The Mountain
My Time on Everest: The Irresistible Lure of the World's Highest Peak
Touchstone, September 2013
Mt. Everest—arguably the world’s most famous mountain—is every serious climber’s ultimate goal. Ed Viesturs has climbed Everest seven times and has summited on four of those occasions. He’s spent over two years on the mountain; there is no living climber today better poised to write an account of ascents—both personal and historic. In THE MOUNTAIN, he 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 through the last century, when the honor of nations often hung in the balance based on which climbers summited first. In addition to his own experiences, Viesturs sheds light on the experiences of Mallory and Irvine, whose 1923 disappearance just 800 feet from the top remains one of modern mountaineering’s greatest mysteries and on the multiply tragic account of Rob Hall and Scott Fisher’s last climbs, the stuff of which INTO THIN AIR was made.
Informed by the experience of one who has truly been there, THE MOUNTAIN affords that rare glimpse into that place on earth where Heraclitus’s maxim—character is destiny—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 more historic climbs, THE MOUNTAIN is just the book for both avid and armchair climber alike.
“Noted high-altitude climber Viesturs . . . is a fount of firsthand knowledge and straightforward narration, and the book makes for a good read.”
– Publishers Weekly
“Viesturs and Roberts have written an exhaustively researched and wonderfully compelling history of the most fascinating and dangerous of the Himalayan giants.”
– David Breashears