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| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer, 1998-11-12 #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The epic account of the storm on the summit of Mt. Everest that claimed five lives and left countless more—including Krakauer's—in guilt-ridden disarray. A harrowing tale of the perils of high-altitude climbing, a story of bad luck and worse judgment and of heartbreaking heroism. —PEOPLE A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down. He was wrong. By writing Into Thin Air, Krakauer may have hoped to exorcise some of his own demons and lay to rest some of the painful questions that still surround the event. He takes great pains to provide a balanced picture of the people and events he witnessed and gives due credit to the tireless and dedicated Sherpas. He also avoids blasting easy targets such as Sandy Pittman, the wealthy socialite who brought an espresso maker along on the expedition. Krakauer's highly personal inquiry into the catastrophe provides a great deal of insight into what went wrong. But for Krakauer himself, further interviews and investigations only lead him to the conclusion that his perceived failures were directly responsible for a fellow climber's death. Clearly, Krakauer remains haunted by the disaster, and although he relates a number of incidents in which he acted selflessly and even heroically, he seems unable to view those instances objectively. In the end, despite his evenhanded and even generous assessment of others' actions, he reserves a full measure of vitriol for himself. This updated trade paperback edition of Into Thin Air includes an extensive new postscript that sheds fascinating light on the acrimonious debate that flared between Krakauer and Everest guide Anatoli Boukreev in the wake of the tragedy. I have no doubt that Boukreev's intentions were good on summit day, writes Krakauer in the postscript, dated August 1999. What disturbs me, though, was Boukreev's refusal to acknowledge the possibility that he made even a single poor decision. Never did he indicate that perhaps it wasn't the best choice to climb without gas or go down ahead of his clients. As usual, Krakauer supports his points with dogged research and a good dose of humility. But rather than continue the heated discourse that has raged since Into Thin Air's denouncement of guide Boukreev, Krakauer's tone is conciliatory; he points most of his criticism at G. Weston De Walt, who coauthored The Climb, Boukreev's version of events. And in a touching conclusion, Krakauer recounts his last conversation with the late Boukreev, in which the two weathered climbers agreed to disagree about certain points. Krakauer had great hopes to patch things up with Boukreev, but the Russian later died in an avalanche on another Himalayan peak, Annapurna I. In 1999, Krakauer received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters--a prestigious prize intended to honor writers of exceptional accomplishment. According to the Academy's citation, Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish subtlety and profound insight of the born writer. His account of an ascent of Mount Everest has led to a general reevaluation of climbing and of the commercialization of what was once a romantic, solitary sport; while his account of the life and death of Christopher McCandless, who died of starvation after challenging the Alaskan wilderness, delves even more deeply and disturbingly into the fascination of nature and the devastating effects of its lure on a young and curious mind. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: The Climb Anatoli Boukreev, G. Weston DeWalt, 2015-09-22 Everest, the major motion picture from Universal Pictures, is set for wide release on September 18, 2015. Read The Climb, Anatoli Boukreev (portrayed by Ingvar Sigurðsson in the film) and G. Weston DeWalt’s compelling account of those fateful events on Everest. In May 1996 three expeditions attempted to climb Mount Everest on the Southeast Ridge route pioneered by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. Crowded conditions slowed their progress. Late in the day twenty-three men and women-including expedition leaders Scott Fischer and Rob Hall-were caught in a ferocious blizzard. Disoriented and out of oxygen, climbers struggled to find their way down the mountain as darkness approached. Alone and climbing blind, Anatoli Boukreev brought climbers back from the edge of certain death. This new edition includes a transcript of the Mountain Madness expedition debriefing recorded five days after the tragedy, as well as G. Weston DeWalt's response to Into Thin Air author Jon Krakauer. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Above the Clouds Anatoli Boukreev, 2015-09-08 A breathtaking and lavishly illustrated autobiography in essays on Anatoli Boukreev, the late world-famous mountaineer and author of The Climb. When Anatoli Boukreev died on the slopes of Annapurna on Christmas day, 1997, the world lost one of the greatest adventurers of our time. In Above the Clouds, both the man and his incredible climbs on Mt. McKinley, K2, Makalu, Manaslu, and Everest-including his diary entries on the infamous 1996 disaster, written shortly after his return-are immortalized. There also are minute technical details about the skill of mountain climbing, as well as personal reflections on what life means to someone who risks it every day. Fully illustrated with gorgeous color photos, Above the Clouds is a unique and breathtaking look at the world from its most remote peaks. