Dark Shadows Falling

Joe's story of a climb of his is interspersed with his opinion of the mountaineering society in general. In reading the book, I felt as though he didn't have enough of a story to pad out the experience of his own climb, so he decided to interweave it with descriptions of the climbs of others and his feelings about today's mass market mentality with regards to mountaineering. This approach frustrated me no end - I would have preferred the book to be about one or the other, or for there to be a clear delineation between the two subjects. There appeared to me to be no clear link between Joe's story of his climb and Joe's opinion of other climbers. As a result, Dark Shadows Falling doesn't strike me as a cohesive book.

After finishing Dark Shadows Falling, I almost felt as though the whole book was a justification to include the (admittedly, jawdropping) 1989 photo by Karl Huyberechts of the South Col at Everest.


my favorite Joe Simpson book   November 28, 2002
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Let's face it, Touching The Void is such a fantastic story that it has to be Simpson's best book. It's certainly his most famous.

But this one is my favorite, I think because it is more about "climbing" than about "Joe Simpson".

Simpson makes a compelling case for the idea that the ethics of mountaineering have been harmed by the commercialization of climbing.

I usually figure that any story about "the good old days" when people were noble is likely BS. But that's not really what Simpson is claiming here. Instead, he is really talking more about the differences between a small and self-selected community (like "climbing" 30 years ago) and a large and public activity (like "climbing" today).

I'm not sure if non-climbers would really appreciate this book, but as a climber I have found it invaluable for helping me to frame my own questions about what it means to be a climber, and ultimately a human being.


Preachy, repetitive, compelling...   March 28, 2001
 2 out of 7 found this review helpful

My title says it all. He is preachy and opinionated, repeats his point incessantly, but writes well when describing adventure and disaster.

You'll need a glossary of climbing terms!


Some strong stuff   February 7, 2001
 5 out of 6 found this review helpful

Joe Simpson starts out his book "Dark Shadows Falling" with an eerie and troubling tale of a mountaineer who was left out in the cold to die within a few hundred feet of his companions tents. Simpson uses this story to dramatize how far mainstream mountaineering has strayed from its original adventurer roots. The book's main drawback is Simpson's analysis of the 1996 Everest disaster which has been over reported and covered far more completely by those who were actually there. Simpson closes the book with an interestting but relatively uneventful recent climb of his own that seems to have little to do with the rest of the book.

Overall, Simpson is an important figure in mountaineering and he does have plenty to say. Those with an interest in the subject should enjoy this book very much.


The book will leave you thinking   December 18, 2000
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

The book is only remotedly about an attempt to climb a magnificent peak of Bumori. It is rather a philosophical debate over mountains and people climbing them.

Joe Simpson gives examples of climbers tragedies and shows how the others around react to them. Some people show remarkable effort to save their colleagues while others show no interest whatsoever. Simpson is wondering what motivates people do react the way they react and also tries to define some kind of a standard ethic that climbers should follow.

Simpson criticizes the commercialization of mountaineering. This is a point where you might disagree with him. It is understandable that the commercialization annoys the orthodox climbers since it brings devastation of mountains, garbage to what used to be a virgin land, unnecessary deaths, etc. On the oher hand, mountains do not belong exclusively to the real mountaineers and the trend would be almost impossible to stop.

In any case, the book should be on the shelf of every man or woman interesting in mountains. I would recommend to combine this book with Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer.