Product Description

As told with Peter Potterfield, award-winning mountaineering journalist, Viesturs narrates his successful quest to climb the 14 highest mountains of the world, those peaks above 8,000 meters in height. Viesturs and Potterfield take readers along on some of the successes and failures of Viesturs' quest, including five separate ascents of Mount Everest (the tallest peak in the world) and the sheer triumph of the final two summits. The riveting tales of Viesturs' mountaineering adventures are illustrated by Viesturs' own stunning photographs, between 85 and 100 images, a photographic collection that is the primary focus of the book, a collection that shows like never before the deadly beauty and haunting menace of the Himalaya. Captions explain each photograph and its setting, describing both the heartbreaking tragedy Viesturs has faced and the ineffable joy he has experienced while striving at the limits of human endurance.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #76486 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

About the Author
Ed Viesturs is America's leading high altitude mountaineer, having climbed most of the world's most challenging summits, including ascending Mount Everest five times. He holds this record with one other person. Viesturs is one of only five people anywhere to climb the highest peak on each of the 7 continents--all without supplemental oxygen. Peter Potterfield is the author of four books on the subject of mountains and wilderness, including the critically acclaimed In the Zone, and The High Himalaya.

Customer Reviews

Stunning Photography
Okay, so this book is more a collection of briefly narrated colour photographs than page upon page of deftly written mountaineering prose. All the better for it. The pictures in this book surpass anything the best writers could ever hope to convey to the reader about the extraordinary beauty and immense hazards presented by these enchanting mountains. From incredible panoramas to breathtaking summit shots, this book takes you right to the peaks from your armchair.

The photographs of Viesturs' unsuccessful attempts to summit Annapurna encapsulate both the beauty and the risks, for the mountain possesses an infamous reputation: the greatest ratio of fatalities to summiteers. Since this book (Feb 2003), Viesturs has completed his task of conquering all fourteen of the +8,000m peaks but turn to the photos at the rear and you will see why he aborted two attempts at Annapurna, leaving it until last.

Despite being one of the best mountaineers in the world, Ed Viesturs could have quite easily made a living out of photography. His pictures supply you with more to inspire your imagination than any amount of text, albeit that the accompanying text is also well written.

My only criticism is that the correlation between maps, narrative and photographs could have been better in a few places. Nevertheless, the book is still worth every penny/cent/rupee.