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 Dull Exposure: Enduring One Man's Passionless Scribble Jan 25, 2010
Reading David Breashears' pedestrian and flaccid account of his climbing and film-making career is like post-holing through waist-deep snow, only to reach a fogged-in summit. By the end of this poorly constructed narrative, the reader knows less about what makes Breashears tick than about the inner workings of IMAX cameras.
Breashears' mountaineering adventures could have made great storytelling. Instead, the lack of emotional depth he brings to his accounts make them as inspiring as a package of freeze-dried mashed potatoes. Breashears uses the same monotone style to describe the loss of climbing friends, horrific climbing tragedies, doomed rescue attempts, and summiting the highest peaks in the world. However compelling the circumstances, the absence of human feeling renders the stories one-dimensional and, eventually, boring. For someone who claims to have an "enduring passion" for mountains, Breashears' writing is singularly lacking in anything remotely resembling passion.
Breashears' recounting of his film-making career is equally lackluster. What could have been a fascinating tale of the melding of high altitude mountaineering with cinematography -- each of them demanding and unforgiving in their own right -- comes across instead as a monotonous catalogue of Breashears' film credits. His insistence on describing in obsessive detail the mechanics of film-making while ignoring the human element makes for what must be some of the dullest passages ever written about mountaineering.
Breashears brings the same emotionally barren approach to the descriptions of his personal life. When his marriage fails, he spends less than a paragraph describing the process of separating and its aftermath. Throughout, the sparse and wholly unenlightening descriptions of his personal travails seem rudimentary. Indeed, Breashears devotes more attention to his tedious and repetitive descriptions of IMAX camera technology than to the death of friends or loss of his wife.
A glimmer of interest is aroused when Breashears describes his experiences on Everest during the tragic events of May 1996, chronicled in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air. But Breashears brings no new insights to those events. Instead, he parrots Krakauer's critique of the commercialization of Everest and of Anatoly Boukreev's choice not to use supplemental oxygen while guiding clients. His criticism of Boukreev seems rote, as if he felt obliged to support Krakauer's take on the Everest tragedy but did not give the matter much thought (Krakauer is a friend of Breashears and wrote the foreword to "High Exposure."). Like Krakauer, Breashears does not bother to consider or discuss Boukreev's years of Himalayan climbing experience, his established practice of climbing without supplemental oxygen and his reasons for doing so, or Boukreev's philosophy that clients need to be self-sufficient on Everest. Ironically, Breashears makes the same point (regarding the need for clients to be self-sufficient on Everest) just pages before he criticizes Boukreev. Breashears does acknowledge (grudgingly) that Boukreev's successful rescue of several climbers on the South Col during a severe storm and subsequent failed attempt during the same storm to rescue his expedition leader from higher on Everest were "heroic." However, the reader is left with the disturbing impression that Breashears added the gratuitous Boukreev bashing as a favor to Krakauer.
The problem with this book is that Breashears at all times keeps the reader at rope's length. He never fully trusts the belay, and as a result we are never privy to what draws him to the world's highest peaks, how he deals with the constant danger of high altitude mountaineering, or why he returns again and again to Everest after witnessing several tragedies. Its as if he is in a tent at Camp IV while we are left at Base Camp reading uninspired (and uninspiring) equipment lists. We are never allowed into his tent to share the frustration, excitement, apprehension or exaltation of an Everest summit bid.
It is not entirely Breashears' fault that "High Exposure" works neither as autobiography or adventure story. The book's disjointed and rambling narrative, its repetitiveness (how many times do we need to know how fast an IMAX camera consumes film?) and its lack of storyline cry out for editing. It is obvious that Breashears' editors were not nearly as capable as his climbing partners.
There is no doubt that Breashears is a gifted high altitude climber and film-maker. Unfortunately, his inability to share his feelings make this book self-absorbed without being self-revealing.
Up from the depths Jan 16, 2010
Imagine being so broke that you're living between two palettes of plywood in a lumberyard...outdoors...in Wyoming...in the winter. Wow, that is exactly what Breashears did while trying to find wildcat work in Wyoming's oil fields. He eventually crawled his way out of poverty to pursue his real passion, mountain climbing. Eventually he found his calling as a movie maker and was in the process of making an IMAX movie on Mount Everest in the fateful year 1996. You get the sense that were it not because Breashears and his team had to lug heavy camera equipment up the mountain that year they could easily have also been high up on the mountain during the 1996 Mount Everest tragedy. This autobiographical memoir wends its way through Breashears early childhood and mountain climbing exploits in Colorado to his numerous forays into the Himalaya with particular focus on numerous attempts at difficult ascents of new routes on Mount Everest.
The early part of the book spends too much time belaboring his childhood and the latter part of the book re-hashes much of what is already known about the 1996 tragedy, albeit from a different perspective.
Nevertheless, it is a good, enjoyable read.
good read Aug 10, 2009
this is a good book for those who want insight into the world of climbing. this year i have read five books by everest climbers and this one has given me the best understanding of the discipline and training involved in climbing. breashers's account of his climbing career, beginning with his childhood passion for rock climbing, is far from self-indulgent. instead the reader gains respect the skill, psychological mindset, and preparation required for rock climbing and high peak climbing. my only complaint is that breashers rarely mentions the well-known physical hardships endured in high peak climbs. he rarely describes his physical state of being, as if climbing involves only technical logistics, not also overcoming the physical hardship of functioning in states of dehydration, sleep deprivation, oxygen deprivation, undernourishment, and frostbit extremities. nonetheless, his narrative has left me with valuable lessons about how disciplined training can provide one with the confidence necessary for making wise decisions when faced with formidable challenges.
 After Krakauer May 03, 2009
Since reading Krakauer's "Into Thin Air", I have wondered about the world of and the people in the mountaineering community. After reading David Breashears stunning "High Exposure", I have a better understanding of both.
 A good psychology read Oct 21, 2008
This is as much a book about climbing Everest as it is an autobiography about a man's inner struggles. Would be a good read for a psychology class. The author gives great attention to detail and does a good job explaining the sport of mountain climbing to the novice.
As you read about the people who climb Everest, you'll think: Why? And then you'll find the answer: Because it's there!
I can summarize the book in two words: VERY HUMAN. Breshears is not afraid to tell you his strengths and weaknesses, nor is he hesitant to point out the same in others.
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