Product Description

A highly intimate and epic account of Stephen Venables’s life, culminating in his dramatic ascent of Everest, an event that confirmed him as one of the greatest British climbers of his generation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #106933 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 370 pages

Sunday Telegraph, Books of the Year
There can be no dispute about the magnitude of his achievement. Venables is superb on the terror and exhilaration of climbing ... [but] honest enough to face up to the selfishness that mountaineering requires and the strain it puts on relationships.

Guardian
If you've never climbed, Higher than the Eagle Soars can still be read for its old-fashioned, self-effacing humour, as the story of a cultured man determined to place himself inside a tradition he loves. Or you can read it for the thrills and spills.

Sunday Times
The story of his descent after a night spent near the top is ... both harrowing and deeply moving.

Customer Reviews

Everest - the Venables Way - and so much more.
The positive reviews on the dustjacket about a previous book (see them on this Amazon site) indicate his stature as a writer. Although a slow reader, I have read this fine new book of 352 pages in under two days: at every opportunity - constantly delighted with the clarity and enthusiasm of his writing. Venables presents a range of activities, not just climbing; his life and the book are all the richer. Climbers, armchair and outdoor, as well as non-climbers, should find much of interest. His modesty is welcome; mistakes and doubts increase adventure - and suspense. The many successes are not inevitable. His playground widens rapidly from England to the Alps, then Asia and South America. Everest starts at page 274, with a detailed and lively narrative, good to read even when you already know his 1989 expedition book.