Last Step: The American Ascent of K2

In September 1978, Rick Ridgeway, Jim Wickwire, Lou Reichardt and John Roskelley stood atop K2, the first Americans ever to achieve that victory. Under the leadership of Jim Whittaker, they and their teammates had spent 67 days on the mountain, nearly all of them above 18,000 feet, where the stresses of high-altitude living, of monotonous food, of confinement in tiny tents for day after day of frustrating storms had worn them down to the core.

The Last Step is Rick Ridgeway's inside story of this extraordinary expedition. It's about the people who, battered by the mountain and their isolation, overcame their individual fears, desires, and disappointments to work together to get somebody - anybody - to the top of K2. It's about the glorious success the team achieved, and about the perilous bivouac Jim Wickwire spent just below the summit without food, oxygen, or shelter in temperatures of -40 degrees.

Central to all the squabbling, was the love trangle which developed on the expedition, which was perceived by some of the expeditioners to be an extra marital affair in progress. Though this later proved to be true, at the time it was the source of much denial and hard feelings. It further split the team, which was already divided over who would be chosen to summit, and eroded already existing friendships, while preventing new ones which might have otherwise developed.

On top of all this, add in poor weather which caused them to spend about sixty seven days on the mountain, mostly at altitudes over eighteen thousand feet, and you have a recipe for disaster. These expeditioners, however, managed to become the first Americans to ascend K2.

Their success in achieving their objective, despite the trials and tribulations which they endured, is testament to their fortitude in putting aside petty, mean spirited concerns and inter-personal conflicts. This painstaking account of the first time summit of K2 by Americans is a must read for all climbing enthusiasts and readers of this genre.


High drama in the mountains   January 25, 2001
Joe Kung (USA)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

This vivid account of the 1978 climb of K2 via the west ridge is an exciting follow up to the failed 1976 attempt up the east ridge. The Last Step is thus a follow up to galen Rowell's wonderful book about that attempt called "In the Throneroom of the Mountain Gods". Ridgeway vividly describes the climbing, the horrendous bivoac at 27,000 feet and the hazardous descent, all without supplimental oxygen. He also pulls no punches in describing the infighting and jealousy that upset the group, and while it was nothing like the brutal infighting that marred the 1976 climb, it had a power effect on the overall climb. While Jon Krakauer has raised the bar on these books to a level that Ridgeway could not have known in 1978, "The Last Step" is a good and exciting read, especially when combined with Rowell's classic. Ridgeway is a good climbing writer with a sharp eye.


Fascinating Combination of Soap Opera and High Adventure   June 30, 2000
Martina (Los Angeles, Ca., USA)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful

This terrific climbing book combines the larger stories of a struggle to climb the "world's hardest mountain," K2, with a smaller soap opera about a very diverse group of people trying to acheive a goal without driving each other crazy.

From a distance, one might see a cohesive group of climbers, pulling together through the interminable months-long task of hauling supplies and tents up through a series of ever-higher camps, one step up, and then two steps down. But closer up, Ridgeway describes in fascinating detail, how the expedition dissolved into competing cliques, and how selfishness and teamwork collided. There's even an extra-marital love triangle.

While this book is not as much of a page-turner as Into Thin Air, it is one of the finest mountaineering books out there; a must read in this genre.


Breaking the mold   August 29, 2001
Mad Dog (TimbuckThree, Tennessee)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

This book really did break the mold concerning how expedition account books were written, although some would put that label on Galen Rowell's account of the previous American K2 expedition: In The Throne Room of the Mountain Gods. Prior to In The Throne Room and The Last Step, the interpersonal aspects of expedition life were typically kept private in the books, in the British tradition. In The Throne Room exposed the rifts between team members on that expedition, but not in the compelling manner which Rick Ridgeway pulled it off in The Last Step. It's amazing that the team managed to summit 4 members given the difficult route chosen, the horrid weather and the altitude, let alone the infighting. Then again, Wickwire, Reichart, Roskelly and Ridgeway were not the types of climbers to back down easily. One has to wonder how much correlation there was between the infighting and the stubborness of the leading climbers.


The last step -- or the last straw?   October 18, 2002
M. Ragen (Seattle, WA USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

Ridgeway describes the epic story of the first successful American climb of K2 in 1978. K2, the second highest mountain in the world, has always presented unique challenges due in part to its remote location and in part to its degree of difficulty.

There are two fascinating aspects to this climb that are explored in great detail. The first key sub-plot tells the story of the organizational and personal issues that emerged as the expedition dragged on week after week. The schism that developed between the four aggressive climbers (Ridgeway, Reichardt, Wickwire, and Roskelley) and the other climbers demonstrates the pressures that can grow within any small group of people, friends or not, when they are subjected to incredible physical demands, differences of opinions, and the need to wait out the inevitable storms. With some of the challenges they faced, it is remarkable that the entire team continued to carry loads up the mountain day after day and that they were ultimately successful in putting four climbers at the top.

The second sub-story describes the route selection process by the lead climbers at the top of the mountain. They were exploring a new route in difficult conditions. Ultimately, this culminates in the decision, whether forced by equipment failure or by choice, by three of the four climbers to make for the top of K2 without the use of supplemental oxygen - a feat that had never been completed before. At the same time, the almost hallucinatory description of Wickwire's emergency bivouac at 28,000 feet is a compelling story of his determination to survive.

This book is a great read for those interested in the history of mountain climbing.