High Crimes

November 19, 2007
Journalist Kodas has written a disturbing account of stupidity and greed on the slopes of Mount Everest. On assignment for the Hartford Courant
in 2004, Kodas joined an expedition led by a couple who had summited the mountain more than a dozen times between them. As he moved up Everest, Kodas watched his expedition disintegrate in a mess of recriminations, thefts, lies and violence. At the same time, a sociopathic guide was leading a 69-year-old doctor to his death on the unforgiving slopes. The twin disasters led Kodas to delve into the commercialization of Mount Everest, and to discover that such experiences were becoming a depressing norm. A thorough reporter, Kodas does an excellent job exposing the ways in which money and ego have corrupted the traditional cultures of both mountaineers and their Sherpa guides. He also brings a painful focus to the delusions, misunderstandings and indifference that allow climbers to literally step over the bodies of dying people on their way to the top. Oddly enough, Kodas writes less ably about himself, and the reasons for his own expedition's collapse remain unclear; the sequencing of story lines is confusing as well. Nevertheless, his narrative is as hard to turn away from as a slow-motion train wreck.

December 15, 2007
In 2004, Kodas was on assignment for the" Hartford Courant" as part of the Connecticut Everest Expedition. Here, he details two stories alongside each other: that of the expedition and that of pathologist Nils Antezana's fatal climb up Mount Everest that year. He also delves into the underside of Everest mountaineering: fraud, jealousy, legal complaints, equipment malfunctions and failures, media smear campaigns, and high-altitude thefts. Kodas elected not to summit because of potentially terminal team conflicts and poor health. Antezana, meanwhile, put his money and confidence in a guide who had little mountaineering experience and had been fired from previous guiding jobs. Antezana died on the return from the summit after being abandoned by his guide and crew. When future clients, reputations, speaking fees, slideshows, and more rest on summiting Everest, empathy and selflessness are the first human emotions to fall victim to greed. While Antezana's story was reported in the "Washington Post" and Kodas's dispatches published in the "Courant", the juxtaposition of these two accounts, with their many thrilling yet troubling details, makes this a highly recommended purchase for public libraries.Margaret Atwater-Singer, Univ. of Evansville Libs., IN

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2008
Kodas, a veteran newspaper journalist and avid climber, knows his subject. He has been on Mt. Everest, and he has seen the things he writes about: ruthless competition to reach the summit, tragic disregard for human life (more than one climber has been left on the mountain to die), and mercenary behavior that borders on the villainous. There are plenty of books about the allure and the danger of Everest, but this may be the first to explore the mountains criminal element: the fraudulent commercial guides; the thieves and scoundrels who loot other climbers camps, stealing vital supplies that can be sold at a profit; the violence among climbers. Everest, the author says, has become a very busy place, with several hundred climbers making their way toward the top every year; and like any small community, it could be destroyed by its citizens. A strongly written, passionate plea for sanity before its too late.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)