Download or read book Dark Summit written by Nick Heil and published by Vintage Canada. This book was released on 2011-04-13 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the tradition of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, Nick Heil recounts the harrowing story of the deadly and controversial 2006 climbing season on Everest. In early May 2006, a young British climber named David Sharp lay dying near the top of Mount Everest while forty other climbers walked past him on their way to the summit. A week later, Lincoln Hall, a seasoned Australian climber, was left for dead near the same spot. Hall’s death was reported around the world, but the next day he was found alive after spending the night on the upper mountain with no food and no shelter. If David Sharp’s death was shocking, it was not singular: despite unusually good weather, ten others died attempting to reach the summit that year. In this meticulous inquiry into what went wrong, Nick Heil tells the full story of the deadliest year on Everest since the infamous season of 1996. He introduces Russell Brice, the outfitter who has done more than anyone to provide access to the summit via the mountain’s north side–and who some believe was partially responsible for Sharp’s death. As more climbers attempt the summit each year, Heil shows how increasingly risky expeditions and unscrupulous outfitters threaten to turn Everest into a deadly circus. Written by an experienced climber and outdoor writer, Dark Summit is both a riveting account of a notorious climbing season and a troubling investigation into whether the pursuit of the ultimate mountaineering prize has spiralled out of control.
Download or read book Left for Dead written by Beck Weathers and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2000-09-21 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With a new preface by the author • As featured in the upcoming motion picture Everest, starring Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Robin Wright, Emily Watson, Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, and Jake Gyllenhaal “I can tell you that some force within me rejected death at the last moment and then guided me, blind and stumbling—quite literally a dead man walking—into camp and the shaky start of my return to life.” In 1996 Beck Weathers and a climbing team pushed toward the summit of Mount Everest. Then a storm exploded on the mountain, ripping the team to shreds, forcing brave men to scratch and crawl for their lives. Rescuers who reached Weathers saw that he was dying, and left him. Twelve hours later, the inexplicable occurred. Weathers appeared, blinded, gloveless, and caked with ice—walking down the mountain. In this powerful memoir, now featuring a new Preface, Weathers describes not only his escape from hypothermia and the murderous storm that killed eight climbers, but the journey of his life. This is the story of a man’s route to a dangerous sport and a fateful expedition, as well as the road of recovery he has traveled since; of survival in the face of certain death, the reclaiming of a family and a life; and of the most extraordinary adventure of all: finding the courage to say yes when life offers us a second chance. Praise for Left for Dead “Riveting . . . [a] remarkable survival story . . . Left for Dead takes a long, critical look at climbing: Weathers is particularly candid about how the demanding sport altered and strained his relationships.”—USA Today “Ultimately, this engrossing tale depicts the difficulty of a man’s struggle to reform his life.”—Publishers Weekly
Download or read book Into Thin Air written by Jon Krakauer and published by Anchor. This book was released on 1998-11-12 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The epic account of the storm on the summit of Mt. Everest that claimed five lives and left countless more—including Krakauer's—in guilt-ridden disarray. "A harrowing tale of the perils of high-altitude climbing, a story of bad luck and worse judgment and of heartbreaking heroism." —PEOPLE A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that "suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down." He was wrong. By writing Into Thin Air, Krakauer may have hoped to exorcise some of his own demons and lay to rest some of the painful questions that still surround the event. He takes great pains to provide a balanced picture of the people and events he witnessed and gives due credit to the tireless and dedicated Sherpas. He also avoids blasting easy targets such as Sandy Pittman, the wealthy socialite who brought an espresso maker along