The World S Longest Climb

This is a humorous and touching account about an ordinary woman with an extraordinary story. Her life and experiences on the Everestmax expedition will inspire, amuse and probably astonish all those who share her journey. Everestmax is a tale of endurance, comedy, culture, tragedy, geography, romance and just a bit of nudity in one epic adventure. In 2006, five individuals, as diverse in age as they were in lifestyles, were the first ever to undertake the world's longest climb. Accompanied by a support team of two, the team cycled over 8,000km from the Dead Sea in Jordan to the Base Camp of Mt Everest, journeying through Syria, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Tibet in the process. At Base Camp, bikes were exchanged for climbing kit where the team successfully summitted the great mountain itself. The Everestmax team managed to get through a constant barrage of adversity with a surprising amount of hilarity. Extreme weather, bureaucracy, gun toting locals, sharp-toothed monkeys, political unrest, soggy crutches and illness are just a few of the obstacles they had to overcome. This unprecedented journey took the team through countries and cultures deemed 'anti-western' yet the reader will be inspired by the great faith demonstrated in human nature irrespective of religion or nationality. The book also gives an honest and frank insight into Pauline's life. The reader will understand why she was so driven to take part in such a huge undertaking at an age society often dismisses as 'past it' (aka middle aged).

The Longest Climb is the utterly compelling account of Dominic and his team's expedition from the Dead Sea to the peak of Everest. His team EverestMax were the first ever to make this extraordinary journey. Following an old Victorian route, Dominic cycled through Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and India on his way to Tibet and the bottom of the world's highest mountain. From trying to find a wireless connection in Damascus and setting fire to the team's support vehicle in order to thaw the engine in Iran, to deciding whether or not to share the little oxygen they had and risk their own lives in order to try to save another climber, and beating their Austrian nemesis Gerry Winkler to the top, The Longest Climb is a high-octane combination of the huge personal risk, fascinating cultural insight, and momentary farce that make up a major expedition. But The Longest Climb is not simply a memoir of an expedition. It is also the moving account of Dominic's struggle to finally accept the heartbreaking loss of his father to cancer when Dominic was just six. As he fights illness, broken equipment, lack of money and the hardest season of Everest history to make the top, Dominic also discusses what has driven him up this mountain. The answers are as affecting as they are extraordinary.

"The year 2000 is the fiftieth anniversary of the ascent of Annapurna, the first of the 8000-meter peaks to be climbed. In the decade following that first ascent in 1950, all but one of the world's fourteen highest mountains were climbed; the period from 1950 to 1960 can be considered the Golden Age for high altitude climbing. Only Shisha Pangma remained unclimbed until 1964 when a Chinese party led by Hsu Ching reached the summit." "This book brings together the stories behind the discovery, exploration and first successful ascents of each of the fourteen highest peaks, as well as accounts of the most important attempts and ascents that followed. Many of these stories illustrate how modern technology has enabled mountaineers to climb the previously unscaled peaks, while still demonstrating the importance of the human element."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This book looks at the development of climbing on the world's highest mountains - the 14 whose summits stand above the 8000 metre contour. Though concentrating on the new millennium, from 2000 to 2011, with an epilogue on 2011, the book also covers the first ascent of the mountains, and the new routes climbed between the first ascent and 1999. A sequel to "On Top of the World", published in 2000 which dealt with the discovery and early climbing history of the mountains, the book also uses new material which has come to light over the last decade to re-appraise the first ascents on Annapurna, Broad Peak and K2. Illustrated with stunning images for the new routes established during the new millennium, the book also includes archival shots from the early history of the mountains. These archival shots include first ascent shots from two of the mountains which had not been made available for the earlier book. The book is completed with data on the mountains provided by co-author Eberhard Jurgalski, who maintains the world's most up-to-date database on these (and other) mountains. The data include all climbers who have summitted all 14 mountains (a figure which now stands at an astonishing 28) as well as those who are nearing the complete set. Sadly some of the latter have died in the attempt and will never achieve their goal.

