NCW Libraries

By the author of the "New York Times"-bestselling "Everest: Mountain Without Mercy," this chronicle of the iconic first American expedition to Mt. Everest in May 1963--published to coincide with the climb's 50th anniversary--combines riveting adventure, a perceptive analysis of history, and revelations about a secret mission that followed.

Slakey takes readers on a physical and spiritual journey to the most extreme points on Earth and deep inside the human psyche. A gripping adventure of the body and mind that led Slakey around the globe, challenged his fiercely held beliefs, and opened his heart.

Already awarded a prize by the Biographer's Club, Harriet Tuckey's book is both the history of what went into the first successful ascent of Mt. Everest in 1953 and a biography of her father, Dr Griffith Pugh, whose role was absolutely pivotal, yet mostly untold. As the expedition's physiological consultant, Pugh designed almost every aspect of the survival strategy for the expedition, the acclimatization program, the oxygen- and fluid-intake regime,...

The Naked Mountaineer recounts a series of solo journeys to some of the world's most exotic peaks in places such as Switzerland, Japan, and Borneo. However, it is far from the typical heroic mountain-expedition book. Although Steve Sieberson did reach many summits, in most cases his travels were more memorable for what he encountered along the way than for the actual climbing. His real adventures involved peculiar people, strange foods, and tropical...