on the expedition. Krakauer's highly personal inquiry into the catastrophe provides a great deal of insight into what went wrong. But for Krakauer himself, further interviews and investigations only lead him to the conclusion that his perceived failures were directly responsible for a fellow climber's death. Clearly, Krakauer remains haunted by the disaster, and although he relates a number of incidents in which he acted selflessly and even heroically, he seems unable to view those instances objectively. In the end, despite his evenhanded and even generous assessment of others' actions, he reserves a full measure of vitriol for himself. This updated trade paperback edition of Into Thin Air includes an extensive new postscript that sheds fascinating light on the acrimonious debate that flared between Krakauer and Everest guide Anatoli Boukreev in the wake of the tragedy. "I have no doubt that Boukreev's intentions were good on summit day," writes Krakauer in the postscript, dated August 1999. "What disturbs me, though, was Boukreev's refusal to acknowledge the possibility that he made even a single poor decision. Never did he indicate that perhaps it wasn't the best choice to climb without gas or go down ahead of his clients." As usual, Krakauer supports his points with dogged research and a good dose of humility. But rather than continue the heated discourse that has raged since Into Thin Air's denouncement of guide Boukreev, Krakauer's tone is conciliatory; he points most of his criticism at G. Weston De Walt, who coauthored The Climb, Boukreev's version of events. And in a touching conclusion, Krakauer recounts his last conversation with the late Boukreev, in which the two weathered climbers agreed to disagree about certain points. Krakauer had great hopes to patch things up with Boukreev, but the Russian later died in an avalanche on another Himalayan peak, Annapurna I. In 1999, Krakauer received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters--a prestigious prize intended "to honor writers of exceptional accomplishment." According to the Academy's citation, "Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish subtlety and profound insight of the born writer. His account of an ascent of Mount Everest has led to a general reevaluation of climbing and of the commercialization of what was once a romantic, solitary sport; while his account of the life and death of Christopher McCandless, who died of starvation after challenging the Alaskan wilderness, delves even more deeply and disturbingly into the fascination of nature and the devastating effects of its lure on a young and curious mind."
Download or read book Savage Summit written by Jennifer Jordan and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though not as tall as Everest, the "Savage Mountain" is far more dangerous. Located on the border of China and Pakistan, K2 has some of the harshest climbing conditions in the world. Ninety women have scaled Everest but of the six women who reached the summit of K2, three lost their lives on the way back down the mountain and two have since died on other climbs. In Savage Summit, Jennifer Jordan shares the tragic, compelling, inspiring, and extraordinary true stories of a handful of courageous women -- mothers and daughters, wives and lovers, poets and engineers -- who defeated this formidable mountain yet ultimately perished in pursuit of their dreams.
Download or read book Murder on Everest written by Charles G. Irion and published by . This book was released on 2009-11 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: MOE When Derek Sodoc, only son of the world's richest and most powerful man dies attempting to climb Mt. Everest, questions are raised. Was it the mountain? Or perhaps something more sinister. After reading the book Abandoned on Everest that details Derek Sodoc's untimely death, Sodoc's father convinces the surviving expedition members to return to Everest - presumably to recover Derek's body. With billions at stake and a relentless father searching for someone to blame, everyone is a suspect. Set against the backdrop of the world's highest and deadliest mountain, Murder on Everest is filled with intrigue, sex, betrayal and mystery. It is unlike any murder mystery you've ever read. Be sure to read Abandoned on Everest, the companion prequel to this exciting debut novel. The Summit Murder Series is a unique set of mystery novels. Join authors Charles G. Irion and Ronald J. Watkins for this extraordinary journey of exciting exploits and murder atop each of the seven major continental summits, beginning with Murder on Everest.
