mountaineering accidents

The author relates his experience of climbing Mount Everest during its deadliest season and examines what it is about the mountain that makes people willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense.

A study and celebration of North America's highest peak presents the stories of the men and women whose destinies have become intertwined with that of the dangerous moutain during struggles to reach its summit.

After Jon Krakauer joins a group of mountain climbers who ascend dangerously up to the summit of Mt. Everest, he observes their mental disorientation from oxygen depletion which causes unwieldy pride and poor judgment. Also a sudden mountain storm with bone-chilling temperatures creates a tragic moment of death for many people.

Jim Davidson recounts his story of survival after being trapped on a narrow, frozen ledge inside a glacial crevasse on Mount Rainier, describing how he managed to climb out and find help despite impossible odds.

The author relates his experience of climbing Mount Everest during its deadliest season and examines what it is about the mountain that makes people willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense.

Lincoln Hall describes his experiences after deciding to pursue a long-delayed dream to climb Mt. Everest in the spring of 2006, telling how he was declared dead and left behind after he collapsed from altitude sickness and Sherpas were unable to revive him, and discussing his miraculous rescue by an American guide the following day who discovered him sitting on the summit ridge, frostbitten, confused, but still alive.

Chronicles the events surrounding a 1967 expedition in which twelve men became trapped at 20,000 feet on Alaska's Mount McKinley and the controversial decision not to undertake a rescue mission until it was too late.

Warren Macdonald recounts how his life was forever changed after what should have been a two-day hike up Mount Bowen became a living nightmare when he was trapped for days by a massive slab of rock.

Photographs and simple text describe how mountain climber Colby Coombs survived an avalanche in the mountains of Denali National Park in Alaska.