Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A DRAMATIC EVEREST ADVENTURE, DRYLY TOLD....ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ, 7 Nov 2002
This is the story of the 1963 American Mount Everest Expedition, which made mountaineering history. It saw the first Americans summit Everest via the South Col. It also saw the first climb of Everest by anyone via the West Ridge route, previously believed to be unclimbable.Not only did Thomas Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld summit Everest via the West Ridge, they traversed the mountain and descended via the South Col route. They were, however, forced to bivouac in the death zone at 28,000 feet without any food, supplemental oxygen, or shelter. One would think that such a dramatic turn of events high on Everest would be riveting to read. Wrong! Unfortunately, this is the one problem with this book. The story is told in a very dry, dull fashion. It is as if Hornbein were talking about flossing one's teeth rather than about a segment of mountaineering history of which he was an integral part. Nevertheless, this is a high quality paperback with forty eight terrific photographs which are sure to delight Everest junkies everywhere. No mountaineering library should be without this book, which recounts with detail one of the most significant climbs in the history of the Himalayas.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A DRAMATIC EVEREST ADVENTURE DRYLY TOLD...ZZZZZZZZZ..., 1 Dec 2002
This is the story of the 1963 American Mount Everest Expedition, which made mountaineering history. It saw the first Americans summit Everest via the South Col. It also saw the first climb of Everest by anyone via the West Ridge route, previously believed to be unclimbable.Not only did Thomas Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld summit Everest via the West Ridge, they traversed the mountain and descended via the South Col route. They were, however, forced to bivouac in the death zone at 28,000 feet without any food, supplemental oxygen, or shelter. One would think that such a dramatic turn of events high on Everest would be riveting to read. Wrong! Unfortunately, this is the one problem with this book. The story is told in a very dry, dull fashion. It is as if Hornbein were talking about flossing one's teeth rather than about a segment of mountaineering history of which he was an integral part. Nevertheless, this is a quality book with forty eight terrific photographs that are sure to delight Everest junkies everywhere. No mountaineering library should be without this book, which recounts with detail one of the most significant climbs in the history of the Himalayas.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A compelling tale of perseverence in the face of adversity, 22 Jul 1999
By A Customer
This classic mountaineering volume was written at a time when Himalayan mountaineering was entering a new and exciting phase - a purer seduction of the mountain, where more aesthetic methods and lines of ascent override the basic urge to reach the summit (and nothing else). Tom Hornbein was definitely cast into this new mold, although at the time he was probably not aware of it. This expedition, which was on many occasions threatened with defeat, succeeded in a mountaineering tour de force. Not the ascent by the "yak route", but by pushing a route up one of the most formidable ridges anywhere in the Himalayan chain and traversing the mountain back along the south-east ridge. Without the grit and determination of Tom and Willi, this would have been just another ascent of Everest to add to the ever-growing list. Their dream was borne out in the end. Tom's open and unprepossessing prose is a refreshing change from the pithy accounts of yesteryear, giving the reader more insight into the inner workings, and tensions, of any large mountaineering expedition. A must read for any serious mountaineering scholar.
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