Review: The rocky path of parenting

"Two for the Summit: My Daughter, the Mountains and Me"
By Geoffrey Norman
Dutton
Nonfiction/Nature/Parenting
242 pages

In this story: Metaphors for life What about Brooke? RELATED SITE

By Melanie A. Lasoff
Special to CNN.com

(CNN) -- Mountain climbing, like parenting, is not for the faint of heart. Although you can take classes in both, it still takes a unique and committed person to flourish at either. And both involve considerable risk.

Outdoor adventure journalist Geoffrey Norman, mountain climber and father, tackles both subjects equally successfully in "Two for the Summit," a nostalgic, fast-paced look at bonding with his teen-age daughter Brooke from atop some of the scariest and highest mountain peaks in the world.

Norman announces to his wife and two daughters that for his 50th birthday, he is going to finally fulfill his dream of climbing the 14,000-foot (4,267-meter) Grand Tetons in Wyoming. He ends up taking his daughter, then-15-year-old Brooke, which becomes an even more meaningful birthday present.

"My father had never made it this far, having died of cancer at 49," he writes. "I'm sure that given the choice of spending his fiftieth with his two young daughters or seeking solitary epiphanies, he wouldn't have hesitated."

Norman and Brooke learn the basics of mountain climbing together. It is during the week-long introductory course that Norman first realizes what becomes a theme: that Brooke is no longer a child.

"Brooke would learn this faster than I did and she would get better at it than I ever would," he writes. "Not only was I no longer her teacher; I wasn't able to keep up with her as a student."

After a few smaller but still difficult mountains together, the two make the climb of all climbs, the Aconcagua, a 23,000-foot (7,010-meter) behemoth in western Argentina. It is during this eventful climb that Norman realizes the deep, unique connection he and Brooke have developed through climbing -- the two have learned to support each other, cooperate and truly respect each other.

As exciting and somewhat suspenseful as the chapters on the various climbs are, this book is no "Into Thin Air." Norman does bring up legends of mountain climbing, books he has read and brief descriptions of some of the worst moments in mountain climbing history. But this book is not supposed to be a terrifying page-turner; rather, it is a philosophical look at parenting today, told through the eyes of a humble dad who has found a way to connect with his now-adult daughter and defy gravity at the same time.

Geoffrey Norman

The real mountains Norman and Brooke climb are obvious metaphors for the rocky path of life ("I had followed my daughter to the top, which was not the way I expected it to be or the way it had always been. But I surely wouldn't have made it any other way.") Yet that makes following the pair through their adventures even more moving and gratifying.

Norman may be the narrator, but Brooke comes across as the real hero. Described early as "something of a loner," "not very good in sports" and "lonely and stoic," on the mountain, the young girl shines. The two are overcome at times as they deal with the altitude, but Brooke presses on.

With genuine awe, Norman celebrates the maturation and developing poise of Brooke.

"She moved with confidence and, if I hadn't watched (climbing leader Alex) Lowe, I would have thought she was moving quickly," Norman writes about a particularly treacherous area of the Tetons. "She wasn't, of course, but to her father, who was very proud, she looked strong and confident. And up here, over 12,000 feet (3,658 meters) high, I was the only one watching."

Since this is written by her dad, we never hear Brooke's feelings about her trip or mountain climbing in general. And that is one disappointment. As satisfying as it is to hear from Norman about her success, perhaps the book would have been more satisfying if the two wrote it -- or at least narrated it -- together. Why did Brooke want to go? What were her fears, as a 15-year-old girl climbing mountains with men her father's age? What does she feel the experiences have done for their relationship? We hear from Norman that climbing has brought them together, but the ultimate sign of that togetherness would be better understood if both of them described it.

Along with Norman and Brooke are an array of colorful mountain-climbing characters, including Lowe, an obnoxious and sexist instructor, and a mysterious young mountain climber who shares details of "the climbing culture" with father and daughter. Lowe emerges as three-dimensional, but the rest of the group only works as a backdrop for the expedition.

Norman's philosophical waxing occasionally gets a bit much. He redeems himself when he returns to his self-deprecating tone. Ironically, he could have used more time to flesh out his own character. All the reader learns about him is that he writes about the outdoors, lives in Vermont, and has a wife and two daughters. Some parents might say their life begins when they have children (which is where the book begins), but a back story would have added another layer to his character -- one he easily fleshes out in Brooke.

Despite the shortcomings, even those not typically interested in the outdoors -- or parenting, for that matter -- can come away with small truths about the lessons and rewards of risk. Norman realizes this when he hits trouble on the Grand Tetons and ends up on a steep, smooth wall of rock with no holds, no moves and no idea how to proceed. As Lowe coaches him through, Norman looks up to the ledge 30 feet (nine meters) above him into the eyes of Brooke, who, with a rope around her waist, is securing him to the mountain.

"I suppose," Norman writes, "it is what every father feels when it occurs to him, in a moment of clarity, that his children are his anchor."

Penguin Putnam Online

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