Episode 231: Will Cockrell - The Business of Everest

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As regular listeners will know, I don't often cover mountaineering and climbing on Looking Sideways.

But I knew I had to make an exception for Everest Inc., Will Cockrell's brilliantly written and nuanced exploration of the increasingly commodified world of mountaineering on the world's highest peak.

Firstly, as somebody who's been devouring books on climbing, adventure, and exploration since I was a kid, I was intrigued to discover that Will had managed to find a fresh angle on the most obvious topic of all.

Secondly, there’s much more to Will’s book than a straightforward retelling of the history of guided exploration on Everest. At its heart, Everest Inc. is a dispassionate examination of the increasingly commodified nature of adventure, bookended by those first British expeditions and, latterly, Nirmal Purja’s testosterone-fuelled approach to the business of mountaineering.

In this classically meandering Looking Sideways chat, Will and I discuss the ethics of commercialisation, the socio-economic impact of climbing, and the legacy of colonialism and empire that underpins the entire tale.

We also pondered the challenges of writing about a subject that has at this point been done to death - especially when two of your main subjects refuse to be interviewed - as well as the recent New York Times story about Nirmal Purge that broke the week we spoke.

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