Writing the Ascent: Narrative and Mountaineering Accounts A thesis submitted to the Department of English Lakehead University Thunder Bay, ON In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in English By Justin Allec April, 2009 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-49954-2 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-49954-2 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Canada II Table of Contents Abstract - III Acknowledgments - V Introduction: The Narration of Mountaineering Expeditions - 1 1: Redefining Herzog's Summit: The Influence of Expectation and Dialogue - 32 2: "A Woman's Place"?: Feminism and the Mountaineering Narrative - 75 3: A Storm of Confusion: Disaster and the Post-Modern Mountaineering Industry - 97 Conclusion: Expedition's End and the Next Route - 130 Works Cited: 136 Ill Abstract Mountaineering is an activity traditionally practiced in remote areas of the world by a select few participants. Upon returning from an expedition, some mountaineers retrospectively publish their account as a testament of the experience. This is a common practice in the mountaineering subculture, and encouraged by the fact that an account can also act as a guide to the mountain for later expeditions. This thesis argues that this practice becomes troubling because even as later expeditions attempt to distinguish their ascents from their predecessors, a similar framework of ideals is reiterated. The expedition's actions can be justified using frameworks based on domination of the environment and indigenous cultures. The repetition of these ideals is encouraged by the ideological narrative adopted by the authors to describe the episodic order of the expedition as well as the goal of the summit. However, this common narrative, as well as the subject matter, also allows accounts to be read in dialogue with one another. This thesis examines accounts which describe subsequent attempts on the Himalayan peaks Annapurna and Everest. Maurice Herzog's Annapurna (1950) describes the first successful expedition to climb a mountain over 8000 meters. Later expeditions by Sir Chris Bonington, in Annapurna South Face (1971), and Arlene Blum, in Annapurna: A Woman's Place (1980), contextualize Herzog's representation while offering their own experiences. Mountaineering was commercialized during the 1990s, and Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air (1996) and Anatoli Boukreev's The Climb (1997) narrate their respective experiences in an industry based upon expectations of summit glory. Through a close reading of these three ensuing generations of mountaineering accounts this thesis argues that subsequent generations attempt to challenge the dominant representation to allow alternate definitions of success and climbing styles within the subculture. These challenges are only partially successful due to the central place of the summit in the narratives, and conventional inclusion of the disaster episode. Using sources which contextualize these expeditions historically, this thesis also analyses the accounts from an ecocritical, feminist, and sociological perspective. V Acknowledgments From the Grad Program, I'm thinking of you who started ahead of me, finished before me, and are now at the far-flung corners of the Earth. For their suggestions and time, I would like to thank my examiners, Dr. Monica Flegel of the Lakehead English Department and Dr. Brent Cuthbertson of the Lakehead Outdoor Recreation Department. Dr. Douglas Ivison, my thesis supervisor, deserves to be formally thanked for his continuous encouragement and high standards in the face of absolute confusion. This mess of ideas ended up on paper and with some kind of legibility thanks to his interest and support. Then there's Eric Berglund, for providing the original inspiration to try someplace new. Now there's history here, new ways of living. I'm wishing you n Nance all the best, and then for the wee one. Mom n Dad, I love you both and owe so much. There was the midnight caravan through a winter's storm that brought me here. There were nights spent on my apartment's floor. There were visits, and phone calls, reminders to eat, to take a breath, and so much else. Tyler, see this as another entry into the ongoing discussion. Whether it was a rambling email or watching you send something on those infrequent visits, I've always kept you in mind. We'll keep playing with the bones of the Earth. Jill, you who saw nearly every day of this damned thing. I love you. This project is at an end, but we still have our lives together for the next one. And the one after that. Thinking and wanting to do it all. Forget the muse, I'm with you. 1 Introduction: The Narration of Mountaineering Expeditions On the morning of June 3,1950, French expedition leader Maurice Herzog and fellow mountaineer Louis Lachenal awoke on the Northwest side of Annapurna. It was the day the two Frenchmen would attempt to reach the summit. If they succeeded, they would be the first men to summit the tenth-highest mountain in the world, and the first mountain over 8000 meters. They had to move quickly. The summer monsoon would move in within the week, by which point the French expedition had to be off the mountain and back in the Nepalese lowlands. Frostbite had already settled into their feet, and altitude sickness slowed their thoughts and reactions. Justifiably concerned, Lachenal asks Herzog if they should continue. Would they have enough strength to reach Annapurna's summit; would they have enough strength to descend? Herzog recoils at the suggestion. In his official narrative account of the expedition, Annapurna (1952), he writes that: A whole sequence of pictures flashed through my head: the days of marching in sweltering heat, the hard pitches we had overcome, the tremendous efforts we had all made to lay siege to the mountain, the daily heroism of all my friends in establishing the camps. Now we were nearing our goal. In an hour or two, perhaps, victory would be ours. Must we give up? Impossible! My whole being revolted against the idea. I had made up my mind, irrevocably. Today we were consecrating an ideal, and no sacrifice was too great. (206) If he must go on alone, Herzog insists, he will; Lachenal must decide for himself. Each climber privately justifies his decision, and later that day the pair stand atop the tallest mountain 2 yet climbed. According to Herzog, Lachenal's agreement is made from a realization of brotherhood, and what kind of "sacrifice" is needed to succeed. He will continue to the summit in support of Herzog and the "ideal" of "victory" over the mountain. The price of the summit for both men is the amputation of their toes due to frostbite, with Herzog also losing most of his fingers. In the climax of his account, Herzog claims that the events of the past months and a moral code demand that they continue. If each step upward increases a climber's weariness, then the summit will require the ultimate sacrifice. The goal of the summit is for an "ideal" beyond any climbers or their bodily concerns. At this level of Himalayan mountaineering, Herzog conveys that success is the only option. As he is the expedition leader, Herzog's account of the successful expedition is considered authoritative, so generations have read of this moment in his terms. The sale of 11 million copies and a dozen translations has further ensured that the dominant representation of the first expedition to Annapurna is his. Because Herzog's account is written entirely in the first person, it only allows us to read about this event from his perspective. Lachenal's own version appears in Carnets du Vertige (1956), which was written shortly before his death in a skiing accident. Taking advantage of the circumstances, Herzog and Lucien Devies, the president of the French Mountaineering Federation, subjected Carnets to heavy editing before it was published. This would ensure that Herzog's account, which was authorized and approved by Devies, was the dominant representation of the expedition. Lachenal's full account would have to wait decades to be revealed to the public, finally being published, unexpurgated and in its entirety, in 1996.