Download or read book Dead Lucky written by Lincoln Hall and published by Random House (Australia). This book was released on 2007 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Foreword by Lachlan Murdoch “The day I summitted Mount Everest was the day I died†Lincoln Hall set off for Everest in early May 2006. Five weeks after reaching Base Camp in Tibet, he began his push for the summit. After three days of climbing higher into the oxygenless air, he was blessed with a perfect summit day. For a few minutes, Hall was the highest man on the planet. His Sherpa companions arrived, photos were taken, and the climbers commenced their long descent. Then things began to go horribly wrong. Hall was struck by cerebral oedema - highaltitude sickness - in the aptly named 'death zone'. Drowsiness quickly became overpowering lethargy, and he collapsed in the snow. Two Sherpas spent hours trying to revive him, but as darkness fell he was pronounced dead. The expedition's leader ordered the Sherpas to descend to save themselves. The news of Hall's death travelled rapidly from mountaineering websites to news media around the world, and by satellite phone to Hall's family in Australia. Early the next day, Dan Mazur, an American mountaineering guide with two clients and a Sherpa, was startled to find Hall sitting cross-legged on the knife-edged crest of the summit ridge. Hall's first words - 'I imagine you are surprised to see me here' - were a massive understatement. Much was reported in the press about Hall's resurrection, but only he has real insight into what happened, and how he survived that longest night. DEAD LUCKY is Lincoln Hall's own account of climbing Everest during a deadly season in which eleven people perished on the world's highest mountain.
Download or read book The Climb written by Anatoli Boukreev and published by St. Martin's Griffin. This book was released on 2015-09-22 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everest, the major motion picture from Universal Pictures, is set for wide release on September 18, 2015. Read The Climb, Anatoli Boukreev (portrayed by Ingvar Sigurðsson in the film) and G. Weston DeWalt’s compelling account of those fateful events on Everest. In May 1996 three expeditions attempted to climb Mount Everest on the Southeast Ridge route pioneered by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. Crowded conditions slowed their progress. Late in the day twenty-three men and women-including expedition leaders Scott Fischer and Rob Hall-were caught in a ferocious blizzard. Disoriented and out of oxygen, climbers struggled to find their way down the mountain as darkness approached. Alone and climbing blind, Anatoli Boukreev brought climbers back from the edge of certain death. This new edition includes a transcript of the Mountain Madness expedition debriefing recorded five days after the tragedy, as well as G. Weston DeWalt's response to Into Thin Air author Jon Krakauer.
Download or read book Just for the love of it written by Cathy O'Dowd and published by Crux Publishing Ltd. This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Third Pole written by Mark Synnott and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-04-13 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ***NPR Books We Love selection*** “If you’re only going to read one Everest book this decade, make it The Third Pole. . . . A riveting adventure.”—Outside Shivering, exhausted, gasping for oxygen, beyond doubt . . . A hundred-year mystery lured veteran climber Mark Synnott into an unlikely expedition up Mount Everest during the spring 2019 season that came to be known as “the Year Everest Broke.” What he found was a gripping human story of impassioned characters from around the globe and a mountain that will consume your soul—and your life—if you let it. The mystery? On June 8, 1924, George Mallory and Sandy Irvine set out to stand on the roof of the world, where no one had stood before. They were last seen eight hundred feet shy of Everest’s summit still “going strong” for the top. Could they have succeeded decades before Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay? Irvine is believed to have carried a Kodak camera with him to record their attempt, but it, along with his body, had never been found. Did the frozen film in that camera have a photograph of Mallory and Irvine on the summit before they disappeared into the clouds, never to be seen again? Kodak says the film might still be viable. . . . Mark Synnott made his own ascent up the infamous North Face along with his friend Renan Ozturk, a filmmaker using drones higher than any had previously flown. Readers witness first-hand how Synnott’s quest led him from oxygen-deprivation training to archives and museums in England, to Kathmandu, the Tibetan high plateau, and up the North Face into a massive storm. The infamous traffic jams of climbers at the very summit immediately resulted in tragic deaths. Sherpas revolted. Chinese officials turned on Synnott’s team. An Indian woman miraculously crawled her way to frostbitten survival. Synnott himself went off the safety rope—one slip and no one would have been able to save him—committed to solving the mystery. Eleven climbers died on Everest that season, all of them mesmerized by an irresistible magic. The Third Pole is a rapidly accelerating ride to the limitless joy and horror of human obsession.
