These crazy people go out risking their lives, reaching a height of 6,000 meters is not a child’s play.

Author: Mrityunjay Rai
Climbing mountains is not allowed in Bhutan. There is such a restriction regarding mountains higher than 6,000 meters because the people there consider the mountains sacred. Mountaineering is also not allowed on Mount Kailash due to religious beliefs, but except for such a few cases, the attraction of mountaineering has not only increased among humans with time but with the help of modern technology, it has become less risky than before. It has become even easier. The increasing crowd to climb Mount Everest also testifies to this, which is considered inaccessible and a good number of people have lost their lives in the attempts to conquer it. In such a situation, the question is why have mountains been attracting humans for centuries? Why does man want to conquer them? Why is he/she ready to risk his/her life for this? The answer to this question is given in the book THE WHITE LADDER: Triumph and Tragedy at the Dawn of Mountaineering, written by Daniel Light. An anecdote of the famous mountaineer George Mallory is also given in the book. When a reporter asked George why he/she wanted to climb Mount Everest, he/she said, ‘…because Mount Everest is on Earth.’ This thing of his/her became very famous.

Well, another story about the Himalayas is related to the German mountaineer and scientist Adolph Schlagintweit. In 1854, he/she set out with his/her brothers to study the geography and culture of the Himalayas. he/she wanted whatever things were seen in this expedition to be recorded. Adolf was able to reach a height of 22,259 feet on Ibi Gamin with his/her brothers, but not the summit. his/her success became an inspiration for the European mountaineers of that time, but Adolf’s life ended very tragically. he/she died during the campaign itself. he/she was captured by a warlord in Xinjiang (formerly Kashgar) and beheaded on charges of espionage.

An incident of Karakoram in the Himalayas is related to Oscar Eckenstein, a British mountaineer of Jewish origin. Oscar is also known for developing mountaineering techniques. he/she wanted to conquer Karakoram. They also encountered dangerous people during this campaign. his/her expedition in 1902 also included a gentleman named Aleister Crowley. But during this time the weather did not support them and they remained confined to their tents. Therefore his/her mission could not be completed. Meanwhile, Crowley developed fever and became a victim of hallucinations. One day during this affair, he/she took out his/her revolver, but before he/she could harm anyone, the team members snatched the revolver from him/her.

Eckenstein’s counterpart was also a British mountaineer named Albert Mummery. he/she had climbed the Alps Mountains in Europe. After this he/she thought of conquering the Himalayas, but at that time very few people had the experience of mountaineering on the Himalayas and the information about it was equally less. In 1895, he/she attempted to climb the world’s 9th highest mountain, but after crossing the height of 20,000 feet, he/she went missing and his/her body was never found.

Through such characters, this book by Daniel Light takes readers to a world that can hardly be imagined today. Many of these characters are seen risking their lives on adventurous missions in order to make the impossible possible. Perhaps they had the knowledge of achieving something supernatural by climbing difficult and inaccessible mountains.