Download or read book K2 and the 1939 Tragedy written by William Lowell Putnam and published by Light Technology Publishing. This book was released on 1993-09-01 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of the 1939 American K2 expedition is well known among mountaineers: world-class German-born climber Fritz Wiessner and Pasang Dawa Lama came within 800 feet of attaining the world's second-highest unclimbed summit before turning back for more supplies. Rejoining them on the descent was Dudley Wolfe, who had stayed not far below. Upon reaching the lower camps, the party found them stripped of supplies and deserted. Wiessner decided to descend further to investigate, and left Wolfe behind -- alone. Later, unable to descend solo, Wolfe had to be rescued; but the attempt failed, and Wolfe and Sherpas Pasang Kikuli, Pasang Kitar, and Phinsoo died. Initially, Wiessner was held responsible, but in time the blame shifted to climber Jack Durrance and another Sherpa. The disaster was considered one of the worst accidents in the climbing history of the Himalaya. It was also the subject of much speculation for years afterward. For some historians, the speculation would not rest. There were too many missing pieces, inconsistencies, and unanswered questions for a disaster of this scale. Unfortunately, reliable documentation was scarce. So was the cooperation of the remaining expedition members, who did not want to rekindle the controversy that arose from the expedition's failure. They echoed the neutral statement issued by the investigating committee of the American Alpine Club in 1940, which said, in effect, let sleeping dogs lie. When Andrew J. Kauffman and William L. Putnam later began work on Wiessner's biography, they found discrepancies in the account of the K2 incident. Intrigued, they dug deeper and began to uncover a larger tangle of events than had been previously suspected. The recent availability of Jack Durrance's own trip diary further enabled them to unravel the events of the ill-fated adventure on K2. K2: The 1939 Tragedy retraces the expedition's key elements -- the debilitating weather, the personalities and weaknesses of party members, Wiessner's "romantic vision" uncharacteristic of the climbing era --and reveals the steps that led toward catastrophe. K2: The 1939 Tragedy attempts to balance the accounts of this fifty-year-old saga.
Download or read book K2 written by Ed Viesturs and published by Crown. This book was released on 2010-08-03 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thrilling chronicle of the tragedy-ridden history of climbing the world's most difficult and unpredictable mountain, by the bestselling authors of The Mountain and No Shortcuts to the Top “Gripping . . . reveals a good deal about the rarefied noble-gonzo world of high-altitude mountaineering.”—The New York Times Ed Viesturs, one of the world's premier high-altitude mountaineers, explores the remarkable history of K2 and of those who have attempted to conquer it. At the same time, he probes the mountain's most memorable sagas in order to illustrate lessons about the fundamental questions mountaineering raises—questions of risk, ambition, loyalty to one's teammates, self-sacrifice, and the price of glory. Viesturs knows the mountain firsthand. He and renowned alpinist Scott Fischer climbed it in 1992 and got caught in an avalanche that sent them sliding to almost certain death before Ed managed to get into a self-arrest position with his ice ax and stop both his fall and Scott's. Focusing on seven of the mountain's most dramatic campaigns, from his own troubled ascent to the 2008 tragedy, Viesturs crafts an edge-of-your-seat narrative that climbers and armchair travelers alike will find unforgettably compelling. With photographs from Viesturs's personal collection and from historical sources, this is the definitive account of the world's ultimate mountain, and of the lessons that can be gleaned from struggling toward its elusive summit.
Download or read book K2 written by Andrew John Kauffman and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book K2 written by Andrew J. Kauffman and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book K2 the 1939 Tragedy written by Andrew Kauffman and published by Mountaineers Books. This book was released on 1992 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After an incident-packed 1938 attempt, an American team made another bid to climb the world's second highest peak the following year. The expedition was led by the mercurial Austrian emigre Fritz Wiessner. With the more experienced climbers recovering after the events of 1938, Wiessner was forced to take a weaker team that included a number of rich but inexperienced climber/adventurers. The problem was compounded by a personality clash between the leader and the second most experienced climber, Jack Durrance.