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Where Men Win Glory Jon Krakauer, 2010-07-27 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A gripping book about this extraordinary man who lived passionately and died unnecessarily (USA Today) in post-9/11 Afghanistan, from the bestselling author of Into the Wild and Into Thin Air. In 2002, Pat Tillman walked away from a multimillion-dollar NFL contract to join the Army and became an icon of American patriotism. When he was killed in Afghanistan two years later, a legend was born. But the real Pat Tillman was much more remarkable, and considerably more complicated than the public knew. Sent first to Iraq—a war he would openly declare was “illegal as hell” —and eventually to Afghanistan, Tillman was driven by emotionally charged, sometimes contradictory notions of duty, honor, justice, and masculine pride, and he was determined to serve his entire three-year commitment. But on April 22, 2004, his life would end in a barrage of bullets fired by his fellow soldiers. Though obvious to most of the two dozen soldiers on the scene that a ranger in Tillman’s own platoon had fired the fatal shots, the Army aggressively maneuvered to keep this information from Tillman’s family and the American public for five weeks following his death. During this time, President Bush used Tillman’s name to promote his administration’ s foreign policy. Long after Tillman’s nationally televised memorial service, the Army grudgingly notified his closest relatives that he had “probably” been killed by friendly fire while it continued to dissemble about the details of his death and who was responsible. Drawing on Tillman’s journals and letters and countless interviews with those who knew him and extensive research in Afghanistan, Jon Krakauer chronicles Tillman’s riveting, tragic odyssey in engrossing detail highlighting his remarkable character and personality while closely examining the murky, heartbreaking circumstances of his death. Infused with the power and authenticity readers have come to expect from Krakauer’s storytelling, Where Men Win Glory exposes shattering truths about men and war. This edition has been updated to reflect new developments and includes new material obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Left for Dead Beck Weathers, Stephen G. Michaud, 2000-09-21 With a new preface by the author • As featured in the upcoming motion picture Everest, starring Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Robin Wright, Emily Watson, Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, and Jake Gyllenhaal “I can tell you that some force within me rejected death at the last moment and then guided me, blind and stumbling—quite literally a dead man walking—into camp and the shaky start of my return to life.” In 1996 Beck Weathers and a climbing team pushed toward the summit of Mount Everest. Then a storm exploded on the mountain, ripping the team to shreds, forcing brave men to scratch and crawl for their lives. Rescuers who reached Weathers saw that he was dying, and left him. Twelve hours later, the inexplicable occurred. Weathers appeared, blinded, gloveless, and caked with ice—walking down the mountain. In this powerful memoir, now featuring a new Preface, Weathers describes not only his escape from hypothermia and the murderous storm that killed eight climbers, but the journey of his life. This is the story of a man’s route to a dangerous sport and a fateful expedition, as well as the road of recovery he has traveled since; of survival in the face of certain death, the reclaiming of a family and a life; and of the most extraordinary adventure of all: finding the courage to say yes when life offers us a second chance. Praise for Left for Dead “Riveting . . . [a] remarkable survival story . . . Left for Dead takes a long, critical look at climbing: Weathers is particularly candid about how the demanding sport altered and strained his relationships.”—USA Today “Ultimately, this engrossing tale depicts the difficulty of a man’s struggle to reform his life.”—Publishers Weekly |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer, 1997-04-22 When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin his long, dangerous descent from 29,028 feet, twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly toward the top. No one had noticed that the sky had begun to fill with clouds. Six hours later and 3,000 feet lower, in 70-knot winds and blinding snow, Krakauer collapsed in his tent, freezing, hallucinating from exhaustion and hypoxia, but safe. The following morning, he learned that six of his fellow climbers hadn't made it back to their camp and were desperately struggling for their lives. When the storm finally passed, five of them would be dead, and the sixth so horribly frostbitten that his right hand would have to be amputated. Into Thin Air is the definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest by the acclaimed journalist and author of the bestseller Into the Wild. On assignment for Outside Magazine to report on the growing commercialization of the mountain, Krakauer, an accomplished climber, went to the Himalayas as a client of Rob Hall, the most respected high-altitude guide in the world. A rangy, thirty-five-year-old New Zealander, Hall had summited Everest four times between 1990 and 1995 and had led thirty-nine climbers to the top. Ascending the mountain in close proximity to Hall's team was a guided expedition led by Scott Fischer, a forty-year-old American with legendary strength and drive who had climbed the peak without supplemental oxygen in 1994. But neither Hall nor Fischer survived the rogue storm that struck in May 1996. Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled so many people -- including himself -- to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense. Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer's eyewitness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement. Into the Wild is available on audio, read by actor Campbell Scott. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: High Exposure David Breashears, 2000-05-17 The author, a noted mountaineer and cinematographer, describes a lifetime of conquering the world's mountain peaks and discusses his 1996 expedition to Mount Everest to create his IMAX film Everest. