Alpine Rising
Sherpas, Baltis, and the Triumph of Local Climbers in the Greater Ranges

Great book. Been waiting for something like this for years. The tragedies made me angry, we are used to read stories of himalayan ascents in a colonialist perspective, ignoring the enduring "jobs" that unknown locals had to do, and this book helps a lot in telling a more nuanced view of this stories......more

This book did such an amazing job at telling the stories of these mountains from the views of the often underserved views of the Nepalese and Pakistani climbers, sherpas, and porters. Hearing about some of the accidents and the way they were treated and often continue to be treated when this sport f......more

Mountaineering literature often focuses exclusively on the western climbers and their perspectives, experiences, and growth and rarely leaves space for the Nepali and Pakistani climbers. This book is devoted to telling about the stories and heroes within the local communities and how they’ve given b......more

Anyone who loves the mountains, whether they've been to the Himalayas or not, should read this book. Gives much overdue credit to the local climbers of the Himalaya and sheds light on the abuses they've tolerated in the century and a half of increasing mountaineering in the region.......more

McDonald is by far my favorite mountaineering author and the approach she took in this book to highlight the “local” climbers who in many cases were responsible for the famous ascents attributed to Westerners by books, newspapers, climbing magazines, and now the digital media. She not only told of t......more