Download or read book K2 The Savage Mountain written by Charles Houston and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-10-01 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When eleven climbers died on K2 on August 1, 2008, it was a stark reminder that the world's second-highest mountain has, for more than a century, been regarded as the most difficult and dangerous of all—for every four people who reach the top, one dies in the attempt. K2, The Savage Mountain tells the dramatic story of the 1953 American expedition, led by Charles S. Houston, when a combination of terrible storms and illness stopped the team short of the 28,251-foot summit. Then on the descent, tragedy struck, and how the climbers made it back to safety is renowned in the annals of climbing. K2, The Savage Mountain captures this sensational tale with an unmatched power that has earned this book its place as one of the classics of mountaineering literature.
Download or read book The Last Man on the Mountain The Death of an American Adventurer on K2 written by Jennifer Jordan and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2011-08 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mountaineering.
Download or read book No Way Down written by Graham Bowley and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2010-06-29 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times Bestseller “A refreshingly unadorned account of the true brutality of climbing K2, where heroes emerge and egos are stripped down, and the only thing achieving immortality is the cold ruthless mountain.” — Norman Ollestad, author of Crazy for the Storm In this riveting work of narrative nonfiction, New York Times journalist Graham Bowley re-creates one of the most dramatic tales of death and survival in mountaineering history—the 2008 K2 ascent that claimed the lives of eleven climbers In the tradition of Into Thin Air and Touching the Void, No Way Down is the harrowing account of the worst mountain climbing disaster on K2, second to Everest in height. . . but second to no peak in terms of danger. On August 1, 2008, no fewer than eight international teams of mountain climbers—some experienced, others less prepared—ascended K2, the world's second-highest mountain, with the last group reaching the summit at 8 p.m. Then disaster struck. A huge ice chunk came loose above a deadly three-hundred-foot avalanche-prone gully, destroying the fixed guide ropes. More than a dozen climbers—many without oxygen and some with no headlamps—faced the nearly impossible task of descending in the blackness with no guideline and no protection. Over the course of the chaotic night, some would miraculously make it back. Others would not. From tragic deaths to unbelievable stories of heroism and survival, No Way Down is an amazing feat of storytelling and adventure writing, and, in the words of explorer and author Sir Ranulph Fiennes, “the closest you can come to being on the summit of K2 on that fateful day.”
Download or read book The Ghosts of K2 written by Mick Conefrey and published by Oneworld Publications Limited. This book was released on 2015 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At 28,251 feet, K2 might be almost 800 feet shorter than Everest, but it is a far tougher proposition. Unlike Everest, there is no "Yak route" for commercial clients. It is hard climbing all the way from its base to its summit. K2 will kill you on the way up and kill you on the way down. Mick Conefrey tells the story of three extraordinary expeditions filled with riveting drama and unimaginable tragedy- Fritz Wiessener's controversial attempt of 1939, the disastrous American expedition of 1953, and the huge Italian expedition of 1954 on which K2 was first climbed. He captures the bold and eccentric characters - their friendships and rivalries, their guilt and betrayals. At the center of the narrative is Charlie Houston, who led the failed 1953 exhibition, who was forced to give up his ambition of ever reaching the summit, and who was haunted for the rest of his life by the ghosts of the world's most beautiful and lethal mountain.
Download or read book The Last Step Legends Lore written by Rick Ridgeway and published by Mountaineers Books. This book was released on 2014-02-14 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CLICK HERE to download a sample from The Last Step * A mountaineering classic * Conflict, hardship, endurance, triumph -- it's all here in Ridgeway's extraordinary story In September 1978, Rick Ridgeway, Jim Wickwire, Lou Reichardt and John Roskelley stood atop K2, the first Americans ever to achieve this victory. Under the leadership of Jim Whittaker, they and their teammates had spent 67 days on the mountain, nearly all of them above 18,000 feet, where the stresses of high-altitude living, of monotonous food, of confinement in tiny tents for day after day of frustrating storms had worn them down to the core. The Last Step is Rick Ridgeway's inside story of this extraordinary expedition. It's about the people who, battered by the mountain and their isolation, overcame their individual fears, desire, and disappointments to work together to get somebodyñanybodyñto the top of K2. It's about the glorious success the team achieved, and about the perilous bivouac Jim Wickwire spent just below the summit without food, oxygen or shelter in temperatures of -40F.