Download or read book The Summit written by Eric Alexander and published by New Leaf Publishing Group. This book was released on 2010-11-01 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “I have read several accounts of Everest climbs, but none gave me the "behind the scenes" view this book provides... Whether you get exercise climbing mountains or strolling shopping malls, you'll find your heart racing as you read The Summit: Faith Beyond Everest's Death Zone. If not, you should call 911 immediately and get checked for a pulse.” - Philip Yancey It’s one of the greatest challenges one can face on Earth; an ascent to the top of the world on the slopes of Mount Everest. Eric Alexander experienced grace and a faith-empowering journey he will never forget as part of a record-setting team in May 2001, scaling the heights of Everest with his friend, blind climber Erik Weinhenmayer. Experience some of the most dangerous locations in the world, including abject terror on Amadablam, a blind ski descent of Russia’s Mount Elbrus, and up Kilimanjaro in Africa with four blind teens Gain wisdom in the application of trust, courage, innovation, teamwork, leadership, and integrity to overcome your own Everests Discover practical faith lessons learned on the highest peaks of six continents Here is the powerful story of Eric Alexander and his unique life journey of guiding people with disabilities to the most perilous places of the world, including Mount Everest’s first blind ascent. In The Summit: Faith Beyond Everest’s Death Zone you will follow in their historic footsteps, and learn about faith, trust, prayer, depending on God, as well as the perseverance needed during these climbs and in your own life. Be inspired and motivated by Eric’s insight, not simply to survive but to thrive every day in God’s grace.
Download or read book Alive in the Death Zone written by Lincoln Hall and published by Random House (Australia). This book was released on 2008 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ALIVE IN THE DEATH ZONE: Mount Everest Survival, Lincoln Hall's story of climbing the world's highest mountain, being left for dead near the summit and his subsequent return to life and safety, is an incredible and exciting adventure that will inspire anyone who reads it. It's a story of survival against all odds using sheer willpower, courage and determination. Early chapters give young readers an insight into why people climb mountains, Lincoln's early interest in them and the influences that led to his passion for climbing and his quest to climb the world's highest peak. It will then focus on the 2006 expedition when Lincoln reached the summit but was left for dead because he suffered cerebral oedema when he began his descent. Miraculously, after spending a perilous night on a knife-edge crest in the Death Zone, he was found the next morning and began the descent, only to be confronted with more dangers before he reached safety. Unbeknown to Lincoln, the world, including his family, had been told he was dead, and the miraculous story of his survival made worldwide headline news. Frostbite claimed Lincoln's fingers and toes and he lost nearly twenty kilograms but his remarkable recovery and rehabilitation enabled him to write the best-selling book DEAD LUCKY.
Download or read book High Exposure written by David Breashears and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2000-05-17 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author, a noted mountaineer and cinematographer, describes a lifetime of conquering the world's mountain peaks and discusses his 1996 expedition to Mount Everest to create his IMAX film "Everest."
Download or read book Dead Lucky written by Lincoln Hall and published by Random House Australia. This book was released on 2008 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lincoln Hall set off for Everest in early April 2006. five weeks after reaching Base Camp in Tibet, he began his push for the summit. After three days of climbing higher into the oxygenless air, he was blessed with a perfect summit day. For a few minutes, Hall was the highest man on the planet. His Sherpa companions arrived, photos were taken and the climbers commenced their long descent. Then things began to go horribly wrong. This book is Lincoln Hall's own account of climbing Everest during a deadly season in which eleven people perished on the world's highest mountain. (Adapted from back cover).
Download or read book Dead Lucky Easyread Large Bold Edition written by Lincoln Hall and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2008 with total page 518 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Outlines the dramatic 2006 survival story of a famed Australian mountain climber who was pronounced dead and abandoned by Sherpas during a climb of Mount Everest, only to be discovered alive the next day.
