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Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer This is the true story of a 24-hour period on Everest, when members of three separate expeditions were caught in a storm and faced a battle against hurricane-force winds, exposure, and the effects of altitude, which ended the worst single-season death toll in the peak's history. |
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Dark Summit: The True Story of Everest's Most Controversial Season Nick Heil 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. |
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Climb Anatoli Boukreev In May 1996 a number of expeditions attempted to climb Mount Everest on the Southeast Ridge route. Crowded conditions slowed their progress and late in the day 23 men and women, including the expedition leaders, were caught in a ferocious blizzard. Disorientated and out of oxygen, climbers struggled to find their way to safety. Alone and climbing blind, Anatoli Boukreev rescued a number of climbers from certain death. This honest and gripping account includes the transcript of the Mountain Madness debriefing, recorded five days after the tragedy, as well as G. Weston de Walt's response to Jon Krakauer. 'Powerful ...a breath of brisk, sometimes bitter clarity ...Boukreev did the one thing that denies the void. He took action. He chose danger, and he saved lives.' New York Times Book Review 'The best book I've read this year ...The Climb has a story that will grip and haunt you.' Alex Garland, author of The Beach and The Tesseract |
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Left for Dead Beck Weathers Anyone who has read Jon Krakauer's famous account of the 1996 Everest disaster, INTO THIN AIR, will remember the story of Beck Weathers: the gregarious Texan climber who went snow-blind in the Death Zone below the summit and who spent a night out in the open during a blizzard that took the lives of a dozen colleagues and friends. Even as he staggered back into Camp 4 the next morning, Beck's condition was such that the other survivors assumed he would not make it back down the mountain. He was effectively left for dead, but drawing upon reserves of determination and courage he didn't know he had - as well as the extraordinary selflessness and bravery of a Nepalese helicopter pilot he'd never met - he finally made it to safety. Only then could a new battle begin: to rebuild his life with a family he'd taken for granted for too long. Heartstoppingly exciting and ultimately very moving, LEFT FOR DEAD is a terrific read. |
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Lost Explorer Conrad Anker In 1999, Conrad Anker found the body of George Mallory on Mount Everest, casting an entirely new light on the mystery of the lost explorer. On 8 June 1924, George Leigh Mallory and Andrew 'Sandy' Irvine were last seen climbing towards the summit of Everest. The clouds closed around them and they were lost to history, leaving the world to wonder whether or not they actually reached the summit - some 29 years before Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay. On 1 May 1999, Conrad Anker, one of the world's foremost mountaineers, made the momentous discovery - Mallory's body, lying frozen into the scree at 27,000 feet on Everest's north face. Recounting this day, the authors go on to assess the clues provided by the body, its position, and the possibility that Mallory had successfully climbed the Second Step, a 90-foot sheer cliff that is the single hardest obstacle on the north face. This is a remarkable story of a charming and immensely able man, told by an equally talented modern climber. |
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Birds of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives Richard Grimmett, Carol Inskipp, Tim Inskipp From the snowcapped Himalayas and the Indus valley, to the Ganges delta and the Sri Lankan forests, the Indian subcontinent is home to 13% of the world's species of birds and thousands of birders and ecotourists flock to the area every year. This field guide will be indispensable to those who wish to find and identify the many species of avifauna of the Indian subcontinent and environs. Featuring more than 150 color plates by eminent bird illustrators from Europe and India, it depicts all the known species in the region, ranging from the Himalayan Snowcock in the north to the Sri Lanka Spurfowl in the south. The plates include all relevant identifiable subspecies, as well as ages and sexes. It contains hundreds of range maps and the succinct text on the facing pages covers identification, voice, and distribution. Specially designed for use in the field, it is a compact version of the landmark A Guide to the Birds of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, hailed on its publication as a "stunning book" that "advanced the cause of Indian birding by 20-30 years." With its modest price, small trim size, and sturdy, weather-resistant binding, this field guide is the one volume that every adventurous traveler to the Indian subcontinent must have. |
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Everest Broughton Coburn Since the first successful ascent of Everest 50 years ago, many others have attempted the daunting summit, and many have succeeded. But, though Everest can be climbed, it cannot be conquered. Few know this as well as David Breashears. A filmmaker and veteran climber of the Himalaya, Breashears agreed to lead the May 1996 expedition that would capture Everest in a large-format IMAX(c) motion picture. Even in the best conditions, Breashears knew, Everest is a dangerous challenge--that May, an unexpected blizzard proved how deadly it could be. Shocking the world, the storm claimed the lives of eight climbers, including two of the world' s top expedition leaders. "Everest is the breathtaking chronicle of a filmmaking expedition turned rescue mission, and of the courage and cooperation of Breashears and his team as they rose to the life or death challenge. A companion to Breashears' s record-grossing large-format film, "Everest features an introduction by "Outside magazine editor-at-large Tim Cahill, an afterword by David Breashears, and 125 stunning, full-color images, including IMAX frames from the film. |
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The Second Death of George Mallory: The Enigma and Spirit of Mount Everest Reinhold Messner As a boy, climbing legend Reinhold Messner was inspired by another legend: George Mallory’s tragic final ascent of Mount Everest in 1924. To Messner, and to thousands of others, Mallory’s attempt—whether or not it succeeded—remains the greatest exploit in the annals of mountain climbing. Though Mallory’s body was finally found, we have lost, Messner believes, the spirit that guided him; summiting Everest has become merely a corporate challenge and a matter of technology, not a rendezvous with destiny.
Using the British climber’s journals and letters, Messner thrillingly re-creates Mallory’s three assaults on Everest, including his final ascent. Here is both an investigation into the death of George Mallory and a deeply felt homage—to a mountain, to the spirit of an age, and to the man who inspired those who followed in his footsteps.
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Ghosts of Everest: The Search for Mallory & Irvine Jochen Hemmleb, Larry A. Johnson, Eric R. Simonson, William E. Nothdurft GHOSTS OF EVEREST unravels one of the most puzzling and compelling adventure mysteries of all time. On June 6, 1924, George Leigh Mallory and Andrew Comyn Irvine were only a few hundred feet short of becoming the first men to reach the highest spot on earth when they simply walked into the mist, never to be seen again. Did they reach the summit of Mount Everest - nearly three decades before Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay? This is the meticulous report of both the 1924 British Expedition and the 1999 Mallory & Irvine Research Expedition which found George Mallory's body and answers to the questions that have plagued historians and mountaineers alike: Did they make it? And, if they did, what happened to them? "...a work of historic importance that reads like a detective thriller..." (Publishers Weekly) |
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An Account of The Kingdom of Nepal And of the Territories Annexed to this Dominion by the House of Gorkha Francis Hamilton This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. |