Throughout it all Ellis Stewart shows a sense of humility and compassion sharing a heartfelt and emotional twenty year journey. From the streets of northern England through to the valleys and high mountains of Nepal, Stewart shared his story with thousands of followers on social media, winning over the hearts and minds of many. A ground swell of support sent Stewart to achieve his dream, not once but twice. Nobody could have anticipated the events that would follow. Events that would define Stewart in ways he couldn't possibly have imagined. Stewart is not your stereotypical mountaineer. Through the steps he took and his entrepreneurial spirit he was able to fund almost entirely the costs for two Everest expeditions without corporate assistance. In the summer of 2015 Stewart began to write his story of being caught up in these two tragic seasons on Everest. In this very book, he writes very candidly about not only his experiences on the mountain but also what drove and propelled him towards Everest in the first place. Not able to entice a publisher to take the project on, Stewart wouldn’t take no for an answer and decided to self-publish the book. After launching a massively successful crowdfunding campaign Stewart was able to pay the editing and printing costs to release this book as a paperback, which he did to rave reviews in late 2016. Due to popular demand Stewart launched another campaign to bring the book out in the hardcover format. Again this was a success. Everest: It’s not about the Summit, invites you into an intoxicating world, one where the margin between success and failure is brutally slim. This is a moving book with tragedy and commitment to a cause as a very central theme. It is a real story about real people. Whether it’s your usual genre of book or not doesn't matter as it's basically a cracking story. You don’t need to be a climber to enjoy this book at all. It has universal appeal and is a true inspirational cliff hanger for all. This book should be on the bookshelf of all active and armchair mountaineers alike. Amazon Review Epic. One of the best. This book is epic. It is up there and stands side to side with other mountaineering adventures like Into Thin Air, The Climb and Touching the Void. What this book does best though is convey the dreams and raw emotions of a man whose aspiration has always been to climb Everest. But it is also about adaptation to what life throws at you. If you are feeling down or dejected in anyway and want to be lifted. Read this book. Amazon Review I have just finished reading this book and I was blown away by Ellis’s story. I have read numerous other books about Everest expeditions and, like many other people, Jon Krakauer's account of the tragic1996 season started me on a trajectory to learn more about the trials and tribulations this mountain presents, from both a professional mountaineering perspective and as a commercial enterprise - albeit from the comfort of my sofa! The question one really has to ask when reviewing a book on a well documented subject is: “Why read this one?”. My answer is this: Many accounts of Everest expeditions tend towards ‘the macho’, ‘the personal achievement’ and ‘the surmounting of odds’ in terms of central narrative and descriptive style, whereas this is a deeply

    

     This is the tale of an ordinary guy who's done some far-from-ordinary things. While he doesn't see himself as a runner, he's run some of the hardest races in the UK and Europe, including eleven races of 100 miles and a race in a mountain storm that headlined the BBC news. He's run over sixty races harder than a marathon, cycled from Lands End to John O'Groats and climbed 2.2 million vertical feet up 570 different mountains. He's endured pain and hardship throughout, run a marathon on a broken leg and cycled for two days without food and water due to illness. This is the story of his adventures running ultra marathons and his build-up to running the UTMB, Europe's toughest foot race. It's interspersed with his take on everything surrounding ultra running, from planning, to training, to motivation, as well as tales of his other exploits in the great outdoors. About the Author Martin Thomerson has been running, walking and cycling in the hills of England and Wales for the last 25 years. He has never run a race less than a marathon or category A fell race. He is the first person to have climbed all Wainwright’s Lakeland Fells twice and all the 2,000-feet mountains of England and Wales twice. His current goal is to become a member of the 100 Marathon Club. He lives in Warrington with his wife, Clair, and two children, Kieran and Harry.

    Nonetheless, he embarks on a journey to the wilds of Alaska and the unknowns of North America's highest and most dangerous peak for what he hopes will be the adventure of a lifetime: a traverse of Mount McKinley (Denali), ascending up the West Buttress route to the summit, and then down the more ominous and treacherous Karstens Ridge and Muldrow Glacier. In Crossing Denali, Michael describes in gripping detail how he and five other mountaineers, with their three guides, lug hundreds of pounds of gear from camp to camp, living an exhausting if simple life of climbing, digging, eating, sleeping. The well-traveled route along the West Buttress lulls him and his fellow teammates into a false sense of confidence. But once they cross Denali Pass and begin the descent down the northern side of the mountain, Denali unleashes its famed worst. The harrowing journey that follows nearly breaks Fenner's spirit and body, and forever changes him. Crossing Denali is a novice mountaineer's tale that will inspire dreamers and other aspiring mountaineers to seek adventure and transform their lives.