Product Description

A memoir of extraordinary depth and searing honesty, In the Ghost Country is the story of Peter Hillary's physical and emotional journey across the icy wastes of Antarctica. A place where the thoughts and memories of a lifetime were called forth by the blank slate of the Antarctic snows - so real that the ghosts of lost friends and loved ones walked with Peter Hillary in the white maelstrom. During the three-month long expedition, Peter Hillary and his two companions skied 900 miles across the forbidding and beautiful expanse of Antarctica to the South Pole. Early on, the relationships in the little tent disintegrated to acrimony and distrust, and exploded on their return, damaging friendships and resulting in profound soul-searching. This is the story of that journey: a chronicle of profound isolation, of great stamina and skill, of the mental and emotional toll exacted by travel in extreme environments. It is also a meditation on a lifetime spent on the edge, a memory book of more than 30 expeditions in the Himalayas, the Andes, the Arctic and the Antarctic. It tells of triumphant adventures - travelling with his father, Sir Edmund Hillary, and Neil Armstrong to the North Pole, climbing Everest twice - and bitter tragedies, like the loss of his mother and sister in a plane crash in the Himalayas, and the shattering K2 climb where Peter was the only one of eight climbers (including Alison Hargreaves) to survive. In the Ghost Country is a radical departure from the adventure genre, a literate and evocative tribute to the crafts of polar travel and mountaineering, a Shackleton-like tale of endurance, and a compelling contemplation on a life of adventure and accomplishment.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #751146 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Customer Reviews

Not your everyday adventure story -- and thankyou for that
Peter Hillary's diabolical attempt to complete Captain Robert Scott's famous fatal journey -- the surface story of this beguiling, compelling and very different kind of book -- was almost a case of history horribly repeating itself, and became one of the most extraordinary journeys IN THE MIND AND HEART ever chronicled. What makes Hillary's book both important and effective is his fearless exploration of the inner life, of fear and guilt and loneliness, which thereby makes it a book that anyone with half a brain and a full heart can relate to. A great one. I also recommend Dean King's SKELETONS OF THE ZAHARA -- which is also an interesting case of history being relived, and two stories told in parallel. It doeswn't quite have the narrative brilliance of IN THE GHOST COUNTRY, but it's a very satisfying read.

Hallucinogenic experience, and very moving
Man oh man. Two journeys -- one a lonely haul to the South Pole, the other a haunting visitation to the past, as ghosts rise up to keep Hillary company. It's a thrilling concept, made more exciting that this is how the brain works under the pressures of social isolation and sensual deprivation. The son of Sir Edmund has certainly spilt his guts here. But the writing is so poetic and evocative much of what could have sunk this book is transcended. Nowhere have I read a better exploration of the interior life -- the mind -- of an adventuring man, or of any man for that matter. Hillary's partner Elder is obviouskly the genius here, not to take anything away from Hillary who has become a surprisingly more forthright writer than he was in his youth -- but it's Elder who has clearly taken the reigns here and through using two voices -- his and Hillary's -- has crafted a masterpiece of form and revelation. Certainly blows the mystique.

A strange psychological thriller as an adventure book!!!
What does my head in is the understated way the tension is drawn between Hillary and his mute team mates. So much goes unspoken, and this keeps the reader rooted while Hillary finds better companionship with the campfire he conjures up from the chuffing blue flame of the stove, and the ghosts who come to sit nearby. The other thing that keeps you hooked is how the writing starts out brisk and very engaging in the first chapters, ruled by a bleakly bemused tone, and then as the journey progresses it gets a little stranger, taking on a neat poetic shorthand that works to build the mood of a dream. Its always very affecting, because the hyper-reality of the dream state never falters.