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 6-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 6 Summary: “Rock Rats”
While waiting in the airport, Peak thinks about the events that have led him here. His parents had been a world-famous climbing team, breaking records and bringing in a lot of money through sponsors. When his mother, Terri, got pregnant, she had to take time off from climbing but started again after Peak was born.
While climbing a practice wall behind their cabin in Wyoming, she fell and broke her back. She healed over the course of a year but would never climb again. Josh left to continue teaching, and Peak only saw him a couple of times a year. Rolf arrived at their cabin one night after his rental car died during a snowstorm. He became a regular visitor. When he and Teri announced that they were getting married, they also told Peak they were moving to New York. In the absence of mountains, Peak started climbing skyscrapers.
Chapter 7 Summary: “Bangkok”
Josh arrives at the airport just in time. He wasn’t able to get seats together for them, so they don’t speak again for the 13-hour flight. When they land, Josh asks Peak not to call him “Dad” until he feels that he has earned the title. However, he also says he has a surprise for him as soon as Peak completes a physical exam.
After a thorough battery of tests, he tells Peak that he has arranged for them to climb Mount Everest together. If Peak reaches the summit before his 15th birthday, he’ll be the youngest person ever to do so.
Chapter 8 Summary: “The Summit Hotel”
Josh leaves Peak at a place called The Summit Hotel and says he has to get back to base camp to tend to his clients. Peak will have to spend some time in the country acclimating to the elevation before he can start climbing at all. A man named Zopa will take Peak to the base camp of Everest in two weeks; Zopa was a former head Sherpa who is now a Buddhist monk. Josh gives Peak some money, and they say goodbye. Peak looks out the window at the Himalayas, which are far bigger than he imagined.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Gear of the Dead”
Peak wakes up and begins sorting through the piles of new climbing gear Josh left for him. He feels like it is better than Christmas morning. A boy named Sun-jo arrives and says he will take Peak to the temple to meet Zopa. Peak rides with Sun-jo on the back of a motorcycle to the temple.
Zopa, an impressive figure with a powerful body, meets them back at the hotel and says that nearly all of Peak’s gear will need to be replaced. He takes them shopping, which turns into an endless bartering session during which nearly all of Peak’s new gear is replaced by older things that Zopa says will be more useful.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Tibet”
Sun-jo and Peak go for a climb together. Peak is astonished at how much faster Sun-jo is, but he knows it is because he is not yet accustomed to the altitude. He tells Sun-jo that his mother does not know he is here, preparing to climb Everest. Sun-jo tells him that his own father died on the mountain K2, and he never knew him. Peak knows that Sun-jo will bring out the best in him: All climbers are competitive.
Then they finally get into a truck to go to base camp. Sun-jo tells him about the political turmoil between Tibet and China. This is when they come to the boulder in the road from Chapter 1.
Chapters 6-10 Analysis
Chapters 6-10 introduce Tibet, the Himalayas, and their people. It quickly becomes clear that being able to climb is not enough for a successful Everest ascent. There are also political factions vying for control over the mountain. The Chinese system is set up to create obstacles for both the foreign climbers and the Tibetans. General Shek, introduced in Chapter 11, becomes the composite symbol of Chinese authority and oppression. Peak must acclimatize himself not only to the thin oxygen of the mountain but also to the cultural clash in which he now finds himself.
The background of political turmoil playing out on Mount Everest pervades the novel. Straddling the borders of China, Nepal, and Tibet, Everest is a focal point for geopolitical tensions that stem from territorial claims, regulatory differences, and diplomatic relations.
For example, China and Nepal both issue climbing permits, but their approaches and policies often differ, leading to competitive and sometimes conflicting regulations. Nepal issues a higher number of permits, resulting in overcrowded routes on the southern side of Everest, which is seen in the novel. In contrast, China’s stricter permit policies on the northern side aim to control climber numbers. This can limit accessibility and increase costs, prompting some climbers to try to avoid or get around these strict regulations. Penalties for violating Chinese regulations are steep, even resulting in imprisonment, and this comes into play for Zopa and Sun-jo’s storylines.
These chapters also fill in the gaps in Peak’s family history. The narrative reveals how Peak learned to climb but also raises intriguing questions about whether he could ever have chosen not to climb, introducing the theme of Passion Versus Obsession. His parents taught and encouraged him, but there are no signs that they ever tried to steer him to other pursuits before Teri’s injury. Showing the circumstances that led to Josh leaving his family adds complexity to his character development and establishes Peak’s basis for the distance he feels between him and his father. Rolf, on the other hand, becomes a father figure but doesn’t entirely fill the role Josh left behind, touching on the complexities of Fatherhood’s Meaning.
Related Titles
By Roland Smith
