Publishers Weekly
12/02/2024
Mountain climber Light debuts with a high-octane history of mountaineering. Beginning the account in 1802, with explorer Alexander von Humboldt’s 19,286-foot ascent of Chimborazo, a volcano in Ecuador—the first climb by a European on record—Light describes how Humboldt, even though he did not reach the summit (he and his ill-equipped party were stymied by a “giant crevasse”), afterward embarked on a sold-out lecture tour that sparked the “Golden Age of Alpinism” by inspiring a heated competition for “the world altitude record.” Light vividly narrates some of the era’s most famous climbs—including Edward Whymper’s summiting of the Matterhorn in 1865 and George Dixon Longstaff’s ascent of India’s Nanda Devi in 1905—while making clear that these white expedition leaders were not the first or most impressive climbers to top the world’s most daunting peaks. He notes, for example, that 15th-century Incan priests ascended Llulliallaco, a 22,110-foot volcano, and also devotes much of his narrative to the feats of Indigenous guides who routinely outperformed early European climbers. Mountaineering quickly took on a bitter and competitive edge that, as Light amusingly recounts, sometimes led to sniping and slander, like an anonymous article that cast doubt on mountaineer William Woodman Graham’s 1883 ascent of the Himalayan peak Kabru by claiming that, based on his descriptions, he must have climbed the wrong mountain. It’s a spirited, adventuresome chronicle. (Nov.)
John Keay
"The White Ladder neatly bridges a lacuna in the history of mountaineering. In elegant prose Daniel Light tracks the trials and achievements of the little-known climbers who preceded and inspired the great Himalayan expeditions of the mid-twentieth century."
Charles Culkin
"An engaging and agreeably ornate history of earlier mountaineering ... paints a vivid picture of this seemingly innate need and those who first heeded its call."
Wall Street Journal - Michael O’Donnell
"Returns readers to an era when alpine progress was measured in steps closer to the sun rather than seconds on the stopwatch or likes on social media. … a thoughtful, nuanced, engaging history."
Wade Davis
"A wonderful book. The author is familiar with, and has thought seriously about, the entire sweep of his subject, which is itself a very impressive bit of research. Equally important is his obvious passion for the subject. It’s a massive story with an enormous cast of characters, among them some of the most compelling figures of mountaineering history."
Maurice Isserman
"Daniel Light guides the reader through a mountainscape that stretches from the Alps to the Himalaya ... with the sure footing of a serious student of climbing history, and the élan of a skilled storyteller. This is a book to curl up with on a cold dark night in a comfortable armchair before a bright fire."
Julie Summers
"Superb ... highly readable, informative, and beautifully researched with a lightness of touch entirely in keeping with its subject matter. I recommend it to anyone who dreams of taking a tilt at the world's highest peaks."
Sir Ranulph Fiennes
"A beautifully written and sure-footed history of mountaineering ‘before Everest,’ full of wonderful stories and spanning continents and centuries. A splendid debut."
Sonia Purnell
"Why did mountaineers of old risk life and limb to break new ground and scale new summits? In his thrilling answer to this question, Daniel Light delivers stories that are poetic, spiritual, and astonishing in their courage and drive. True climbers remain an esoteric breed but perhaps now they are finally more understandable."