Download or read book Ghosts of K2 written by Mick Conefrey and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-05-05 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: K2 is almost 800ft shorter than Everest, yet it’s a far harder climb. Many great mountaineers became obsessed with reaching its summit, not all of them lived to tell of their adventures. Capturing the depth of their obsession, the heart-stopping tension of the climb and delving into the controversy that still surrounds the first ascent, Mick Conefrey delivers the definitive account of the ‘Savage Mountain’. From drug-addicted occultist Aleister Crowley to the brilliant but tortured expedition leader Charlie Houston and, later, the Italian duo who finally made it to the top, Conefrey resurrects the tragic heroes, eccentric dreamers and uncompromising rivalries forever instilled in K2’s legacy. This is the riveting, groundbreaking story of the world’s deadliest mountain.
Download or read book The Duke of the Abruzzi written by Mirella Tenderini and published by . This book was released on 2014-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: * Pioneer on K2 and namesake of the Abruzzi Ridge * Mountaineering classic now in Legends and Lore series * Complete biography of an important explorer Grandson of the first king of Italy, Luigi Amedeo di Savoia-Aosta, or the Duke of the Abruzzi, was one of the most celebrated explorers of the early twentieth century. This biography vividly recounts not only the details of his pioneering expeditions but also the intriguing story of his personal life----including a doomed love affair with an American heiress and his more successful friendship with Vittorio Sella. The Duke's lifelong passion for adventure began in the Italian Alps of his childhood. Having mastered the Zmutt Ridge of the Matterhorn at the age of 21, he vowed to devote himself to mountain exploration. Just three years later, in 1897, he completed the first successful ascent of Alaska's Mount St. Elias. His 1899 attempt to be the first to the North Pole fell short of its goal, but he succeeded in going farther north than any previous expedition. A naval career did not stop him from exploring the Ruwenzori range in Africa. The Duke's most noted achievement was undeniably his pioneering climb on K2 in 1909 on the route that bears his name: the Abruzzi Ridge. In part because of this achievement, we are thrilled to bring this classic, originally published in 1997, back into print as one of our Legends and Lore titles. This title is part of our LEGENDS AND LORE series. Click here > to learn more.
Download or read book Hitler in Los Angeles written by Steven J. Ross and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2017-10-24 with total page 435 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A 2018 FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE “[Hitler in Los Angeles] is part thriller and all chiller, about how close the California Reich came to succeeding” (Los Angeles Times). No American city was more important to the Nazis than Los Angeles, home to Hollywood, the greatest propaganda machine in the world. The Nazis plotted to kill the city's Jews and to sabotage the nation's military installations: Plans existed for murdering twenty-four prominent Hollywood figures, such as Al Jolson, Charlie Chaplin, and Louis B. Mayer; for driving through Boyle Heights and machine-gunning as many Jews as possible; and for blowing up defense installations and seizing munitions from National Guard armories along the Pacific Coast. U.S. law enforcement agencies were not paying close attention--preferring to monitor Reds rather than Nazis--and only attorney Leon Lewis and his daring ring of spies stood in the way. From 1933 until the end of World War II, Lewis, the man Nazis would come to call “the most dangerous Jew in Los Angeles,” ran a spy operation comprised of military veterans and their wives who infiltrated every Nazi and fascist group in Los Angeles. Often rising to leadership positions, they uncovered and foiled the Nazi's disturbing plans for death and destruction. Featuring a large cast of Nazis, undercover agents, and colorful supporting players, the Los Angeles Times bestselling Hitler in Los Angeles, by acclaimed historian Steven J. Ross, tells the story of Lewis's daring spy network in a time when hate groups had moved from the margins to the mainstream.
