Mountain Madness: Scott Fischer, Mount Everest & a Life Lived on High


Robert Birkby - 2008
    Before his tragic death in 1996, mountaineer Scott Fischer scaled the highest and most treacherous peaks on Earth and became, for many, an iconic symbol of hubris, audacity and the limits of endurance.

Don’t Go There: From Chernobyl to North Korea—one man’s quest to lose himself and find everyone else in the world’s strangest places


Adam Fletcher - 2018
    Their quest to better understand themselves (and everyone else) threatens their world view, sanity, and relationship. Don’t Go There is a hilarious travelogue full of interesting characters, uncomfortable moments, unusual destinations, and British humour that will appeal to lovers of Bill Bryson, Douglas Adams, and David Sedaris. Whether freezing in a blizzard in China, ruining a mass dance in North Korea, experiencing the corruption of Soviet-breakaway Transnistria, pondering the apocalypse in Chernobyl, getting stopped by police boats on the way to the newest country in the world (libertarian utopia Liberland), or meeting the devil incarnate on a night bus in Moldova, Adam keeps his sense of humour and his fascination for the weird things people do to each other when they think no one is looking, in the places few of us ever go. Take a trip with Adam Fletcher today, visa and mosquito free. You won’t regret it.

K2: The Story of the Savage Mountain


Jim Curran - 1995
    Curran mines the rich history of K2 to discover a repeating pattern of naked ambition, rivalry, misjudgment, selfless heroism and inspired route-making.

Winter 8000: Climbing the World's Highest Mountains in the Coldest Season


Bernadette McDonald - 2020
    Polish alpinist, Voytek Kurtyka, termed the practice the "art of suffering." The stories here range from the French climber Elisabeth Revol's solo winter attempt of Makalu, to American Cory Richards and his dramatic effort on Gasherbrum II with famed Italian alpinist Simone Moro and Kazakh hard man Denis Urubko. Award-winning author Bernadette McDonald traveled extensively to interview many of the climbers featured in this book--including Revol, the climbing partner of Tomek Mackiewicz, and Anna Mackiewicz, his widow, meeting them just a few months after Mackiewicz's death on Nanga Parbat. McDonald's many personal relationships with profiled climbers and her ability to tap into emotions and family histories lend Winter 8000 an intimacy too often lacking in mountaineering histories.These accounts prove the point: Nature is not subservient to man.

Should I Not Return eBook: The Most Controversial Tragedy in the History of North American Mountaineering!


Jeffrey Babcock - 2012
    What set their climb apart from those before it, and even those afterward, was a disaster of such magnitude that it became know as North America's worst mountaineering tragedy. Prior to July of 1967 only four men had ever perished on Denali, and then, in one fell swoop, Denali--like Melville s, Great White Whale, Moby Dick--indiscriminately took the lives of seven men. The brothers survive one danger after another: a terrible train accident, a near drowning in the McKinley River, an encounter with a large grizzly, a 60 foot plunge into a gaping crevasse, swept away by a massive avalanche, and finally a climactic escape from the terror of 100 mph winds while descending from the summit. Should I Not Return is a one of a kind cliffhanger packed with danger, survival under the worst conditions, and heroism on the Last Frontier s most treasured trophy--the icy slopes of Denali, North America s tallest mountain--Mount McKinley.

Facing The Extreme: One Woman's Story Of True Courage And Death-Defying Survival In The Eye Of Mt. McKinley's Worst Storm Ever


Ruth Anne Kocour - 1999
    The climbers on Alaska's Mt. McKinley called her "the woman." Ruth Anne Kocour, a world-class mountaineer, wasn't bothered. It was part of the challenge she faced as she joined an all-male team to conquer North America's highest peak...the mountain the Indians called Denali, or God.Faced the extreme. But nine days into this ascent, a forty-fifth birthday present to herself, the most violent weather on record slammed into the mountain. Ruth Anne and her group would be trapped on an ice shelf at 14,000 feet for the deadliest two weeks in Denali history. Pinned down by blinding snows, unable to help other teams dying around her, and her own feet freezing solid, Ruth Anne tells of a wind chill of minus 150 degrees, deadly hidden crevasses, and being trapped in a place so violent and unforgiving that it threatened to push her over the edge and into a place of no return. And yet, in prose as crystalline as the ice around her, she tells, too, of beauty, courage, and the spirit that drives true mountainers higher, as she risks all to go for the summit...and perhaps, for a transcendant moment, touch heaven.And lived to tell about it.

