Book Description
Updated to include all the major events since the first edition was published in 1993 Offers an up-close-and-personal view of the world's highest mountain Lavishly illustrated with stunning photographs Everest is a unique climbing history of the world's highest peak, featuring major ascents and the first-person perspectives of climbers from around the world. Included are classic accounts by Edmund Hillary on the first-ever ascent; Wang Fu-chou and Chu Yin-hua on the controversial 1960 Chinese ascent; Tom Hornbein on climbing the West Ridge; and Carlos Buhler on the first ascent of the Kangshung Face. New stories include first hand accounts of the 1996 disaster; the story of the remarkable photographic self-portrait taken by Bruce Herrod, who disappeared after reaching the summit; and the discovery of George Mallory's body in 1999. Just as impressive as the written pieces are the book's awe-inspiring photographs showing Everest from every side and in all its moods, ranging from historic 1920's panoramas to moments of triumph on the summit. Peter and Leni Gillman are long-time mountaineering writers, investigative reporters, and journalism teachers. They are the authors of a dozen books, including The Wildest Dream. They live in London, England.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

For eighty years, Mount Everest has been the ultimate symbol of human endeavor. Ever since the first attempt in 1921, the world's highest mountain has served as an arena where mountaineers have played out their dreams and fears, bringing triumph and tragedy in almost equal measure.

The dramas of Everest have inspired some of mountaincering's finest writing and photography. In this sumptuous anthology, climbers recount and portray their struggles to attain the summit, the moments of success and defeat, exultation and despair.

All the great landmarks in Everest's history are represented. The pioneering expeditions of the 1920s and 1930s are recounted by climbers such as George Mallory and Eric Shipton. Sir Edmund Hillary tells how he and Tenzing Norgay became the first to reach the summit, via the South Col, in 1953, while Tom Hornbein describes the bravura West Ridge ascent by the Americans in 1963. Chris Bonington, Reinhold Messner, Doug Scott, and many more of mountaincering's most celebrated names also appear in this definitive collection.

First published to wide acclaim in 1993, the anthology has been expanded to include the 1990s, perhaps the most dramatic decade of all. Included in the new edition are passages describing the tragedies and disasters of 1996, including an excerpt from Jon Krakauer's epochal volume, Into Thin Air, and the extraordinary discovery of the body of George Mallory by American climbers in 1999.