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.

In the tradition of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, Nick Heil recounts the harrowing story of the deadly and controversial 2006 climbing season on Everest.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.

The bestselling author of No Shortcuts to the Top and K2 chronicles his three attempts to climb the world's tenth-highest and statistically deadliest peak, Annapurna in the Himalaya, while exploring the dramatic and tragic history of others who have made -- or attempted – the ascent, and what these exploits teach us about facing life's greatest challenges.            As a high school student in the flatlands of Rockford, Illinois, where the highest objects on the horizon were water towers, 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 14 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 brings 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 he ponders what Annapurna reveals about some of our most fundamental moral and spiritual questions--questions, he believe, that we need to answer to lead our lives well. "Of all fourteen of the world's highest mountains, which I climbed between 1989 and 2005," writes Viesturs, "the one that came the closest to defeating my best efforts was Annapurna.” Although it was the first 8,000-meter peak to be climbed,  Annapurna is not as well known as the world's highest mountain, Everest, or second highest, K2. But as Viesturs argues, Annapurna, while not technically the most difficult of the 8,000ers, is the most daunting because it has no route--no ridge or face on any side of the mountain--that is relatively free of what climbers call "objective danger"—the threat of avalanches, above all, but also of collapsing seracs (huge ice blocks), falling rocks, and crevasses. Since its first ascent in 1950, Annapurna has been climbed by more than 130 people, but 53 have died trying. This high fatality rate makes Annapurna the most dangerous of the 8,000-meter peaks. Viesturs and co-author David Roberts chronicle Ed's three attempts to climb Annapurna, as well as the attempts of others, from the two French climbers who made the landmark first ascent of Annapurna on June 3, 1950, through the daring and tragic campaigns of such world-class mountaineers as Reinhold Messner and Anatoli Boukreev. Viesturs's accounts and analyses of these extraordinary adventures serve as a point of departure for his exploration of themes vividly illustrated by Annapurna expeditions, including obsession and commitment, fear and fulfillment, failure and triumph--issues that have been neglected in the otherwise very rich literature of mountaineering, and that can inform the lives and actions of everyone.

Lonely Planet has found the best of Nepal. Lose yourself in the temple-strewn alleys of Bhaktapur, the quiet beauty of a Himalayan vista or the vibrant excitement of a Bodhnath Stupa pilgrimage - then find your next adventure with our 8th edition of this indispensable guide. Lonely Planet guides are written by experts who get to the heart of every destination they visit. This fully updated edition is packed with accurate, practical and honest advice, designed to give you the information you need to make the most of your trip. In This Guide: Adrenaline-packed activities chapter has you paddling, biking and climbing NepalFull-Color Feature reveals the best temples, festivals and mountain trailsGreen Index helps you tread lightly

Four years ago, a twenty-one-year-old soldier in the British Army named Bear Grylls was flying over an African desert on a routine parachute jump. He had a lot to look forward to - a long career ahead of him in the Army, a beautiful girlfriend back home. But those dreams were cut short when his parachute failed to open at eleven thousand feet. He had cracked three vertebrae and come within a fraction of severing his spinal cord, which would have paralyzed him for life. A grueling eight months of physical therapy followed. Bear had to retrain his muscles to do all of the things we take for granted - how to sit, stand, walk, even breathe. Bear endured over seventy days on Everest's southeast face. Eighteen months after his accident, at the age of twenty-three, he overcame extreme weather conditions and months of limited sleep to reach the summit of the world's tallest mountain. The Kid Who Climbed Everest is a tale of courage, perseverance, and determination, and climbing the world's tallest mountain is only half of this remarkable story. Bear's quest for funding for his expedition (including an unannounced raid for sponsorship money at the mansion-home of the president of Virgin Airways, Richard Branson), his seventy days on Everest's southeast face, and a narrow brush with death after a fall into a crevasse at nineteen thousand feet make the story of the youngest Englishman to climb Everest an essential read for anyone who's ever had a dream and made it come true.

This dramatic tale of the storm that hit Mount Everest in the spring of 1996 will resonate with anyone fascinated by life on the outer edge of physical and psychological limits. Before the killer storm subsided, some climbers reached the summit, others abandoned their quest, and twelve people froze to death. Matt Dickinson, a filmmaker and a novice climber, chose that fateful May for his first ascent of Everest, up the treacherous North Face. His story is one of discovery, tragedy, and personal triumph--told, literally, from the other side of the world's tallest peak. It will be cherished by all readers eager to experience adventure, from their armchairs to their own base-camp bivouac.

Lonely Planet Knows Nepal Enjoy the high passes, breathtaking landscapes and exhilarations of trekking in Nepal with Lonely Planet. Whether you want to make a tilt at Everest Base Camp, reach remote Tibetan villages or circuit sacred lakes, this guide lets you light out for the roof of the world. In This Guide: Color section details life on the trail, from teahouses to prayer wheelsEverything you need to know to get preparedComprehensive listings of teahouses, lodges and camp sites along the way

The classic, gripping mountaineering saga of the first ascent of Everest's West Ridge.