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Missoula Jon Krakauer, 2016-01-12 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “A devastating exposé of colleges and local law enforcement.... A substantive deep dive into the morass of campus sex crimes, where the victim is too often treated like the accused.” —Entertainment Weekly Missoula, Montana, is a typical college town, home to a highly regarded state university whose beloved football team inspires a passionately loyal fan base. Between January 2008 and May 2012, hundreds of students reported sexual assaults to the local police. Few of the cases were properly handled by either the university or local authorities. In this, Missoula is also typical. In these pages, acclaimed journalist Jon Krakauer investigates a spate of campus rapes that occurred in Missoula over a four-year period. Taking the town as a case study for a crime that is sadly prevalent throughout the nation, Krakauer documents the experiences of five victims: their fear and self-doubt in the aftermath; the skepticism directed at them by police, prosecutors, and the public; their bravery in pushing forward and what it cost them. These stories cut through abstract ideological debate about acquaintance rape to demonstrate that it does not happen because women are sending mixed signals or seeking attention. They are victims of a terrible crime, deserving of fairness from our justice system. Rigorously researched, rendered in incisive prose, Missoula stands as an essential call to action. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Mountain Madness: Robert Birkby, 2009-02-01 “An extraordinary life.”—The New York Times Book Review “A fitting homage to one of the great outdoor extremists.”—Kirkus Reviews Legendary climber Scott Fischer found in Mount Everest a perfect landscape for his fearless spirit. Scaling the world’s highest peak tested his skills, his courage, and his endurance. His legendary final expedition—and its tragic outcome—are portrayed in Everest, the 3-D movie adaptation starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Scott Fischer. Robert Birkby, one of Scott’s close friends, captures in this intimate and stirring portrait who Scott Fischer really was and what led him to climb to the top of the world—before he left it altogether. “A personal, uncritical biography that rounds out the portrait of Fischer sketched in Krakauer’s best-seller Into Thin Air.”—The New York Times Book Review “A much fuller picture of a climber widely critiqued in the high-profile coverage after the Everest tragedy.”—Seattle Post Intelligencer “A vivid portrait of a superb athlete whose love of mountain climbing drove everything he did.”—Ed Viesturs, author of No Shortcuts to the Top “Birkby succeeds in illuminating the power mountains can exert over the human soul.—Publishers Weekly Updated with a New Introduction and Epilogue Plus new photos exclusive to the digital edition! |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Three Cups of Deceit Jon Krakauer, 2018-05-02 Greg Mortenson, the bestselling author of Three Cups of Tea, is a man who has built a global reputation as a selfless humanitarian and children’s crusader, and he’s been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. But, as bestselling author Jon Krakauer demonstrates in this extensively researched and penetrating book, he is not all that he appears to be. Based on wide-ranging interviews with former employees, board members, and others who have intimate knowledge of Mortenson and his charity, the Central Asia Institute, Three Cups of Deceit uncovers multiple layers of deception behind Mortenson’s public image. Was his crusade really inspired by a desire to repay the kindness of villagers who nursed him back to health when he became lost on his descent down K2? Was he abducted and held for eight days by the Taliban? Has his charity built all of the schools that he has claimed? This book is a passionately argued plea for the truth, and a tragic tale of good intentions gone very wrong. 100% of Jon Krakauer’s proceeds from the sale of Three Cups of Deceit will be donated to the “Stop Girl Trafficking” project at the American Himalayan Foundation (www.himalayan-foundation.org/live/project/stopgirltrafficking). |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Conquistadors of the Useless Lionel Terray, 2008-09-16 If my library was to somehow catch fire and I could only save one book, the long out of print Conquistadors of the Useless, by Lionel Terray, would be it. -- Explore magazine The finest mountaineering narrative ever written. -- David Roberts, author of Mountain of My Fear * One of National Geographic Adventure's 100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time * The story of ground-breaking climbs told with insight and wit * A mountaineering classic brought back into print Frenchman Lionel Terray is one of mountaineering history's greatest alpinists, and his autobiography, Conquistadors of the Useless, stands among the 100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time, according to National Geographic Adventure magazine. Following World War II, when France desperately needed successes to heal its wounds, Terray emerged as a national hero, conquering summits atop the planet's highest mountains. This biography of Lionel Terry is filled with first-time feats and acts of bravery in the face of unspeakable odds. He climbed with legends such as Maurice Herzog, Gaston Rebuffat, and Louis Lachenal. He made first ascents in the Alps, Alaska, the Andes, and the Himalaya. Terray's gripping story captures the energy of an optimistic world shaking off the restraints of war and austerity. It's a mountaineering classic. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: After the Wind Louis W. Kasischke, 2014 Near the top of Mount Everest, on 10 May 1996, eight climbers died. It was the worst tragedy in the mountain's history. Lou Kasischke was there. Now he tells the harrowing story of what went wrong, as it has never been told before - including why the climbers were desperately late and out of time. His personal story, captured in the title AFTER THE WIND, tells about the intense moments near the top. These moments also revealed the love story that saved his life. In the spring of 1996, Lou Kasischke joined renowned climber Rob Hall's Mount Everest expedition. When he said goodbye to his wife, Sandy, he knew he faced major physical and mental challenges against rock, snow, ice, avalanches, and extreme high altitude to climb the highest mountain in the world. What Lou didn't know was that he also stood at the threshold of a living hell. Six weeks later near the top, things went wrong. Lou and his fellow climbers faced a challenge even greater than the mountain - the internal struggle about what to do when you are close but out of time. There were no second chances. Decisions were made. Some lived. Some died. It was the worst tragedy in Mount Everest history. Lou wrote his account of the events 16 years ago in the aftermath of the tragedy, but only now is he ready to let it go. He tells two stories. One is about the historic events. His perspective and analysis about what happened and what went wrong have never been told, and his account differs markedly from what others have written. The truth in the story depends on who is telling it. