Fiva is the name of a route up Store Trolltind, a mountain in Norway. In 1969, nineteen-year-old Gordon Stainforth and his twin brother John, in a burst of exuberance and misplaced confidence, set out to climb it. The subtitle reveals how it went.
Most mountaineering literature is written by established mountaineers whose well-planned expeditions fall victim to circumstance. The great thing about Fiva is how Stainforth tells the story (in the first person present) from the point of view of an under-prepared teenager. I was able to identify completely with his growing feeling that they were in over their heads, and the frustration at not being able to find the proper route. The adventure itself is less dramatic than other climbs, but that just makes it easier to relate to their predicament.
A true epic, exceedingly well told.
Most mountaineering literature is written by established mountaineers whose well-planned expeditions fall victim to circumstance. The great thing about Fiva is how Stainforth tells the story (in the first person present) from the point of view of an under-prepared teenager. I was able to identify completely with his growing feeling that they were in over their heads, and the frustration at not being able to find the proper route. The adventure itself is less dramatic than other climbs, but that just makes it easier to relate to their predicament.
A true epic, exceedingly well told.
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