The author has been in love with mountains since he can remember. Mont Blanc was his "Everest" but he still enjoys the challenges involved in mountaineering - as evidenced by this 2017 photo with two old friends at the top of a peak in the Dolomites. Although the 3 people in the photo are in their mid to late 60s, the joy of the environment is for all to see. I suppose it is a sense of achievement, but it is also, some might say, a purposeless adventure that sees your footprints in the snow for an instant before they are blown away in the wind.
James Ramsey Ullman saw mountaineering as both a physical and spiritual activity. For Ullman, climbing mountains was a way for some human beings to develop physically and spiritually. Yesterday, I wrote about "The White Mountain," but Ullman is probably better known for "Banner in the Sky." I love this quote from one of the characters, Captain John Winters, "Youth is the time for dreams... The trick is when you get older, not to forget them."
Besides being an adventure story, the novel has several deeper themes. These include the themes of fathers and sons and what it means to become an adult.
The book concerns the last unconquered but great summit of the Alps. Sixteen-year-old Rudi Matt can see this peak every day from the hotel he works in. He knows that 15 years ago 3 men tried to climb it. Two of them were carried down dead: Josef Matt, Rudi's father and his client, a famous English mountaineer. Rudi is determined to finish the adventure that claimed his father's life. Taking his father's red shirt as a flag, he heads off to face this most challenging peak...
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