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Everest Broughton Coburn, 2003-04 Photographs and firsthand accounts chronicle the 1996 Everest expedition that claimed eight lives. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Buried in the Sky Peter Zuckerman, Amanda Padoan, 2012-06-11 In August 2008, when 11 climbers lost their lives on K2, the world's most dangerous peak, two Sherpas survived and are two of the most skillful mountaineers on earth. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Ultimate High Göran Kropp, David Lagercrantz, 1999 A personal account of one man's determination to climb Mount Everest alone describes how the Swedish climber accomplished his goal, within days of the 1995 tragedy that took the lives of a number of fellow climbers. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: The Tesseract Alex Garland, 2005-07-05 An intricately woven, suspenseful novel of psychological and political intrigue, The Tesseract follows the interlocking fates of three sets of characters in the Philippines: gangsters in a chase through the streets of Manila; a middle-class mother putting her children to bed in the suburbs and remembering her first love; and a couple of street kids and the wealthy psychiatrist who is studying their dreams. Alex Garland demonstrates the range of his extraordinary talents as a novelist in this national bestseller, a Chinese puzzle of a novel about three intersecting sets of characters in the Philippines. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Beyond the Mountain Steve House, 2013-10-06 What does it take to be one of the world's best high-altitude mountain climbers? A lot of fundraising; traveling in some of the world's most dangerous countries; enduring cold bivouacs, searing lungs, and a cloudy mind when you can least afford one. It means learning the hard lessons the mountains teach. Steve House built his reputation on ascents throughout the Alps, Canada, Alaska, the Karakoram and the Himalaya that have expanded possibilities of style, speed, and difficulty. In 2005 Steve and alpinist Vince Anderson pioneered a direct new route on the Rupal Face of 26,600-foot Nanga Parbat, which had never before been climbed in alpine style. It was the third ascent of the face and the achievement earned Steveand Vince the first Piolet dor (Golden Ice Axe) awarded to North Americans. Steve is an accomplished and spellbinding storyteller in the tradition of Maurice Herzog and Lionel Terray. Beyond the Mountain is a gripping read destined to be a mountain classic. And it |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Eiger Dreams Jon Krakauer, 2009-02-10 No one writes about mountaineering and its attendant hardships and victories more brilliantly than critically acclaimed author Jon Krakauer. In this collection of his finest work from such magazines as Outside and Smithsonian, he explores the subject from the unique and memorable perspective of one who has battled peaks like K2, Denali, Everest, and, of course, the Eiger. Always with a keen eye, an open heart, and a hunger for the ultimate experience, he gives us unerring portraits of the mountaineering experience. Yet Eiger Dreams is more about people than about rock and ice—people with that odd, sometimes maniacal obsession with mountain summits that sets them apart from other men and women. Here we meet Adrian the Romanian, determined to be the first of his countrymen to solo Denali; John Gill, climber not of great mountains but of house-sized boulders so difficult to surmount that even demanding alpine climbs seem easy; and many more compelling and colorful characters. In the most intimate piece, “The Devils Thumb,” Krakauer recounts his own near-fatal, ultimately triumphant struggle with solo-madness as he scales Alaska’s Devils Thumb. Eiger Dreams is stirring, vivid writing about one of the most compelling and dangerous of all human pursuits. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: The Will to Climb Ed Viesturs, David Roberts, 2011-10-04 The bestselling author of The Mountain and No Shortcuts to the Top chronicles his three attempts to climb the world’s tenth-highest and statistically deadliest peak while exploring the dramatic and tragic history of others who have made—or attempted—the ascent. “Viesturs and Roberts have written an exhaustively researched and wonderfully compelling history of the most fascinating and dangerous of the Himalayan giants.”—David Breashers, veteran mountaineer and documentary filmmaker, director of IMAX film Everest As a high school student, Ed Viesturs read and was captivated by the French climber Maurice Herzog’s famous and grisly account of the first ascent of Annapurna in 1950. When he began his own campaign to climb the world’s fourteen highest peaks in the late 1980s, Viesturs looked forward with trepidation to undertaking Annapurna himself. Two failures to summit in 2000 and 2002 made Annapurna his nemesis. His successful 2005 ascent was the triumphant capstone of his climbing quest. In The Will to Climb Viesturs and co-author David Roberts bring the extraordinary challenges of Annapurna to vivid life through edge-of-your-seat accounts of the greatest climbs in the mountain’s history, and of his own failed attempts and eventual success. In the process Viesturs ponders what Annapurna reveals about some of our most fundamental moral and spiritual questions—questions, he believes, that we need to answer to lead our lives well. