Review of “Tap Dancing on Everest” by Mimi Zieman, MD

Score: 95+/100 (9.5+ out of 10)

Tap Dancing on Everest is the remarkable true-story of Mimi Zieman who, as a third-year medical student in 1988, became the medic for a historic, unprecedented, and unfathomably perilous climb up Mount Everest.

The climbing mission—dubbed the Everest 88—featured Stephen Venables, Robert Anderson, Edward Webster (“Ed”), Joseph Blackburn (“Jo”), Paul Anderson as the lead, and Mimi as the only woman and sole medic. The mission was to scale Everest on its least-trekked and most dangerous route, its Kangshung Face, often referred to as the “forgotten” or “East-facing” route. It was a route that was only traversed one other time in recorded history and under more ideal circumstances. However, the team of the Everest 88 attempted to do it with a relatively small team, no Sherpa escort, no supplemental oxygen, and virtually no hope for rescue.

On the precipice at all times, Mimi finds herself with “nowhere to hide and no way to quit.”

And this is the frightening, compelling, and awe-inspiring situation that readers of this book will find themselves in!

Not long into this book, we already know that the stakes are as high as they come. Half of the expeditionary team has gone missing, separated from the other half with no sign of life. Among the missing are Stephen, Robert, and Ed, a few of whom who have formed a powerful and even pseudo-romantic/intimate connection with Mimi. Mimi must cope with the fact that she might never see them again, or that they may be dying alone and helpless on the mountain of dreams (and horrors). This is a journey in which characters—real-life people—have lost numerous fingers and toes to frostbite. Death waits around every corner and with every step.

However, with all this build-up and potentially huge scope, this is really the story of Mimi—the medic, the soon-to-be doctor, the dancer, the daughter, the woman, the person. This is a very deeply personal story. It follows the thinking that we only know who we really are when the prospect of death awaits us.

The backstory behind Mimi, her family, her twisting-turning life, and her motivations behind climbing Everest are almost as compelling as the climbing of the mountain itself. Mimi and her family are Jewish immigrants, persecuted and marginalized minorities who could only find hope in being as valuable to others as possible (to stay housed and alive).

Mimi's father is a Holocaust survivor. She and her family were in survival mode throughout the 70s. Everything had to be safe, small (narrow), and stable. Mimi seems to have become a bit of a people-pleaser and a perfectionist as a result; and as a result of that, she also developed a few psychological issues. Perhaps the one issue that stood out to us the most was her eating disorder. We think a lot of readers might miss it, but it's something that really spoke to us. We're not psychologists, but we've had issues of our own that are similar to this (and have read about it in other books this season). Mimi, in the earlier portions of her life, seems to have had a form of bulimia known as exercise bulimia. This is less-acknowledged form of bulimia in which a person doesn't purge but rather compensates for overeating by excessively exercising.

Despite scenes like this being troubling and disturbing, they help us to better understand why Mimi—someone with a seemingly bright future—would attempt to climb Everest on what seems like an insane suicide mission. Mimi was able to use her drive to overachieve and overexercise to become a dancer and, eventually, a hiker and a rock climber. You could even argue that she was able to use her masochism toward the goal of climbing Everest.

There are some other humanizing and relatable aspects of this book. For example, Mimi's need to use a tampon and to use the restroom in a bottle during the arduous climb are detailed. You also get to read about her interesting and sometimes hilarious interactions with the locals, particularly in Tibet. For example, her team scares a local family and drives the mother into a frenzy when one of them uses flash photography. There's also a scene in which Mimi needs to go to the edge of the town in order to use the only restroom but can't make it there in the middle of night, having to do her business in the barn, then is startled by the incessant, hysterical chanting of the lady of the house. It's almost like a horror movie scene!

All in all, this is a really fascinating read. If anything, it's an example of how new doors and new windows open in our lives, often unexpectedly. Mimi endured a lot of down moments in her life that eventually led to exciting new things.

Like Mimi says:

"If Dad hadn’t forgotten to fill out the financial aid form for my favorite college, I wouldn’t have gone to McGill. If I hadn’t gone to McGill, I wouldn’t have seen the RMBL poster. If I hadn’t gone to RMBL, I wouldn’t have seen the slide show about Tibet. If Tibet wasn’t closed to foreigners, I wouldn’t have gone hiking in Nepal. If my first trek around Annapurna hadn’t been so cheap, I wouldn’t have gone to Everest Base Camp. If Dan hadn’t invited Irene and me to the Everest party, I wouldn’t have met Robert. If Robert hadn’t been so persistent, we wouldn’t have grown to care for each other. If the dean hadn’t granted me time off, I wouldn’t be here.”

There are some other examples of good writing in here. For example:

“All I wanted at that moment was the warmth of his arm around me in this cold cocoon.”

Check it out on Amazon!