Download or read book Dark Summit written by Nick Heil and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2008-04-29 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by experienced climber Nick Heil, Dark Summit is both a riveting account of a notorious climbing season and a troubling investigation into whether the pursuit of the ultimate mountaineering prize has spiraled out of control. "A dramatic story, ably and convincingly told . . . A chilling look at the precarious line between success and tragedy."—Kirkus Reviews On May 15, 2006, a young British climber named David Sharp lay dying near the top of Mount Everest while forty other climbers walked past him on their way to the summit. A week later, Lincoln Hall, a seasoned Australian climber, was left for dead near the same spot. Hall's death was reported around the world, but the next day he was found alive after spending the night on the upper mountain with no food and no shelter. If David Sharp's death was shocking, it was hardly singular: ten others died attempting to reach the summit that year. In this meticulous inquiry into what went wrong, Nick Heil tells the full story of the deadliest year on Everest since the infamous season of 1996. As more climbers attempt the summit each year, Heil shows how increasingly risky expeditions and unscrupulous outfitters threaten to turn Everest into a deadly circus.
Download or read book High Crimes written by Michael Kodas and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2008-02-05 with total page 539 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: High Crimes is journalist Michael Kodas's gripping account of life on top of the world--where man is every bit as deadly as Mother Nature. In the years following the publication of Into Thin Air, much has changed on Mount Everest. Among all the books documenting the glorious adventures in mountains around the world, none details how the recent infusion of wealthy climbers is drawing crime to the highest place on the planet. The change is caused both by a tremendous boom in traffic, and a new class of parasitic and predatory adventurer. It's likely that Jon Krakauer would not recognize the camps that he visited on Mount Everest almost a decade ago. This book takes readers on a harrowing tour of the criminal underworld on the slopes of the world's most majestic mountain. High Crimes describes two major expeditions: the tragic story of Nils Antezana, a climber who died on Everest after he was abandoned by his guide; as well as the author's own story of his participation in the Connecticut Everest Expedition, guided by George Dijmarescu and his wife and climbing partner, Lhakpa Sherpa. Dijmarescu, who at first seemed well-intentioned and charming, turned increasingly hostile to his own wife, as well as to the author and the other women on the team. By the end of the expedition, the three women could not travel unaccompanied in base camp due to the threat of violence. Those that tried to stand against the violence and theft found that the worst of the intimidation had followed them home to Connecticut. Beatings, thefts, drugs, prostitution, coercion, threats, and abandonment on the highest slopes of Everest and other mountains have become the rule rather than the exception. Kodas describes many such experiences, and explores the larger issues these stories raise with thriller-like intensity.
Download or read book Salt to Summit written by Daniel Arnold and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2012-06-01 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the depths of Death Valley, Daniel Arnold set out to reach Mount Whitney in a way no road or trail could take him. Anything manmade or designed to make travel easy was out. With a backpack full of empty two–liter bottles, and the remotest corners of desert before him, he began his toughest test yet of physical and mental endurance. Badwater Basin sits 282 feet below sea level in Death Valley, the lowest and hottest place in the Western Hemisphere. Mount Whitney rises 14,505 feet above sea level, the highest point in the contiguous United States. Arnold spent seventeen days traveling a roundabout route from one to the other, traversing salt flats, scaling dunes, and sinking into slot canyons. Aside from bighorn sheep and a phantom mountain lion, his only companions were ghosts of the dreamers and misfits who first dared into this unknown territory. He walked in the footsteps of William Manly, who rescued the last of the forty–niners from the bottom of Death Valley; tracked John LeMoigne, a prospector who died in the sand with his burros; and relived the tales of Mary Austin, who learned the secret trails of the Shoshone Indians. This is their story too, as much as it is a history of salt and water and of the places they collide and disappear. Guiding the reader up treacherous climbs and through burning sands, Arnold captures the dramatic landscapes as only he can with photographs to bring it all to life. From the salt to the summit, this is an epic journey across America's most legendary desert.