HomeMount Everest - Narratives

Mount Everest - Narratives

Books and resources including general information on Mount Everest expeditions and climbs. Click on the image or the title of the resource to be taken to the catalog record and order a copy through the library's book mail program - or come browse our collection in Golden, CO.


Into Thin Air

Into Thin Air

Author(s): Krakauer, Jon

GV 199.44 .E85 K725 1997

A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that "suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down." He was wrong. The storm, which claimed five lives and left countless more--including Krakauer's--in guilt-ridden disarray, would also provide the impetus for Into Thin Air, Krakauer's epic account of the May 1996 disaster. (From Goodreads)


Touching my father's soul : a Sherpa's journey to the top of Everest

Touching My Father's Soul

Author(s): Norgay, Jamling Tenzing

GV 199.92 .N65 A3 2001

In a story of Everest unlike any told before, Jamling Tenzing Norgay gives us an insider's view of the Sherpa world. As Climbing Leader of the famed 1996 Everest IMAX expedition led by David Breashears, Jamling Norgay was able to follow in the footsteps of his legendary mountaineer father, Tenzing Norgay, who with Sir Edmund Hillary was the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest, in 1953. Jamling Norgay interweaves the story of his own ascent during the infamous May 1996 Mount Everest disaster with little-known stories from his father's historic climb and the spiritual life of the Sherpas, revealing a fascinating and profound world that few -- even many who have made it to the top -- have ever seen. (From Goodreads)


The Climb

The Climb

Author(s): Boukreev, Anatoli

GV 199.44 .E85 B69 1998

In May 1996 three expeditions attempted to climb Mount Everest on the Southeast Ridge route pioneered by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. Crowded conditions slowed their progress. Late in the day twenty-three men and women-including expedition leaders Scott Fischer and Rob Hall-were caught in a ferocious blizzard. Disoriented and out of oxygen, climbers struggled to find their way down the mountain as darkness approached. Alone and climbing blind, Anatoli Boukreev brought climbers back from the edge of certain death. (From Amazon)


Everest : the west ridge

Everest: The West Ridge

Author(s): Hornbein, Thomas F

DS 495.8 .E9 H67 1980

In 1963, Jim Whittaker became the first American to summit Everest via the South Col route. Roughly two weeks after Whittaker's achievement, Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld, fellow American mountaineers on the same expedition, became the first climbers ever to summit the world's highest peak via the dangerous and forbidding West Ridge—a route on which only a handful of climbers have since succeeded. (From Amazon)


Everest: expedition to the ultimate

Everest: expedition to the ultimate

Author(s): Messner, Reinhold

GV 199.44 .E85 M4713 1999

World-famous mountaineer Reinhold Messner's account of his first ascent on Everest, made without supplemental oxygen, and considered to be an impossible feat at the time. Reinhold Messner with his partner Peter Habeler was the first to climb Everest without the aid of supplemental oxygen. In this riveting retelling of his climb, Messner says, "Everest by fair means-that is the human dimension, and that is what interests me . . . In reaching for an oxygen cylinder, a climber degrades Everest. . . . A climber who doesn't rely on his own strength and skills, but on apparatus and drugs, deceives himself." (From Amazon)


The Fight for Everest, 1924

Author(s): Norton, E. F.

By 1924, two attempts had been made to climb Mount Everest. The first expedition was basically sought to locate a route onto the mountain. The second expedition was the first true attempt to climb the great summit. In 1924, armed with greater knowledge and better preparation, a new team set out once more for the Rongbuk glacier and the peak above, and this is the gripping narrative of it. (From Amazon)


Left For Dead: my journey back from Everest

Author(s): Weathers, Beck

In 1996 Beck Weathers and a climbing team pushed toward the summit of Mount Everest. Then a storm exploded on the mountain, ripping the team to shreds, forcing brave men to scratch and crawl for their lives. Rescuers who reached Weathers saw that he was dying, and left him. Twelve hours later, the inexplicable occurred. Weathers appeared, blinded, gloveless, and caked with ice—walking down the mountain. In this powerful memoir, now featuring a new Preface, Weathers describes not only his escape from hypothermia and the murderous storm that killed eight climbers, but the journey of his life. (From Amazon)


Climbing high : a woman's account of surviving the Everest tragedy

Author(s): Gammelgaard, Lene

On May 10, 1996, Lene Gammelgaard became the first Scandinavian woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. But a raging storm and human error conspired to turn triumph into catastrophe. Eight of her team's climbers, including its renowned leader Scott Fischer, perished in a tragedy that would make headlines around the world. Gammelgaard writes movingly of Everest's awesome beauty; of the passion and commitment required to face the daunting challenge of climbing to high altitudes; and of the complex personal relationships forged in the pursuit of such dangerous ventures. (From Amazon)