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Touching My Father's Soul Jamling T. Norgay, 2002-05-14 In a story of Everest unlike any told before, Jamling Tenzing Norgay gives us an insider's view of the Sherpa world. As Climbing Leader of the famed 1996 Everest IMAX expedition led by David Breashears, Jamling Norgay was able to follow in the footsteps of his legendary mountaineer father, Tenzing Norgay, who with Sir Edmund Hillary was the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest, in 1953. Jamling Norgay interweaves the story of his own ascent during the infamous May 1996 Mount Everest disaster with little-known stories from his father's historic climb and the spiritual life of the Sherpas, revealing a fascinating and profound world that few -- even many who have made it to the top -- have ever seen. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Under the Banner of Heaven Jon Krakauer, 2003 Traces the 1984 murder of a woman and her child by fundamentalist Mormons, exploring the belief systems and traditions that mark the faith's most extreme factions and what their practices reflect about the nature of religion in America. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: This Might Be Too Personal Alyssa Shelasky, 2022-05-17 A frisky, feminine, funny, and profoundly genuine essay collection on relationships, sex, motherhood, and finding yourself, by the editor of New York Magazine's Sex Diaries. Alyssa Shelasky has a lot to tell you. In this hilarious and intimate essay collection, Alyssa navigates life as a wild-hearted woman and her thrilling career as a sex, relationship, and celebrity writer in New York City. From double-booking an interview with Sarah Jessica Parker and an abortion appointment and unsuccessfully quitting sex and men entirely to have a baby via an anonymous sperm donor, to hooking up with a hot musician while eight months pregnant and then finding her life partner but vowing to never get married, Alyssa's essays paint a deeply genuine, romantic, and uproarious portrait of a woman who craves both love and lust, and refuses to settle or sacrifice her fierce inner-spirit, sometimes to her own regret and detriment. And she's not afraid to give you every single beautiful, messy, embarrassing, and emotional detail of her bleeding heart and busy bedroom. This Might Be Too Personal is like having (several) drinks with your best friend who has seen, heard, and done everything. Literally, everything. Told in a refreshing candor with jolts of humor, undeniable relatability, and irresistible energy, Alyssa’s book is the ultimate meditation on living an authentic life with big feelings, hard decisions, and the small victories and painful mistakes of motherhood, womanhood, and profound independence. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Ghosts of Everest Jochen Hemmleb, Larry A. Johnson, Eric R. Simonson, William E. Nothdurft, 2000 Did Mallory and Irvine reach Everest's summit 30 years before Hillary and Tenzing? Until now, clues about what happened to these two Everest pioneers had been scant and misleading. Until now, no one has known whether they reached the summit. Until now, no one has known where or how they perished. This is a detective story of the first order. It is the story not just of Mallory and Irvine's last climb, but of the team of climbers and researchers who, together, found the body of perhaps Britain's greatest mountaineer and uncovered the startling story he had waited so long to reveal. Written by the three key members of the team, and incorporating extensive interviews with other team members, GHOSTS OF EVEREST is the dramatic unfolding of both the 1999 and 1924 expeditions, woven together into a compelling narrative. This book is the definitive account and has become an instant classic. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Death, Daring, and Disaster Charles R. "Butch" Farabee, 2005-04-07 375 exciting tales of heroism and tragedy drawn from the nearly 150,000 search and rescue missions carried out by the National Park Service since 1872. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Into the Silence Wade Davis, 2011-09-27 A magnificent work of history, biography and adventure. If the quest for Mount Everest began as a grand imperial gesture, as redemption for an empire of explorers that had lost the race to the Poles, it ended as a mission of regeneration for a country and a people bled white by war. Of the twenty-six British climbers who, on three expedtions (1921-24), walked 400 miles off the map to find and assault the highest mountain on Earth, twenty had seen the worst of the fighting. Six had been severely wounded, two others nearly died of disease at the Front, one was hospitalized twice with shell shock. Three as army surgeons dealt for the duration with the agonies of the dying. Two lost brothers, killed in action. All had endured the slaughter, the coughing of the guns, the bones and barbed wire, the white faces of the dead. In a monumental work of history and adventure, ten years in the writing, Wade Davis asks not whether George Mallory was the first to reach the summit of Everest, but rather why he kept on climbing on that fateful day. His answer lies in a single phrase uttered by one of the survivors as they retreated from the mountain: The price of life is death. Mallory walked on because for him, as for all of his generation, death was but a frail barrier that men crossed, smiling and gallant, every day. As climbers they accepted a degree of risk unimaginable before the war. They were not cavalier, but death was no stranger. They had seen so much of it that it had no hold on them. What mattered was how one lived, the moments of being alive. For all of them Everest had become an exalted radiance, a sentinel in the sky, a symbol of hope in a world gone mad. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Into the Wild Jon Krakauer, 2024-02-08 Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild examines the true story of Chris McCandless, a young man who walked deep into the Alaskan wilderness and whose SOS note and emaciated corpse were found four months later. In April 1992, Chris McCandless set off alone into the Alaskan wild. He had given his savings to charity, abandoned his car and his possessions, and burnt the money in his wallet, determined to live a life of independence. Just four months later, Chris was found dead. An SOS note was taped to his makeshift home, an abandoned bus. In piecing together the final travels of this extraordinary young man's life, Jon Krakauer writes about the heart of the wilderness, its terribly beauty and its relentless harshness. Into the Wild is a modern classic of travel writing, and a riveting exploration of what drives some of us to risk more than we can afford to lose. From the author of Under the Banner of Heaven and Into Thin Air. A film adaptation of Into the Wild was directed by Sean Penn and starred Emile Hirsch and Kristen Stewart. 