Chronicles of a Cruise Ship Crew Member: Answers to All the Questions Every Passenger Wants to Ask


Joshua Kinser - 2012
    Chronicles of a Cruise Ship Crew Member goes below the waterline to explore the cramped, dirty, and dimly lit crew areas on a revealing tour of the ship's underworld. Go where no passenger has gone before and learn what the crew eats, where they sleep, how they party, and finally understand why all of the officers on a cruise ship are Italian.Climb aboard an adventure on the high seas and witness the wonderful side of ship life where crew members have whirlwind escapades while traveling the world aboard a massive sailing city.Drawing from his experiences working as a musician aboard cruise ships for more than five years, Joshua tells the laugh-out-loud funny and also beautifully poignant story of what cruise ship crew members experience from the minute they first step onto a ship to the day they walk down that gangway for the last time.

NEVEREST New Insights: Inside Scott Fischer's Mountain Madness Expedition (Mountain Mania Book 1)


Nick van der Leek - 2015
    His distillation was described at the time by THE CLIMB co-author, Weston DeWalt, as ‘the clearest exposition of the 1996 disaster I have ever seen’. Now, nine years later, having honed his penmanship within the rigors and deceits of the True Crime genre, Nick van der Leek is taking on the Everest narrative once more but with a fresh approach. Compared to his 2006 article, NEVEREST is a much larger and deeper analysis of the events leading up to ‘the deadliest day on Mount Everest [May 10]. Van der Leek makes no bones about the purpose of this narrative: “We’ll be treating the 1996 disaster as a criminal investigation; and the mountain itself as a crime scene.” From this unique and fascinating vantage point the reader is dragged back into a deadly ‘storm over Everest’, one that brings readers and amateur climbers face to face with something more terrifying than the mountain itself. What are the motives of the men climbing the world’s tallest mountain? What Van der Leek manages to achieve in NEVEREST is to show the naked ambition and base morality of many of the men and women who returned from the dismal heights to a hero’s welcome. What if some of them weren’t heroes? Using the psychology ‘it takes a thief to catch a thief’ professional photojournalist and one time climber of Kilimanjaro, Nick van der Leek demystifies the heroism of climbing. “The question is whether climbing a real mountain is an authentic process towards growing ones symbolic self, and the question is whether climbing the world’s highest mountain means accessing the highest parts of the self.” Would we climb that mountain if there were no picture taken at the top? Would we still push for the summit if it meant coming back and not telling a soul? By following the narrative of the MOUNTAIN MADNESS team, Van der Leek investigates and cross references what Scott Fischer’s mostly American crew and clients did right as opposed to their rivals on Everest: Adventure Consultants [five members of Hall’s team died on the mountain including Rob Hall]. As Van der Leek pursues an explanation to account for this incongruity he finds and then mines the golden thread buried within the great mountain. Were the teams locked in a deadly rivalry, or did they just run out of oxygen and time? Was it the weather or human error or the result of something else? What role did hubris play in Everest’s deadliest day, and what role does it play in your life?

Mastering Yourself, How To Align Your Life With Your True Calling & Reach Your Full Potential


Corey Wayne - 2018
    It will help you to discover your true purpose and calling in life. How to get any job or career you want. How you can get the upper hand in any personal or professional negotiation. The ultimate time management strategy that will help you maximize the use of your time, enable you to focus on your core competencies and reach your goals in the quickest most efficient way possible. It will teach you success and problem solving mindsets and skillsets that will enable you to overcome any obstacle, challenge or setback. The secrets to health, vitality and unlimited energy that keeps you free from common colds, flu and illnesses so you can enjoy your life with exceptional mental clarity, focus and efficiency. How the worlds banking, credit, monetary and financial system really works so you can understand how government policy will affect your business, job, investments and the economy so you can take advantage of the boom/bust cycle of the central banking system, protect your accumulated wealth and financially profit in any market conditions. Why am I qualified to help you overcome your challenges and reach your full potential? I’ve spent most of my life studying and applying the best lessons I’ve learned from self-help, philosophy, history, religion, politics, finance, business, marketing, entrepreneurship, leadership, health, exercise and studying the most successful people in history. I share what I learned after hitting the wall and failing to graduate college so I could stop sabotaging my success and employ the superior fundamental principles of the science of high achievement that enabled me to get every job and career I went after upon graduation, started a mortgage and real estate company that netted a $60,000 profit in the first month of operation, and grew it from just an idea into 7 companies grossing almost $8 million dollars per year in revenue in only six years with two business partners and 40 employees. Then I liquidated everything before the housing crash of 2007-2008 to become a full time life coach. I went from making $500,000 per year to nothing and struggled tremendously to figure out the right business model for the first 5 years. I was so determined to succeed in my new business that I even resorted to waiting tables 3 days a week for 10 months, while sleeping on my dad’s couch for several years living like a broke college student, until I figured it out and my new business took off. I have grown it into a multi-million dollar business from nothing but an idea that helps change the lives of thousands of men and women from all over the world, and every country, cultural and religious background. I’ve made millions, lost millions and made it all back again many times over by applying the best wisdom I’ve learned from the most successful people in the world, past and present. I share with you my personal journey of how I did it and continue to do it, and what I’ve learned so you can avoid the mistakes I’ve made, and get from where you are to where you want to be in the quickest way possible. There’s a reason why high achievers are able to consistently achieve their dreams over the course of their lives, despite suffering many setbacks and challenges, and my book will teach you how to do the same thing in your own life. If you apply what I teach, you’ll get even better results than you’re currently getting.

