The Walk Up Nameless Ridge

By: Hugh Howey

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

On planet Eno, there stands a mountain that has never been summited. Many have tried. All have failed. This climbing season finds three teams making their bid up this murderous peak. And one man among them will discover these ugly truths: There are fates worse than death. There are fates worse than obscurity. To be remembered forever can be its own curse.

©2012 Hugh Howey (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

I'm glad it was in no more detail

Mountain climbers have always amazed me- Years ago I read _Annapurna_ by Maurice Herzog and considered it a self-inflicted horror story. This is, thankfully, shorter.

Pleasant and quick short story

Any additional comments?

It was fun to listen to a story that was engaging and only lasted as long as my workout. pretty cool!. The author really is a gifted writer. I have read other story by him and his style is easy on the ears and the mind...

A Cautionary Tale About Man's Hubris

A group of climbers travel to a distant planet to conquer a mountain twice the size of Everest. One climber in particular aspires to glory, to being the first man to summit the largest known mountain. This story is told from his point-of-view.

Such a lonely, cautionary, chilling (no pun intended) tale of men's arrogance and the price some people pay for such a feat while trying to convince themselves it was worthwhile. For a moment, I was a little perplexed that the story was continuing beyond the moment that I would've considered a fitting end, but as I continued, I realized that this was intentional. It was meant to take away from the character's moment of glory, even the character himself lamented his story should've ended, trying to convince himself the rest was a part of his imagination. He couldn't bear what this journey made him as a person. What glory was in this moment? None. No matter how history remembered him. There was no glory beyond that point for him. Excellent read.

Jonathan Davis narrated this short story and he does such an excellent job as usual, even with all his sibilant "s" sounds. I actually find that endearing. He's one of my favorite narrators, and I'm glad that I decided to listen to this instead of just read it.

Climbers Dream

very interesting hearing a story about climbing. The perils and emotions encompassed in climbing were truly captured.

Engrossing short story

Originally posted at Fantasy Literature.

The Walk up Nameless Ridge is a short story (18 pages, 39 minutes on audio) written by indie writer Hugh Howey of recent WOOL fame. You can order it for less than $2 at Audible or purchase it for 99c as a Kindle Single and then add the professional narration (Jonathan Davis!!!) for 99c more.

The story is about a mountain climber who hopes to be the first person to summit the famous 60,000 foot peak on the planet Eno, even if it kills him. What he wants more than anything is to leave a legacy, even if it means he has to leave other people, including his family, behind. There are others on the mountain who, presumably, have the same goal. What price are these climbers willing to pay in order to be remembered? After all, nobody cares who got there second. Our climber must grapple with these ethical issues and must live (or die) with the choices he makes.

I was completely engrossed by The Walk up Nameless Ridge. With only 18 pages, Hugh Howey makes the mountain and the climber come alive. I was surprised at the range of emotion I felt toward the climber. At first it was admiration, then it was wariness, then…. well, I don’t want to spoil the plot. I’ll just say that the ending surprised me with its emotional impact.

This is the second time (two for two) that Hugh Howey has pleasantly surprised me with his self-published books, so I’ve ordered several more. In most cases the Kindle/Audible pairing is very reasonably priced.

Jonathan Davis is one of my very favorite (top three, probably) audiobook narrators. If you’re not an audio reader and want to see how engrossing audio can be, give this one a try. You’ll get to hear one of the best narrators in the business and if you don’t like it, you’re only out $2 and 39 minutes of your time.