David Breashears (1955–2024)

Having read a fair number of reviews for High Exposure, most of which were quite favorable, I eagerly expected a different experience than the book delivered.

The overall flow of David Breashears’ personal biography was interesting and provided insight into behavioral aspects of a life that led to his being one of the top mountaineers in the world. But for me, the book lacked sufficient substance until towards the end; when he related the tragic experience and fatal events of the 1996 Everest IMAX filming expedition. This section was personal, griping, and stirred up emotions even though I had previously read Into Thin Air and other similar accounts.

Prior to that section the book seemed more like brief separated, but concurrent, snap shots in time, and in many cases the reader was left to fill in and imagine the details. Not to say there weren’t a few instances where one could picture the vertical world of precariously hanging onto a slab of rock straight up hundreds or thousands of feet from safety. However, for me they were too few.

Once having finished the book I was also led to wonder what has happened to this individual in the ensuing timeframe. I plan to Google the subject. Seems an interesting follow-up having read how single minded and focused he was on his own ambitions and agenda and of his disastrous marriage attempt. What has time and loss of youth changed or influenced?
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While reading this book I came to respect David Breashears, but I just couldn't bring myself to like him. This autobiography recounts his troubled childhood, his romance with the mountains, his introduction to film-making, and some of the incredible events of his life. Somewhere along the line, he ends up portraying himself not as a mountaineering purist with a serious belief in safety, but rather as a condescending control freak. That's where he kind of lost me. I found the chapters regarding the '96 tragedy on Everest to be the most interesting, but I still feel that Jon Krakauer's narrative was more engaging.… (more)

David Breashears has made a name for himself as a methodical climber -- he isn't into dynamic leaps and jumps, but carefully plans each and every move as he scales mountain and rock. In a way, his autobiography "High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places" is the same. It's almost plodding and Breashears thoroughly examines his troubled childhood and the reasons that he is driven again and again to the challenges presented by Everest. I've read a lot of climbing memoirs and this one didn't particularly thrill me-- it was a little too bogged down in detail and became a really slow read. The final chapters about the 1996 tragedy on Mt. Everest were better, but came too late for me to truly enjoy the book. I came away admiring Breashers for what he has overcome but with a sense that he is a very unlikeable person. Is it possible for an autobiography to be too honest? That may be the problem in this case.… (more)