High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in High Crimes for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
In 1996, eight climbers died atop Mount Everest in a single storm in a story that made headlines across the globe and formed the basis of Jon Krakauer's monumental bestseller Into Thin Air. But instead of being scared off by this event, even more people wish to beat the mountain and pay more than $65,000 to get a piece of the action. Where once climbers like Sir Edmund Hilary enjoyed noble and brave reputations, in the 21st century the criminal element has turned Everest into a place where beatings, thefts, drugs, prostitution, threats and abandoment reign.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Michael Kodas is more than qualified to spill the beans on the avarice that has engulfed the worlds tallest mountain. Working on a pulitzer prize winning team of journalists at the Hartford Courant Kodas has two unsuccessful summit attempts of Everest under his belt.
In 2004 Kodas and his wife decided to taste first hand the exhilaration associated with climbing Mount Everest, but instead of camaraderie and new friendships he found intimidation,deceit and death. He joined a team that used him for financial gain and abandoned him on the mountain during a crisis, but this was only the beginning.
Kodas exposes the trickery employed by uncertified guides to use wealthy clients to fund their own personal summit ambitions. We see first hand the utter disregard for human life on the mountain with climbers literally stepping over injured and dying people in an attempt to ease their own summit fever. We get an in depth account of Nils Antezana who died on the mountain after being abandoned by his guide and Sherpas and the disgusting behaviour of these individuals who sought " tips " from the dead mans family afterwards. Kodas paints a pretty dim picture of violence, corruption and intimidation among the Himalayas where theft of vital equipment and black market resale is an everyday and almost accepted behaviour. The farcical mountain cleanups and the much maligned charity climbs are mentioned here too with some particularly distressing evidence for the latter, where a climber announces an Everest climb for charity and then uses the money raised to fund the expedition !
This book although factual reads like a novel, it's well written and I had difficulty putting it down. Anyone with a romantic view of mountaineering should read this book , it will not disappoint and may even educate. I certainly learned a lot from it.
In 2004 Kodas and his wife decided to taste first hand the exhilaration associated with climbing Mount Everest, but instead of camaraderie and new friendships he found intimidation,deceit and death. He joined a team that used him for financial gain and abandoned him on the mountain during a crisis, but this was only the beginning.
Kodas exposes the trickery employed by uncertified guides to use wealthy clients to fund their own personal summit ambitions. We see first hand the utter disregard for human life on the mountain with climbers literally stepping over injured and dying people in an attempt to ease their own summit fever. We get an in depth account of Nils Antezana who died on the mountain after being abandoned by his guide and Sherpas and the disgusting behaviour of these individuals who sought " tips " from the dead mans family afterwards. Kodas paints a pretty dim picture of violence, corruption and intimidation among the Himalayas where theft of vital equipment and black market resale is an everyday and almost accepted behaviour. The farcical mountain cleanups and the much maligned charity climbs are mentioned here too with some particularly distressing evidence for the latter, where a climber announces an Everest climb for charity and then uses the money raised to fund the expedition !
This book although factual reads like a novel, it's well written and I had difficulty putting it down. Anyone with a romantic view of mountaineering should read this book , it will not disappoint and may even educate. I certainly learned a lot from it.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
A gripping read, great insight into corruption and waste of human life on the world's highest stage
2 Nov 2010
Format:Paperback
I could not put this book down from start to finish. It gives a frank insight into the corruption, thievery, banditry and wanton waste of life on Mount Everest among some expeditions attempting to climb the world's highest peak. Excellent stuff.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Inside the cover the author informs the reader that after working through the book, their views on the climbing of Everest will change forever. And so for me, it has.
Big changes have occurred during recent years on Everest, but worse still are the changes destined to come.
A riveting read.
Big changes have occurred during recent years on Everest, but worse still are the changes destined to come.
A riveting read.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
All a bit too long, sad and depressing.
I read this book over a number of days, it must be book number 20 I have read in the 6 months on mountaineering but it was by far the most most disappointing too. Read more
Published 2 months ago by KU Cruikshank
Loved it
With the ever increasing popularity of the huge Himalayan mountains, we shouldn't be surprised at the greed and avarice that is creeping into the industry of guiding and climbing. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Brian
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
