4 out of 4 stars
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Mountaineers are strange creatures. They put their everything into climbing mountains—their health, wealth, family relationships, their own lives even—and, when you ask them why they do it, they are never able to come up with a convincing answer. That is not their fault, though. Such is the power of the mountains; their call is irresistible, never bound by puny things like logic, reason and rationality. David J Mauro is one such mountaineer, and The Altitude Journals is his attempt to answer the ‘why’. It is his account of the exhilarating journey that transformed him from a self-doubting, freshly divorced forty-something to a ‘Seven Summiter’—one who has summited the highest peaks of all seven continents of the world.
Mauro says that he was not a mountaineer; he was not even remotely athletic. He was just a regular guy with a regular job as a financial analyst, a regular family with a wife and two adorable boys, and a regular life. Then, one day, the regular life came to a miserable end when he realised that he loved his wife no more, and that the feeling was mutual. Standing at the lowest point of his life, he decided to heed the call of the mountains and then began his incredible journey of seven years in which he crested many mountains, both physical and metaphorical. As he joined his brother-in-law, Ty Hardt, on an expedition to Mount Denali—the highest peak of North America, he thought of it as a one-off adventure. Little did he know then, that he had been decreed by the mountains to climb and summit the pinnacles of each of the six other continents including, of course, that of planet earth itself! Those journeys to the tops of the continents also became spiritual journeys, aiding him in figuring out his life, his relationships and his motivations, enriching his life immensely.
Mauro’s writing is honest and simple, without any self-aggrandizement or melodrama. He is not shy of sharing his insecurities, fears, and frustrations. He writes lucidly of the entire process of climbing mountains, right from the efforts each climb demands in preparation—physical, mental and financial—to the rigours of the actual execution and the internal journey that accompanies the external one. He describes in vivid detail the toll that each mountain, especially Mount Everest, exacts from the mountaineer. His compassion towards people, in spite of all the misfortune he had had to endure at various stages of his life, shines through the book.
The mountains have been kind to him too, as demonstrated by the fact that he never failed in any of his expeditions. Enviably, he started straightaway with the highest peak in North America and conquered the other six continents without going through the grind that other, less fortunate, mountaineers do. He has been blessed on another count also—in his finding a soul-mate who loved and supported him throughout his quest. Their story is certain to bring a smile on the face of the reader.
I could find very little with this book that I did not like; his usage of the word ‘drug’ in place of ‘dragged’, and a few spelling and typo errors are all that I can point out.
The Altitude Journals is a well-written memoir of a fascinating period in the life of David J Mauro that would interest and entertain everyone who loves mountains and tales of adventure, and I would rate this an exceptional 4 out of 4 stars.
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The Altitude Journals
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