Josh

Seven Years in Tibet

Seven Years in Tibet is definitely different than any other book we’ve read this semester. It recounts Heinrich Harrer’s time spent in Tibet after escaping from a POW camp and finding asylum in Tibet. Its purpose, I think, Harrer makes very clear at the end of the book, “My heartfelt wish is that this book may…

The Golden Age of Mountaineering

The Golden Age of Mountaineering seems to be a large theme in the readings for this week, so that is something to really hit on and look at. The first step is to ask, what is the Golden Age of Mountaineering, and from the readings, it seems to be the  the post-war period when the…

The Drama of Moutaineering

It is interesting to think of the many different dramatic accounts of mountaineering there really are out there. Really, there is no lack of abundance. People have ample opportunities to read these accounts of climbing mountains that are so extreme, that for some reason or another speak to people on another level because of the…

Week 5: Gender and Mountaineering

What really stuck out to me while reading Imperial Ascent was the nature of men to prove their masculinity through mountaineering. Bayers uses the examples of climbing Denali in Alaska and Mt. Everest to point to the way in which empire and masculinity were connected, but the point that really stuck out to me was…

Mountaineering and Empire

Through reading in Fallen Giants, it is very clear that much of the early history of mountaineering in the Himalaya was carried out in large part due to imperialism and national competition. From the very get go it seems, with the Great Trigonometrical Survey, the British were attempting to stake claims to this land. And…

Mountains of the Mind

Mountains of the Mind does an excellent job of articulating the way in which people have viewed mountains throughout history. Going from roughly the sixteenth or seventeenth century to the present (when the book was written), Macfarlane really portrayed well how the general public viewed and thought of mountains. What was interesting and stuck out…

Reading Response #1

Rene Daumal and Daphne Du Maurier bring forth an interesting aspect of mountains. That is the kind of religious and spiritual part of mountains, and that they are far more than just these far reaching peaks that stretch above the earth. Rather, both of these authors bring to the minds of readers the ethereal nature…

Introduction

Hello, my name is Josh Nelson, I’m in my final semester at MSU and will be graduating with a history degree. I’m from Augusta, Montana, a small town located on the Rocky Mountain Front, and I’ve always loved being in the mountains hiking and backpacking. That’s primarily why I chose to take this course, because…