By Simon Mawer
Penguin, 442 pp, $35
The Fall starts with a middle-aged climber plunging to his death in what appears to be a suicidal traverse up a perilous mountain side: "He fell and there was something laden and inevitable about the fall. After the grace and agility of the ascent, the dull fact of gravity and height. A sudden sharp acceleration. Thirty-two feet per second every second. About three seconds."
Climbing is purported to be an immersion between mind and body, a progression amid adversity. Sometimes sideways, but mostly upward and onward as a test of self. "To go on is impossible, to retreat is unthinkable": the motto of the indefatigable climber.
The fall, however, is forever looming over climbers and non-climbers alike. One misjudgement or avalanche and you plummet down the mountain, or ladder of life. Only ropes diminish the risk.
Simon Mawer's The Fall is a ripping yarn about two childhood friends, Robert and Jamie, who are bound together (often with rope) by their affinity for climbing. Their infatuation with ascending mountains most prefer to marvel at from a safe foothold is inherited from Jamie's deceased father, a renowned climber who went up a mountain and became one with it after he froze to death.
The two forge a bond in climbing, dependent on one another for the progress of an expedition and prone, sometimes, to sharing more than just the supplies in their rucksacks.
When they encounter a Welsh lass named Ruth, they are suddenly transformed into a threesome, and from there the complexities begin to unfold. The bond begins to slip for reasons they do not always comprehend and their camaraderie transforms into a rivalry, creating a strain on their climbing and, ultimately, the friendship.
But it is not simply a boys'-own yarn, as Mawer interweaves Robert's and Jamie's adolescence with that of their respective mothers, against the backdrop of London during the Blitz. The story is told in two eras, generations apart, that bring structure to Mawer's notion of trajectory.
The Fall provides testimony that it can be detrimental to share too much, just as it can be to share too little. Beneath the surface of this mountaineering tale lurk betrayal and secrets. The relationship between all protagonists takes on a new meaning that can only lead to estrangement.
You need not have tackled K2 to appreciate Mawer's exacting account of the two boys' ascent up the north face of the Eigerwand. Mawer brings a deft and structured approach to the subject of mountaineering that avoids onerous detail and yet conveys the enormity of what is transpiring.
The section where they encounter inclement weather halfway up the arduous Eigerwand is starkly portrayed: "I continued climbing, through a world that was reduced to the limits of my body, a world contracted to this patch of grimy ice, this length of frozen rope, these thoughts of supplication and anger."
Mawer has crafted a plot about climbing that is not all about bravado, conquering new peaks, and white as far as the eye can see. It is testament to the groundswell that must also be overcome and the impact that an obsession can have on people.
Some choose to climb the mountain because it is there, while most are content to take a snapshot to show they were there. The characters in The Fall attempt to reach a precarious pinnacle, swayed by their own choices under the conditions. Their engrossing story stays long in the mind.
Peter Lowndes is a Sydney reviewer.