The Mountain

VETERAN WORLD-CLASS CLIMBER and bestselling author Ed ViestursâÈ'the only Amer­ican to have climbed all fourteen of the worldâÈçs 8,000-meter peaks and the sixth person to do so without supplemental oxygenâÈ'trains his sights on Mount Everest, the highest peak on earth, in richly detailed accounts of expeditions that are by turns personal, harrowing, deadly, and inspiring. The worldâÈçs most famous mountain, Everest remains for serious high-altitude climbers the ultimate goal. Viesturs has gone on eleven expeditions to Everest, reaching the summit seven times. HeâÈçs spent more than two years of his life on the mountain. No climber today is better poised to survey EverestâÈçs various ascentsâÈ'both personal and historic. In The Mountain, Viesturs delivers just that: riveting you-are-there accounts of his own climbs as well as vivid narratives of some of the more famous and infamous climbs throughout the last century, when the honor of nations often hung in the balance, depending on which climbers summited first. In addition to his own experiences, Viesturs sheds light on the fate of Mallory and Irvine, whose 1924 disappearance just 800 feet from the top remains one of mountaineeringâÈçs greatest mysteries, and on the multiply tragic last days of Rob Hall and Scott Fischer in 1996, the stuff of which Into Thin Air was made. Informed by the experience of one who has truly been there, The Mountain affords a rare glimpse into that place on earth where HeraclitusâÈçs maximâÈ'char­acter is destinyâÈ'is proved time and again. Complete with gorgeous photos of Everest, many of which were taken by Viesturs himself, and shots taken on some of the legendary historic climbs, The Mountain is an immensely appealing book for active and armchair climbers alike.