Review of THE NEXT EVEREST

Climbing the world’s tallest mountain…twice

I find myself gravitating toward nature and adventure books in the winter. I’m not sure why, but it may be because I miss hiking and camping, and it’s also the time of year I begin planning and booking my summer trips. These types of adventure memoir books are great reads and listens to remind myself why being out in the wilderness is so satisfying for the soul.

Last year, I read my first Everest memoir and loved it (linked at the bottom of this post). I’m not sure why it took me so long to seek out another, but I found, The Next Everest: Surviving the Mountain’s Deadliest Day and Finding the Resilience to Climb Again by Jim Davidson.

Climbing Everest, the world’s tallest mountain at 29,029 feet, is intense. It requires months and years of training, and tens of thousands of dollars for a chance to spend some six or so weeks on the mountain waiting for your shot to march through the death zone and to the summit to witness the sun rising over the Himalayas from the highest point on earth.

Jim Davidson, a geologist and accomplished mountaineer living in Colorado, set out to climb Everest in 2015. He was doing his first rotation up to camp 1 (20,000 feet) when on April 25, 2015 a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck, triggering avalanches across the mountain. The earthquake left 19 people dead at Everest's base camp and killed 8,900 people across Nepal.

It was the worst earthquake in the country's history in 80 years, and the deadliest day on Everest ever. Much of The Next Everest recounts the several days that Davidson spent trapped up at camp 1 since the earthquake destroyed the path down through the ice fall. And it recounts his experience learning of the unfolding devastation of the situation down at base camp, at which a devastating avalanche ripped through camp.

Once safely off the mountain, Davidson eventually chose to attempt the summit again in 2017, with the rest of the book following his experience returning to the mountain and getting his summit. Achieving a summit on the roof of the world is a major accomplishment, and it’s amazing how many books have been written about Everest, with so many unique experiences and perspectives to share.

Overall, this was a solid book. I did listen to this one on audio and I think the narrator’s performance (not Davidson) made Davidson seem overly melodramatic throughout (to which I found myself eye-rolling and talking back to the audio several times). But on the other hand, the audio format allowed for splicing in of GoPro audio from his time on the mountain following the quake which was a cool experience.

Published: April 2021

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Format: Audio

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If you think this sounds interesting, bookmark these other great reads:

• The Third Pole: Mystery, Obsession, and Death on Mount Everest by Mark Synnott (2021)

• Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas by Harley Rustad (2022) | Read my review

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