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In Pakistan, the fearsome K2 kills thirteen of the world's most experienced mountain climbers in one horrific summer. In Valdez, Alaska, two men scale a frozen waterfall over a four-hundred-foot drop. In France, a hip international crowd of rock climbers, bungee jumpers, and paragliders figure out new ways to risk their lives on the towering peaks of Mont Blanc. Why do they do it? How do they do it? In this extraordinary book, Krakauer presents an unusual fraternity of daredevils, athletes, and misfits stretching the limits of the possible.
From the paranoid confines of a snowbound tent, to the thunderous, suffocating terror of a white-out on Mount McKinley, Eiger Dreams spins tales of driven lives, sudden deaths, and incredible victories. This is a stirring, vivid book about one of the most compelling and dangerous of all human pursuits.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
November 7, 2017 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780525633099
- File size: 250900 KB
- Duration: 08:42:42
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Author and outdoorsman Jon Krakauer (INTO THIN AIR) introduces us to climbers from around the world. This collection of essays reports on the people who scale the world's highest mountains, glaciers, waterfalls and boulders. We become familiar with the aura and addictive power of these feats through Philip Franklin. His narration is flawless, aligning the written and spoken-word. Both the intensity of mountaineering and its foolhardiness come through. Franklin's delivery brings us to the scene firsthand, and we become privy to these international adventurers and their daredevil exploits. B.J.L. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine -
August 31, 1992
In the closed community of mountaineering there are legendary figures unknown to those outside. Krakauer, who writes about climbing for Smithsonian magazine, introduces some eccentrics and the places they gather. John Gill's reputation rests on ascents less than 30 feet high--he climbs boulders. The hard-drinking, pugnacious Burgess twins from Yorkshire are first-rate climbers and con men; they haven't held a job since 1975, yet manage to wander the globe bagging difficult peaks. Others climb frozen waterfalls in Valdez, Alaska, or attempt hazardous hang-gliding and bungee-jumping in Chamonix, where nearly 6000 people climb Mont Blanc every year. After taking us to Mt. McKinley (Denali), which has claimed more lives than the Eiger, Krakauer also describes canyoneering in the Mogollon Rim of Arizona and recounts his own nearly fatal solo climb of the Devil's Thumb in Alaska. Armchair adventurers can't ask for better entertainment. -
August 3, 1992
Armchair adventurers can't ask for better entertainment than this tour of the legendary locations of mountaineering and the eccentric climbers who gather there.
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