The Mammoth Book of On The Edge

Description

No one sees clearer than an individual whose life is hanging by the finger tips on the edge of an abyss. Probing the furthest reaches of human daring and endurance, here are 28 of the great first-hand accounts of extreme mountaineering, from legendary names. Written by the bestselling author of Meadowland and The Running Hare, Featuring: Heinrich Harrer - first conqueror of the notorious Eigerwand. Robert Bates - the classic account of the ill-fated American 1953 expedition to K2. Maurice Herzog - his unstoppable ascent of Annapurna at the cost of frostbite. Walter Bonatti - tragedy on the Central Pillar of Freney on Mont Blanc. George Leigh Mallory - surviving an avalanche on the 1922 Everest expedition. Rene Desmaison - his epic story of 14 days stuck on The Grandes Jorasses in winter. Jon Krakauer - recalling his solo ascent of The Devil's Thumb in Alaska. The price of the summit is often measured in human suffering, yet for those who succeed the rewards can be incalculable. Nerve-wracking and unputdownable.

JON E. LEWIS is an historian and author of numerous bestselling books on history and military history, including Voices from D-Day, Voices from the Holocaust, The Mammoth Book of the Vietnam War and A Brief History of the First World War. He holds graduate and postgraduate degrees in history and his work has appeared in New Statesman, the Independent, Time Out and the Guardian. He lives in Herefordshire.