Download or read book The World Beneath Their Feet written by Scott Ellsworth and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2020-02-18 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2020 National Outdoor Book Award for Best History/Biography A saga of survival, technological innovation, and breathtaking human physical achievement -- all set against the backdrop of a world headed toward war -- that became one of the most compelling international dramas of the 20th century. As tension steadily rose between European powers in the 1930s, a different kind of battle was already raging across the Himalayas. Teams of mountaineers from Great Britain, Nazi Germany, and the United States were all competing to be the first to climb the world's highest peaks, including Mount Everest and K2. Unlike climbers today, they had few photographs or maps, no properly working oxygen systems, and they wore leather boots and cotton parkas. Amazingly, and against all odds, they soon went farther and higher than anyone could have imagined. And as they did, their story caught the world's attention. The climbers were mobbed at train stations, and were featured in movies and plays. James Hilton created the mythical land of Shangri-La in Lost Horizon, while an English eccentric named Maurice Wilson set out for Tibet in order to climb Mount Everest alone. And in the darkened corridors of the Third Reich, officials soon discovered the propaganda value of planting a Nazi flag on top of the world's highest mountains Set in London, New York, Germany, and in India, China, and Tibet, The World Beneath Their Feet is a story not only of climbing and mountain climbers, but also of passion and ambition, courage and folly, tradition and innovation, tragedy and triumph. Scott Ellsworth tells a rollicking, real-life adventure story that moves seamlessly from the streets of Manhattan to the footlights of the West End, deadly avalanches on Nanga Parbat, rioting in the Kashmir, and the wild mountain dreams of a New Zealand beekeeper named Edmund Hillary and a young Sherpa runaway called Tenzing Norgay. Climbing the Himalayas was the Greatest Generation's moonshot-one that was clouded by the onset of war and then, incredibly, fully accomplished. A gritty, fascinating history that promises to enrapture fans of Hampton Sides, Erik Larson, Jon Krakauer, and Laura Hillenbrand, The World Beneath Their Feet brings this forgotten story back to life.
Download or read book Victory Over K2 Second Highest Peak in the World written by Ardito Desio and published by . This book was released on 1956 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Denali s Howl written by Andy Hall and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-06-12 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the summer of 1967, twelve young men ascended Alaska’s Mount McKinley—known to the locals as Denali. Engulfed by a once-in-alifetime blizzard, only five made it back down. Andy Hall, a journalist and son of the park superintendent at the time, was living in the park when the tragedy occurred and spent years tracking down rescuers, survivors, lost documents, and recordings of radio communications. In Denali’s Howl, Hall reveals the full story of the expedition in a powerful retelling that will mesmerize the climbing community as well as anyone interested in mega-storms and man’s sometimes deadly drive to challenge the forces of nature.
Download or read book The Mystery of Dr Johnson s Death written by David Christopher Lane and published by Mount San Antonio College/Philosophy Group. This book was released on 2017-01-20 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true story of how famed K2 mountain climber Paul Petzoldt killed his friend and mentor, Dr. Julian P. Johnson at a spiritual ashram in India. Explores the controversy surrounding what happened on that fateful night on January 25, 1939, and the spiritual scandal that ensued in the Punjab. The tragedy haunted Paul Petzoldt for the rest of his life since there were dark rumors about him being a murderer and not being allowed back to India. However, this book unravels the mystery behind Dr. Johnson's death and corrects many misconceptions that have evolved over the years. It also touches upon how Paul Petzoldt using an ancient yogic technique had the most profound, mystical experience of his life--something he regarded as greater than any drug or mountain climbing experience. It is a complicated story with a Rashomon character, with each side seeing something different in what transpired. Includes original documents and photographs.