Messner was the first person to climb all 14 of the world's highest mountains and it took him 16 years to do it. Modern equipment and travel mean that it is now possible to climb several peaks in one season, but only four more names have been added to the list since Messner's completion in 1986. This guide looks at the quest to climb all 14 of the world's highest mountains.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • This gripping and triumphant memoir from the author of The Mountain follows a living legend of extreme mountaineering as he makes his assault on history, one 8,000-meter summit at a time. “From the drama of the peaks, to the struggle of making a living as a professional climber, to the basic how-tos of life at 26,000 feet, No Shortcuts to the Top is fascinating reading.”—Aron Ralston, author of Between a Rock and a Hard Place and subject of the film 127 Hours For eighteen years Ed Viesturs pursued climbing’s holy grail: to stand atop the world’s fourteen 8,000-meter peaks, without the aid of bottled oxygen. But No Shortcuts to the Top is as much about the man who would become the first American to achieve that goal as it is about his stunning quest. As Viesturs recounts the stories of his most harrowing climbs, he reveals a man torn between the flat, safe world he and his loved ones share and the majestic and deadly places where only he can go. A preternaturally cautious climber who once turned back 300 feet from the top of Everest but who would not shrink from a peak (Annapurna) known to claim the life of one climber for every two who reached its summit, Viesturs lives by an unyielding motto, “Reaching the summit is optional. Getting down is mandatory.” It is with this philosophy that he vividly describes fatal errors in judgment made by his fellow climbers as well as a few of his own close calls and gallant rescues. And, for the first time, he details his own pivotal and heroic role in the 1996 Everest disaster made famous in Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air. In addition to the raw excitement of Viesturs’s odyssey, No Shortcuts to the Top is leavened with many funny moments revealing the camaraderie between climbers. It is more than the first full account of one of the staggering accomplishments of our time; it is a portrait of a brave and devoted family man and his beliefs that shaped this most perilous and magnificent pursuit.

An inspiring, moving, and unblinking view of a battered climber who refuses to turn his back on the mountains. Born in Bolton, England, Paul Pritchard started climbing when he was 16 years old. In time, he became one of the foremost British climbers of the 1980s and 1990s, climbing difficult routes across the United Kingdom and around the world, including the East Face of Central Tower in Torres del Paine, Patagonia, the first ascent of the West Face of Mount Asgard on Baffin Island, Trango Tower in northern Pakistan, and multiple attempts on the then-unclimbed Shark's Fin on Meru Peak, in the Indian Himalayan region. On Friday, February 13, 1998, Paul's life was dramatically altered when he was struck in the head by a falling boulder while climbing the Totem Pole, a slender sea stack off the coast of Tasmania. He received a traumatic head injury and was left suffering from hemiplegia, which has robbed his right side of movement and continues to play tricks with his speech and memory. A remarkable story that highlights life's surprising gifts and crucial lessons, The Longest Climb chronicles Paul's inspiring journey back to life and reminds us all that "When we spend time in the mountains, we do not escape from our woes. We come home and learn how to accept them."

* The author reveals the demons that drove her to extreme physical accomplishments at the cost of great suffering story of adventure and personal growth * Pasaban is one of the best high-altitude climbers in the world today br> On May 17, 2010, a 37-year-old Spaniard named Edurne Pasaban became the first woman to climb all fourteen peaks higher than 8,000 meters. This record-breaking accomplishment put the Basque woman on National Geographic’s 2010 “Adventurers of the Year” list. The next year, both The Alpinist and Outside magazines placed her on their “Adventurers of the Year” lists, too. Pasaban’s accomplishment did not come without controversy: Another woman, Korean climber Oh Eun-Sun, claimed to have completed the peaks a few weeks earlier. Later inquiries revealed that Oh Eun-Sun had failed to summit Kangchenjunga in 2009 and her claim was eventually withdrawn, leaving Edurne as the clear victor. But how did she get there? Published for the first time in English, Tilting at Mountains tells Edurne’s heartfelt and deeply personal story. She details not only how she came to climb the 8,000-meter peaks——the competitive nature of her Basque heritage played a role, as did, admittedly, an interest in handsome climbing guides——but also how her love for the mountains pulled her from a deep, soul-crushing depression. The book covers her climbs on all the 8,000-meter peaks, some of which were almost cakewalks while others were climbed at great cost, including the loss of close friends.