Denali Nights: A commercial expedition to climb Mt McKinley's West Buttress (Footsteps on the Mountain travel diaries Book 20)


Mark Horrell - 2014
    Surely that meant it was a good year to climb Denali?There had been an unprecedented spell of good weather on the peak known as Mt McKinley, one of the Seven Summits, a peak notorious for its severe conditions and cold temperatures that trapped climbers in storms for days on end. This year people were climbing straight up and reaching the summit without a hitch, and coming back down again days ahead of schedule.But it would take two weeks of hauling 30kg sledges while carrying 20kg backpacks before Mark Horrell's team would be in a position to launch an attack on the summit themselves, and they knew these statistics evened themselves out eventually.Would the weather hold, or would they find themselves fighting to survive in the teeth of a storm?This is Mark's account of his expedition to climb Denali's West Buttress as part of a commercial team, and contains lots of useful advice, like not falling asleep while using a pee bottle, how to avoid bonking on the trail, and how to make a sledge travel in the right direction by shouting at it.About this seriesThe Footsteps on the Mountain travel diaries are Mark's expedition journals. They are a lightly-edited version of what he scribbles in his tent each evening after a day in the mountains. They are quick reads, self-edited, and available at a budget price.Mark's first full-length, commercially-edited book, Seven Steps from Snowdon to Everest, about his journey to becoming an Everest climber, is published in December 2015.

The Boardman Tasker Omnibus


Joe Tasker - 1995
    Their four books of lightweight Himalayan expeditioning are here published in one volume for the first time.

High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places


David Breashears - 1999
    But the question remains: Why climb? In High Exposure, elite mountaineer and acclaimed Everest filmmaker David Breashears answers with an intimate and captivating look at his life. For Breashears, climbing has never been a question of risk taking: Rather, it is the pursuit of excellence and a quest for self-knowledge. Danger comes, he argues, when ambition blinds reason. The stories this world-class climber and great adventurer tells will surprise you -- from discussions of competitiveness on the heights to a frank description of the 1996 Everest tragedy.

Echoes: One Climber's Hard Road to Freedom


Nick Bullock - 2012
    Then he discovered the mountains. Making up for lost time, Bullock soon became one of Britain's best climbers, learning his trade in Scotland and Wales, before travelling from Pakistan to Peru.

View from the Summit: The Remarkable Memoir by the First Person to Conquer Everest


Edmund Hillary - 1999
    In this candid, wry, and vastly entertaining autobiography, Hillary looks back on that 1953 landmark expedition, as well as his remarkable explorations in other exotic locales, from the South Pole to the Ganges. View From The Summit is the compelling life story of a New Zealand country boy who daydreamed of wild adventures; the pioneering climber who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth after scaling the world's tallest peak; and the elder statesman and unlikely diplomat whose groundbreaking program of aid to Nepal continues to this day, paying his debt of worldwide fame to the Himalayan region. More than four decades after Hillary looked down from Everest's 29,000 feet, his impact is still felt -- in our fascination with the perils and triumphs of mountain climbing, and in today's phenomenon of extreme sports. The call to adventure is alive and real on every page of this gripping memoir.

Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage: The Lonely Challenge


Hermann Buhl - 1956
    Autobiography of Hermann Buhl, whose solo, unaided climb of Nanga Parbat is thought to be a greater achievement than Hillary and Tenzing's climb on Everest.