76 pages • 2 hours read
Roland SmithPeak
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2007A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 11-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 11 Summary: “Peak Experience”
They reach base camp in time to see a man try to punch Josh. Josh has just told him that his heart is too weak for him to attempt the climb. The man threatens to sue but leaves. Josh shows Peak around. There are over 300 people there, waiting to summit as members of various expeditions. While driving around, they meet a Chinese military man named General Shek. He demands to see their papers but then lets them go after saying that he will be watching them all for violations, which would give him an excuse to kick them off the mountain. Josh takes Peak and Sun-jo into a tent with the words “Peak Experience” written on the side. Peak hears him say that a woman named Holly Angelo will be there to “cover” Peak later that day.
Peak realizes that Holly Angelo is the name of the woman who wrote an article about his skyscraper climbing. Suddenly, he worries that Josh has only brought him here for publicity. If Josh can claim responsibility for getting the youngest climber ever to the summit, it will help his business immeasurably. Peak starts to worry that Josh didn’t come bail him out of legal trouble because he was his son, but only because he saw a way to profit from it.
Chapter 12 Summary: “Rock Weasels”
Peak confronts Josh about his suspicions. Josh admits that he brought Peak here for the publicity, but also to help him. Josh is actually in massive debt, and the climb with Peak will save his company if it works. Josh also says that Peak’s mom knew about the plan to benefit from taking Peak on a climb—she just didn’t know that the climb would be Everest. Holly, the reporter, suspected what Josh was doing and threatened to write a piece about Peak and Everest unless Josh gave her an exclusive story and took her on the climb. Peak says he still wants to do the climb, but he doesn’t want there to be any more secrets.
Chapter 13 Summary: “Gasp”
Holly arrives. She is gasping for breath, and it looks as if Josh may not have to take her on the climb after all. After introductions, Josh pulls Peak aside and tells him that none of the other climbers know that he is Josh’s son. He asks him to keep it a secret for now, and also warns him not to talk to Holly too much. She could use anything he says in a story.
Holly invites Peak to stay in her tent and to eat all of his meals with her, but Peak refuses. She is obviously frustrated, only interested in getting him to talk for her story. There are rumors that a famous actor is in the climbing party but is hiding in his tent. Most of the aspiring climbers look to be in poor shape, and Peak knows that most of them will not even be allowed to attempt the summit. Josh says that on the following morning he is taking a couple of groups to a higher camp and will be back for them in a few days.
Chapter 14 Summary: “Latecomers”
Peak and Sun-jo build a six-foot cairn, at Zopa’s request, for a puja ceremony. The puja is a blessing that the monks and Sherpas place on a climbing party before an ascent. After the ceremony, Holly talks to Peak about her life. Her monologue is so long and boring that he can’t pay attention. Then, William Blade, a famous actor, comes into her tent. He has hurt his back and heard that she is traveling with a personal massage therapist. He immediately pays the therapist double what Holly can and takes him back to his own tent. The campers place bets on whether Holly will now leave, but she says she will still make the climb. It begins to snow, and it is the thickest snow Peak has ever seen.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Gamow Bag”
Up above, Josh’s climbers are in trouble. The storm is worse, and there was an avalanche at two in the morning that blocked them in and destroyed most of their food and water. One of the climbers, a man named Francis, has HAPE, a type of altitude sickness in which the lungs fill with water. Radio contact is scarce, and Peak worries that Josh will die. Soon they appear, and Zopa offers to take them back down the mountain. Josh asks Peak if he’s ready to go up to 21,000 feet the next day.
Chapters 11-15 Analysis
By the time Josh’s duplicity is revealed, Peak is fully invested in the climb. The fact that Josh helped Peak avoid jail primarily for his own gain is self-serving and manipulative. However, Peak’s desire to make the climb is so intense that he is willing to overlook Josh’s self-interest for now. He tries to hold his father accountable, asking Josh not to have any more secrets between them, but Josh soon reveals that he doesn’t want the others to know Peak is his son. Again, Josh puts his own interests over Peak’s, foreshadowing complications that arise later in the novel.
In leaving Peak for days and weeks at a time while he attends to his climbing groups, Josh shows the dynamic of uncertainty and unreliability that has characterized his approach to Fatherhood’s Meaning and his relationship with Peak. As an extreme climber, Peak wants to follow in Josh’s footsteps, but the epiphany of his coming-of-age arc will be realizing that he doesn’t need Josh’s validation to lead a fulfilling life.
Peak still cares about Josh and is sincerely worried about him when his group gets stuck on the mountain. Josh’s readiness to brave the peak again the following day shows his charisma and daring, which Peak admires. It also emphasizes the theme of Passion Versus Obsession, as neither Josh nor Peak will avoid the climb despite its dangers.
Holly’s appearance is a reminder that the world of the American media still exists, but it also makes the skyscraper coverage seem less significant in this harsh environment. Details that would have bothered Peak in America are barely worth his notice on Everest. Holly also serves as an example that Everest will change anyone who steps onto its slopes. Holly will find physical and mental strength that she didn’t know she had and will soon show a humility that is lacking in these chapters.
These chapters also illustrate the dangers of the climb. The specter of HAPE and the appearance of the first storm are sober reminders that, whatever his skills, Peak is at the mercy of the mountain. They create an atmosphere of tension and foreboding that raises the stakes of the climb and provide a narrative springboard for the novel’s main action.
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