'It may be nonfiction, but Into the Wild is a mystery of the highest order.' - Entertainment Weekly |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: The Altitude Journals David J Mauro, 2018-05 The true account of a 44-year-old man in the midst of personal crisis who goes on the become the 65th Amercian to stand atop all seven continental summits, including Mt Everest. At times triumphant, humorous, heart breaking and poignant, THE ALTITUDE JOURNALS takes readers on an epic worldwide adventure. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Everest Thomas F. Hornbein, 1998 Details the author and his partner Willi Unsoeld's ascent of Everest's West Ridge in 1963. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Endurance Alfred Lansing, 2014-04-29 Experience “one of the best adventure books ever written” (Wall Street Journal) in this New York Times bestseller: the harrowing tale of British explorer Ernest Shackleton's 1914 attempt to reach the South Pole. In August 1914, polar explorer Ernest Shackleton boarded the Endurance and set sail for Antarctica, where he planned to cross the last uncharted continent on foot. In January 1915, after battling its way through a thousand miles of pack ice and only a day's sail short of its destination, the Endurance became locked in an island of ice. Thus began the legendary ordeal of Shackleton and his crew of twenty-seven men. When their ship was finally crushed between two ice floes, they attempted a near-impossible journey over 850 miles of the South Atlantic's heaviest seas to the closest outpost of civilization. In Endurance, the definitive account of Ernest Shackleton's fateful trip, Alfred Lansing brilliantly narrates the harrowing and miraculous voyage that has defined heroism for the modern age. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Blind Descent Brian Dickinson, 2014 Former Navy rescue swimmer Brian Dickinson was roughly 1,000 feet from the summit of Mount Everest ... when his Sherpa became ill and had to turn back, leaving Brian with a difficult decision: should he continue to push for the summit, or head back down the mountain? After carefully weighing the options, Brian decided to continue toward the summit ... Four hours later, Brian solo-summited the highest peak in the world, but the celebration was short-lived ... Suddenly, his vision became blurry, his eyes started to burn, and within seconds, he was rendered almost completely blind--Amazon.com. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Denali's Howl Andy Hall, 2014-06-12 In the summer of 1967, twelve young men ascended Alaska’s Mount McKinley—known to the locals as Denali. Engulfed by a once-in-alifetime blizzard, only five made it back down. Andy Hall, a journalist and son of the park superintendent at the time, was living in the park when the tragedy occurred and spent years tracking down rescuers, survivors, lost documents, and recordings of radio communications. In Denali’s Howl, Hall reveals the full story of the expedition in a powerful retelling that will mesmerize the climbing community as well as anyone interested in mega-storms and man’s sometimes deadly drive to challenge the forces of nature. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: No Way Down Graham Bowley, 2011-03-24 Following the stories of climbers from around the world, 'No Way Down' weaves a tale of human courage, folly, survival and loss at the top of one of the highest and most dangerous mountains in the world. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Dark Shadows Falling Joe Simpson, 1997 * Concise, objective account of the 1996 Everest debacle * One of Simpson's most controversial and challenging books * Short listed for the 1997 Boardman Tasker Award In 1992, an Indian climber was left to die alone high on the South Col of Mount Everest by other climbers who watched his feebly waving hand from the security of their tent thirty yards away. Some film footage of his corpse was later shown on television. Why did these onlookers not hold the dying man's hand and comfort him? The answer appalls Joe Simpson, who was himself left for dead in a crevasse at the foot of Siula Grande in Peru in 1985. It is an uncomfortable ethical question that he is forced to confront as he attempts a difficult new route on Pumori, with a clear view of the whole South Col from close to the vantage point where Eric Shipton first spotted the way up the south side of Everest taken by Hillary and Tenzing in 1953. Now that Everest has become the playground of the rich, where commercial operators offer guided tours to the top up fixed ropes, camping amidst the detritus and unburied corpses of previous less fortunate climbers, Simpson wonders if the noble, caring instincts that once characterized mountaineering have been irrevocably displaced as in other facets of today's society. On investigation, he finds it a less black and white issue that at first it seemed. I shall never forget the horror of dying alone, the awful empty loneliness of it, he says. Yet his empathy for the victims of storms, altitude sickness, or misjudgments, is tested time and again as he explores anecdotally and in conversations with his companions on Pumori, the moral climate of mountaineering in the 1990s. