Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow

Wow, where to start when talking about this amazing book?!

Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow has to be one of the most thought provoking books ever dealing with mountaineering. It looks at the effect that following a risky passion has on partners left behind.

Admitedly, I had my doubts before I started the book. It would be so easy to treat mountaineers in a sigularly critical manner, but hers is a perspective that balances criticism with admiration.

Coffey begins with a search for why people climb in the first place, and in particular why they continue after close calls. She quotes Jim Wickwire, “One of the addictive aspects of climbing is that it allows you to be in the present moment in ways that are impossible in ordinary life.”

Similar thoughts come from Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of flow, which finds that the “enjoyment of risk comes not from the danger itself but from managing it, from the sense of exercising control in difficult situations.” And then, there’s the ultimate mountaineering existential futility of Camus’ Sisyphus facing an “unspeakable penalty in which the whole being is exerted toward accomplishing nothing...Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart.”

Coffey relates the stories of the wives, lovers, parents and children with an empathy that can only come from one who has shared experience. (Her boyfriend of 2+ years, Joe Tasker, disappeared from the Northeast Ridge of Mount Everest more than twenty years ago.) A combination of admiration and exasperation with their risk-taking loved ones is a common thread throughout this book. There is the expected pain of separation as their loved one is away for three or more months on yet another expedition, but they also must deal with the frustration of trying to maintain a “normal” home with while faced with the specter of a spouse or parent in near-constant peril. Some strive to build a life of their own, separate and distinct from that of their climber. Others network with the partners of other climbers, sharing news, monitoring the progress of each expedition from base camp or home.

Every personal story is different, from the individual epics related by the survivors of incidents on Denali, Everest, Annapurna, The Eiger, K2 and other legendary mountains, to children’s memories of a parent removed from their life long before they were capable of understanding.

But what makes this book truly exceptional is Coffey’s ability to address big picture picture issues without losing sight of the personal and “small moments.” The personal testimonies about coming to terms with loss and dealing with grief are true not only for losses under such circumstances; there are universal truths - particularly for anyone who has had to deal with death and the “loss of a future.”

By the end of the book, I was just flat-out speechless, wanting to turn back to the beginning and start again.

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