cheng, travel to a mountain called Shisha Pangma, which Messner has a permit from the Chinese government to reconnoiter. On the 100-kilometer drive there, Messner describes the landscape and people, who have been rarely seen by foreigners. Nena asks why Messner is interested in climbing Shisha Pangma, and in a question-and-answer exchange that reads like an interview, he describes himself as a sort of Sisyphus, the man in mythology who was condemned to roll a boulder up a...