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer, 1999-10-19 #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The epic account of the storm on the summit of Mt. Everest that claimed five lives and left countless more—including Krakauer's—in guilt-ridden disarray. A harrowing tale of the perils of high-altitude climbing, a story of bad luck and worse judgment and of heartbreaking heroism. —PEOPLE A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down. He was wrong. By writing Into Thin Air, Krakauer may have hoped to exorcise some of his own demons and lay to rest some of the painful questions that still surround the event. He takes great pains to provide a balanced picture of the people and events he witnessed and gives due credit to the tireless and dedicated Sherpas. He also avoids blasting easy targets such as Sandy Pittman, the wealthy socialite who brought an espresso maker along on the expedition. Krakauer's highly personal inquiry into the catastrophe provides a great deal of insight into what went wrong. But for Krakauer himself, further interviews and investigations only lead him to the conclusion that his perceived failures were directly responsible for a fellow climber's death. Clearly, Krakauer remains haunted by the disaster, and although he relates a number of incidents in which he acted selflessly and even heroically, he seems unable to view those instances objectively. In the end, despite his evenhanded and even generous assessment of others' actions, he reserves a full measure of vitriol for himself. This updated trade paperback edition of Into Thin Air includes an extensive new postscript that sheds fascinating light on the acrimonious debate that flared between Krakauer and Everest guide Anatoli Boukreev in the wake of the tragedy. I have no doubt that Boukreev's intentions were good on summit day, writes Krakauer in the postscript, dated August 1999. What disturbs me, though, was Boukreev's refusal to acknowledge the possibility that he made even a single poor decision. Never did he indicate that perhaps it wasn't the best choice to climb without gas or go down ahead of his clients. As usual, Krakauer supports his points with dogged research and a good dose of humility. But rather than continue the heated discourse that has raged since Into Thin Air's denouncement of guide Boukreev, Krakauer's tone is conciliatory; he points most of his criticism at G. Weston De Walt, who coauthored The Climb, Boukreev's version of events. And in a touching conclusion, Krakauer recounts his last conversation with the late Boukreev, in which the two weathered climbers agreed to disagree about certain points. Krakauer had great hopes to patch things up with Boukreev, but the Russian later died in an avalanche on another Himalayan peak, Annapurna I. In 1999, Krakauer received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters--a prestigious prize intended to honor writers of exceptional accomplishment. According to the Academy's citation, Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish subtlety and profound insight of the born writer. His account of an ascent of Mount Everest has led to a general reevaluation of climbing and of the commercialization of what was once a romantic, solitary sport; while his account of the life and death of Christopher McCandless, who died of starvation after challenging the Alaskan wilderness, delves even more deeply and disturbingly into the fascination of nature and the devastating effects of its lure on a young and curious mind. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: The Climb Anatoli Boukreev, G. Weston DeWalt, 1998-07-15 On May 10, 1996, two commercial expeditions headed by expert leaders attempted to scale the world's largest peak. But things went wrong. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Touching the Void Joe Simpson, 2012-12-12 The 25th Anniversary ebook, now with more than 50 images. 'Touching the Void' is the tale of two mountaineer’s harrowing ordeal in the Peruvian Andes. In the summer of 1985, two young, headstrong mountaineers set off to conquer an unclimbed route. They had triumphantly reached the summit, when a horrific accident mid-descent forced one friend to leave another for dead. Ambition, morality, fear and camaraderie are explored in this electronic edition of the mountaineering classic, with never before seen colour photographs taken during the trip itself. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: The Beckoning Silence Joe Simpson, 2003 Brash and colorful, Simpson has never been more entertaining. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Rough Water Clint Willis, 1999 Rough Water tells the incredible stories of men and women battling the elements, and sometimes each other, to stay alive. Sailors confront storms, rogue waves, icebergs, sharks, starvation and their own fear and suffering. In these stories, at least, the sea often helps those who help themselves. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: The Last Climb David Breashears, Audrey Salkeld, 1999-09-30 An account of the doomed attempt by Mallory and Irvine to be the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1924. The remains of Mallory were found in May 1999, 75 years after his disappearance. |
| jon krakauer anatoli boukreev: Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer, 1998 Into Thin Air is the definitive, personal account of the deadliest season in the history of Mount Everest -- told by acclaimed journalist, and bestselling author of Into the Wild and Eiger Dreams, Jon Krakauer. On assignment for Outside magazine, Krakauer, an accomplished climber, went to the Himalayas to report on the growing commercialization of the planet's highest mountain. When he reached the summit in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in over 57 hours and was reeling from oxygen depletion. Twenty other climbers were pushing for the summit, and no one had noticed the clouds filling the sky. Six hours later, and 3,000 feet lower, Krakauer collapsed in his tent. The next morning he learned that six of the climbers hadn't made it back. Even though one climber in four dies attempting to reach the summit, business is booming as guides take the rich and the adventurous up the mountain for a fee of $65,000. Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled so many people -- including himself -- to throw caution to the wind and willingly subject themselves to so much danger, hardship, and expense.Written with emotional clarity, Krakauer's account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement. |
grammar - Jon and I or Jon and me? - English Language & Usage …
Sep 18, 2014 · In the one referring to you, if 'me' sounds correct, use 'Jon and me', if 'I' works, use 'Jon and I'. A couple of examples to illustrate: He gave the money to Jon and (I/me). Try it …
Where did "I'm Jonesing" get its meaning from?
