The Tower: A Chronicle of Climbing and Controversy on Cerro Torre

The Tower is a gripping, thorough, well-researched and well-written history of attempts on the world's hardest mountain, lavishly illustrated. I recommend buying the hardback rather than the Kindle version; the bigger photos look better, and you'll want to keep flipping back to the route topos. The photos of rime tunnels are jaw-dropping. I like the narrative style, which jumps around a bit to give you more familiarity with specific routes or other themes rather than following a strict chronology. One very minor complaint: The bolt traverse on the Compressor route plays an important role in the story, but none of the many photos explicitly show this feature.One somewhat bigger complaint: I got a little tired of the Maestri-bashing, particularly with repeated variations of the phrase, "until Maestri came along with his compressor." Kelly Cordes obviously thinks the compressor was a bad idea, but this becomes clear from the journalism without the need for sarcasm. Furthermore, Maestri is double-damned for lying about his first ascent and clinging to the notion that to question his word is to question the entire history of mountaineering. Cordes admirably covers the topic of standard of proof. Still, it would have been nice to hear more good things about Maestri. Did he really do over a thousand first ascents? Apart from national pride, is there a good reason why some people are so fanatically loyal to him? Too bad Walter Bonatti didn't get the benefit of some of that national pride.My hardback accidentally included repeats of the first 20 pages of color photos after the index, so I cut some out and stuck them on the wall. Very inspiring.

This was a story I didn't know about prior to reading this book. The story kept my attention, and I learned some things about alpine climbing. The terminology is heavily geared towards a reader with knowledge of the alpine climbing world, and required a bit of research on my part to understand what all the new (to me) terminology meant. The story got a little slow at points, but for the most part was a good read. If you like adventure stories, this is a good book even if you have little to no background in alpine climbing.

Being a climber and guide for nearly 40 years and having followed the discussion around Cerro Torre's first ascent since the 70's, I did not expect Kelly Cordes to unearth anything that I was not aware of regarding the history of Cerro Torre. It was with great delight and admiration for the author that I found a number of new, key wrinkles to this story of one of the planet's most iconic peaks. Cordes' research is simply superb. His friendships with key, modern day alpinists as well as his own personal (and impressive) climbing experience on Cerro Torre put him in the unique position of being an ideal writer to look at this story from 1959 to the present. His book fully covers the Maestri attempts of 1959 and 1970, as well as careful attention to important key ascents of the peak, including the first fair means ascent of the Southeast Ridge by Kennedy and Kruk and the first free ascent by David Lama, both in 2012.There is so much I enjoyed about this book, but what really stands out is Cordes' authentic and gifted voice as a writer. Beautifully written and professionally researched, the reader feels as though Kelly is sitting across the room discussing an issue that has captured the interest of climbers and arm chair mountaineers for decades. Even though what he uncovers in his research further adds nails to a very well nailed coffin, one can hear the human compassion for Maestri and others caught up in what is certainly one of the greatest shams in climbing history, Maestri's claim that he and Toni Egger summited in 1959. Cordes' sympathy for what the prevaricators' lives must be like, just makes his final position all the more worthy of respect.I have read nearly all of the great books written or translated in English on the topic of mountaineering and alpinism. The Tower deserves to share the shelf with The White Spider, Webster's Snow in the Kingdom, Hornbein's Everest: The West Ridge, Messner's The Crystal Horizon and others.

I have never contemplated climbing anything more than a short ladder in my own home and this book captivated me! The book reads like a mystery novel but even better. The interviews with the present day climbers and those who created the history of climbing are fascinating. I wished with each interview that I had been there to witness it. Cordes manages to get into the psyche of the people in a subtle, fresh and compassionate way weaving in their stories and perspectives with an eye and ear for a fair hearing. Just the facts. They speak for themselves. The photography is awesome in the true sense of the word. Just seeing where the climbers made their ascents sent shivers down my spine but what they saw is gorgeously compelling at the same time.Kudos to Kelly Cordes for telling this juicy and sometimes gruesome story about a world I would have never known!

Was glad to find this book on here, as it's not readily available. Ordered the new copy for a great price. I was a little bummed that the initial delivery range was like three weeks, but then the book showed up in my mailbox literally three days after I ordered it. Fantastic! Thanks Juan!

I enjoyed the various stories of specific climbs on Cerro Torre and the tales of the controversies. But the book could have used an editor, at it is quite disorganized, constantly jumping back and forth from the Maestri climbs to other things. It rambles, and certain phrases and scenarios are repeated over and over ("there are no impossible mountains..." -- I wanted to scream by the time I hit the 10th repetition of this phrase). All in all enjoyable enough, for those who like mountaineering literature, but could really have used some cleanup and streamlining.

Bellissima cronaca degli eventi che hanno reso famoso il Cerro Torre e i suoi salitori !In questa versione in inglese la lettura è piacevole e fluida ….. consigliabilissimo

Kelly managed to describe the whole history of climbing the iconic Cerro Torre in the most interesting, human, and kind way. While there are quite a few books about climbing controversies out there, this one made it to my favorite as I appreciate how objective the author remained and how despite collecting overwhelming evidence he did not engage in any kind of negative sentiment. A must-read for any climbers who love Patagonia.

Die Cerro Torre-Kontroverse um Cesare Maestris vermeintliche Erstbesteigung und die daraus resultierenden Konsequenzen erhitzen die Gemüter von Alpinisten seit nunmehr 60 Jahren. Das vorliegende Buch offenbart sich als eine geradezu fabelhafte Lektüre dazu: Kelly Cordes gelingt das Kunststück, höchstes Detail- und Kenntnisreichtum mit Spannung und Abenteuer zu kombinieren. »The Tower« wird zum Pageturner! Dabei hält Cordes sich im Hinblick auf Bewertungen der portraitierten Protagonisten am Berg angenehm zurück und bleibt stets bescheiden. Vielen Dank für diese inspirierende zugleich unfassbare Geschichte, die den Leser mehr als einmal ratlos zurück lässt. Fünf Sterne deluxe.

Très belle enquête autour de l'ascension de la première ascension du Cerro Torre.Un récit passionnant et documenté qui tente d'apporter un éclairage objectif sur la réalisation de Maestri et Egger en 1959.Au travers de ces lignes qui semblent à charge, on découvre toute l’âpreté de cette tour minérale et la détermination qu'il faut pour se lancer dans un tel défi mais aussi tous les enjeux périphériques au massif. Kelly Cordes convoquent habillement les différents alpinistes et spécialistes du massif ce qui donne de l'épaisseur et une certaine légitimité à ce livre.

Couldn't put this book down. From the first to the last page it's non stop. You will not be disappointed