Within 28 hours, K2 had exacted a deadly toll: 11 lives were lost in a series of catastrophic accidents.Attracting a climbing elite and standing at 8,611 metres on the Pakistan-China border, K2 is known as the ‘Mountaineer’s Mountain’ because of its extreme technical challenges, its dangerously unpredictable weather and an infamous and hazardous overhanging wall of ice known as the Serac.Snow-bound at Base Camp for weeks on end and increasingly despairing of their prospects of success, an unexpected weather window gave the climbers the opportunity they were waiting for. In their collective desire to reach the summit, seven expeditions agreed to co-ordinate their efforts and share their equipment. Triumph quickly turned to tragedy, however, when a seemingly flawless plan unravelled with lethal consequences. Over the course of three days, a Nepalese Sherpa called Pemba Gyalje, along with five other Sherpas, was at the centre of a series of attempts to rescue climbers who had become trapped in the Death Zone, unable to escape its clutches and debilitated by oxygen deprivation, chronic fatigue, delirium and a terrifying hopelessness. The tragedy became a controversy as the survivors walked from the catastrophe on the mountain into an international media storm, in which countless different stories emerged, some contradictory and many simply untrue.Based on Pemba Gyalje’s eye-witness account and drawing on a series of interviews with the survivors which were conducted for the award-winning documentary, The Summit (Image Now Films and Pat Falvey Productions, 2012), The Summit: How Triumph Turned to Tragedy on K2’s Deadliest Days is the most comprehensive account of one of modern-day mountaineering’s most controversial disasters.

    The British expedition that would eventually put Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay atop Mount Everest was also packed with political repercussions, intrigue, jealousies, and pitfalls of every human sort.Everest 1953 is the story of the climb, but also of the drama surrounding the expedition both before the climbers embarked and after they returned home. British author Mick Conefrey used his unprecedented access to diaries, letters, memoirs, and a variety of archival materials, as well as interviews with the surviving team members and their families, to develop this rich, more complete story. Adventure tale aficionados will find new details about the first successful Everest summit expedition that haven't been previously published in one book.

    Stunning landscapes, candid portraits, and action shots describe the day-by-day moments of the historic expedition as never before.The extraordinary journey is retold from Lowe’s point of view, capturing the drama of the expedition and the personal stories of those involved. In addition, earlier attempts at climbing the world’s highest mountain and key later ascents are described. The book also includes contributions from an impressive team of mountaineers and explorers, including Reinhold Messner, Sir Chris Bonington, the late Sir Edmund Hillary, Peter Hillary, Doug Scott, Stephen Venables, Norbu Tenzing Norgay, Tom Hornbein, Kenton Cool, and Jan Morris.Not only the anniversary of the first successful ascent, 2013 also marks fifty years since the first American ascent and the epic first ascent of the West Ridge.

    The first British climber to reach all 14 of the world's peaks over 8000m, and the 15th person ever to do so, his 2005 summit of Kangchenjunga was the crowning achievement of an 18-year journey - joining the elite few who have completed global mountaineering's most distinguished goal. Alongside Alan's down-to-earth accounts of his summits of such awe-inspiring peaks as Everest, Manaslu, K2, Annapurna and Kangchenjunga, the book features the stunning photographs from his expeditions, which are all the more impressive for having been taken under the extreme circumstances of some of the world's most challenging settings. Alan's motto throughout every expedition was 'No mountain is worth a life. Coming back is a success and the summit is only a bonus'. After reaching each of these 14 peaks, Alan came back every time, always in one piece, always with a new inspiring tale to tell. Having had time to reflect on his immense achievement, in this book he now recounts his experiences of them all.

    Everest in 1953 and a biography of her father, Dr Griffith Pugh, whose role was absolutely pivotal, yet mostly untold. As the expedition’s physiological consultant, Pugh designed almost every aspect of the survival strategy for the expedition, the acclimatization program, the oxygen- and fluid-intake regime, the diet, the clothing and the high altitude boots. Without him and his work, the ascent of Everest would have been impossible.

    This is the story of a successful climb in April of 2013 after being injured on the trek through the Equatorial jungles of Indonesia. Author Charles Miske tells this tale of achievement in the face of great adversity, and of the amazing aftermath resulting from taking a wrong turn on the shortcut home.Previous expeditions have reported robbery, extortion, detention, bribery, abandonment, kidnapping, violence, and a slew of problems in climbing this mountain. The author adds his two cents and then some. Follow along on this third installment in the Seven Summits Quest series.

    It is the first and only book on the subject to benefit from complete access to the Royal Geographical Society's astonishingly rich collection of photographs, documents, and artifacts. Painstakingly selected from over 20,000 subjects, the 400 photographs record the surveying, planning, reconnaissance expeditions, and actual attempts that the Royal Geographical Society and the Alpine Club jointly launched from 1921 - culminating in Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's historic climb on 29 May 1953.

    As yet unclimbed, a number of attempts had been made on the peak, including two in the previous year. The Kangchenjunga Adventure records Frank Smythe’s attempts as part of an international team to reach the summit, how a deadly avalanche, which killed one of the sherpas, brought an end to their climb and how they turned their attentions instead to Jonsong Peak, which offered a more appealing alternative to risky assaults on the greatest peaks.Smythe’s books from this period give compelling reads for anyone with an interest in mountaineering: riveting adventures on the highest peaks in the world, keen observations of the mountain landscape and a fascinating window into early mountaineering, colonial attitudes and Himalayan exploration.

    A riveting read and often very scary.

    With accompanying retrospective essays. Climbing Fitz Roy,1968, presents photo documentation of the climb, places it in the social and climbing context of the times, and reflects how this momentous trip influenced the lives of those involved, and in a greater context, the lives of so many others.