Location-based folk etymologies. I am not persuaded by the claim (evidently proposed by the Online Rap Dictionary some 37 years after the earliest instance of jones that Lighter cites) that …
abbreviations - What is the rule for shortening people's names?
Maybe John is just John and not short for Jonathan. And whether Jonathan goes to John or Jon, or nothing at all, you never know. Or maybe he’s a Johnny. Or a Jack. Or a Jackie. A James …
Use of a semicolon before and comma after "however"
In the final example box of Jon Hanna's 2/22/13 post, he writes as a correct sentence "Some sentences are ambiguous however we try hard to avoid this." Would it not be better to …
writing style - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange
Dec 14, 2010 · @Rhodri: I think it would be helpful to make a distinction between oral and written situations. You are absolutely right in saying that calling "Jon 'Purdy without being very familiar …
When "etc." is at the end of a phrase, do you place a period after it?
Jan 10, 2011 · Prior to the invention of the Linotype, typographers would follow the abbreviation with a period and narrow space if it occurred mid-sentence, or with a period and wide space if …
"An other" vs "another" - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange
In my opinion, just because "an other" is "vanishingly rare", that doesn't make its usage "unacceptable". In my situation, which is advising (via a letter) a candidate for an employment …
morphology - Rules for forming demonyms - English Language
Mar 20, 2012 · Jon Purdy Jon Purdy. 32.8k 11 11 gold badges 106 106 silver badges 147 147 bronze badges. 11. 1-1: That's ...
"on par with" vs "on a par with" - English Language & Usage Stack …
– Jon Hanna Commented Feb 11, 2013 at 1:40 Also, Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary offers this definition of "par": "2 : common level : EQUALITY — usu. use with 'on' …
meaning - What exactly does "fap" mean? [NSFW] - English …
Jon Purdy Jon Purdy. 32.8k 11 11 gold badges 106 106 silver badges 147 147 bronze badges. 5. 1
grammar - Jon and I or Jon and me? - English Language & Usage …
Sep 18, 2014 · In the one referring to you, if 'me' sounds correct, use 'Jon and me', if 'I' works, use 'Jon and I'. A couple of examples to illustrate: He gave the money to Jon and (I/me). Try it …
Where did "I'm Jonesing" get its meaning from?
Location-based folk etymologies. I am not persuaded by the claim (evidently proposed by the Online Rap Dictionary some 37 years after the earliest instance of jones that Lighter cites) that …
abbreviations - What is the rule for shortening people's names?
Maybe John is just John and not short for Jonathan. And whether Jonathan goes to John or Jon, or nothing at all, you never know. Or maybe he’s a Johnny. Or a Jack. Or a Jackie. A James …
Use of a semicolon before and comma after "however"
In the final example box of Jon Hanna's 2/22/13 post, he writes as a correct sentence "Some sentences are ambiguous however we try hard to avoid this." Would it not be better to …
writing style - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange
Dec 14, 2010 · @Rhodri: I think it would be helpful to make a distinction between oral and written situations. You are absolutely right in saying that calling "Jon 'Purdy without being very familiar …
When "etc." is at the end of a phrase, do you place a period after it?
Jan 10, 2011 · Prior to the invention of the Linotype, typographers would follow the abbreviation with a period and narrow space if it occurred mid-sentence, or with a period and wide space if …
"An other" vs "another" - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange
In my opinion, just because "an other" is "vanishingly rare", that doesn't make its usage "unacceptable". In my situation, which is advising (via a letter) a candidate for an employment …
morphology - Rules for forming demonyms - English Language
Mar 20, 2012 · Jon Purdy Jon Purdy. 32.8k 11 11 gold badges 106 106 silver badges 147 147 bronze badges. 11. 1-1: That's ...
"on par with" vs "on a par with" - English Language & Usage Stack …
– Jon Hanna Commented Feb 11, 2013 at 1:40 Also, Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary offers this definition of "par": "2 : common level : EQUALITY — usu. use with 'on' …
meaning - What exactly does "fap" mean? [NSFW] - English …
Jon Purdy Jon Purdy. 32.8k 11 11 gold badges 106 106 silver badges 147 147 bronze badges. 5. 1
