Touching My Father's Soul: A Sherpa's Journey to the Top of Everest

Jamling Tenzing Norgay (2001)

THE A5 BOOK REVIEW

There are many books on climbing the legendary Mount Everest, but Touching My Father’s Soul: A Sherpa’s Journey to the top of Everest delivers a very different perspective than most. Jamling Norgay is the son of the legendary Tenzing Norgay, the Sherpa who teamed with Sir Edmund Hilary in 1953 to be the first to successfully summit (and also descend) the mountain. Jamling Norgay himself is also a great climber; he led a 1996 Everest expedition in 1996 that was the basis for the 1998 IMAX documentary film called Everest. The team was on the mountain during the fateful disaster featured in Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, and the film features footage of the team assisting survivors. Norgay’s book includes some great stories about his father, an interesting look at the life of the Sherpas and the history of these prodigious climbers, and the story of that famous 1996 ascent.

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OTHER A5 RECOMMENDATIONS ON EVEREST

The mystique of Everest has spawned a lot of amazing travel books, both covering the beauty and glory of conquering the world's highest peak but also because of a few climbing disasters, particularly the 1996 tragedy recounted in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air. Interestingly, recollections often differ even among those who were on the same trip, Here are our recommendations on the best.

GREAT QUOTES FROM TOUCHING MY FATHER'S SOUL

“Jamling was the climbing leader of the 1996 expedition that made the hugely popular IMAX film Everest. Although most of the other accounts of the Everest disaster were written by men and women who, like Jamling, witnessed the catastrophe first-hand, this is the only one authored by a Sherpa - the Buddhist people whose homeland surrounds Mount Everest, and who have played a singular, utterly crucial role in the great peak's mountaineering history since the British first ventured onto its flanks in 1921."
- Jon Krakauer, introduction to Touching My Father's Soul

INTERESTING LINKS:

Read AskMen.com's interview with the author in 2014, explaining why Everest can't be conquered.
Interested in learning more about the Sherpa culture and contributing to support their cultural identity? We recommend the American Himalayan Foundation, backed by Sir Edmund Hilary.