"The Next Everest", by Jim Davidson

 

Surviving the Mountain’s Deadliest day and Finding the Resilience to Climb Again


What a stunning true story of adventure, disaster and resilience. Jim Davidson, a high altitude climber shares gripping adventures from summiting Mount Everest, surviving earthquakes, avalanches and escaping alone from deep glacial crevasse.

In April 2015, Jim Davidson was climbing Mount Everest when a 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal. He was stranded above base camp for 40 hours before he was brought to safety but important to him was getting back to base camp and help people get to safety and trying to rebuild. This disaster ended his first attempt to reach the summit. He finally achieved his dream with an estimate of 60 other climbers when he returned two years later.

M. Davidson describes in details his 36 years of climbing experiences and the physical and mental preparation one needs to do. Three keys points he tells us: more training than you have ever done in your life, increase the difficulty and be discipline enough to keep up with it and hit it harder the next time.

“The Next Everest” is said in the first person narrative. Step by step M. Davidson tells us his next move in words filled with emotions. When he describes the tremors and aftershocks, the avalanche and the rumbling noises you can feel in his words how scared he was but in crisis he stayed cool and calmly acted decisively to make things better and safer for everyone. A lot is said in this book, I would say even too much at times such is a lengthy description of human poop...yes even that detailed, although he did tell us to make a point. Every word is vividly said as he describes his ascends and descends in order to reach the summit of the highest peak in the world.

The 2015 tragic incident was well publicized around the word. I remember it so well.

In a few words:

This is a poignant account that captures the true essence of Mount Everest and the resilience of the human spirit. I will let you discover this gem of a book and the treasures it hides....

My thanks to St.Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC: this is the way I see it.