No Way Down: Life and Death on K2 [9780061834790]

Overview

New York Times Bestseller

“A refreshingly unadorned account of the true brutality of climbing K2, where heroes emerge and egos are stripped down, and the only thing achieving immortality is the cold ruthless mountain.” — Norman Ollestad, author of Crazy for the Storm

In this riveting work of narrative nonfiction, New York Times journalist Graham Bowley re-creates one of the most dramatic tales of death and survival in high-altitude mountaineering history—the 2008 K2 ascent that claimed the lives of eleven climbers

In the tradition of Into Thin Air and Touching the Void, No Way Down is a harrowing true story of survival and the worst mountain climbing disaster on K2, second to Everest in height. . . but second to no peak in terms of danger. On August 1, 2008, no fewer than eight international teams of mountain climbers—some experienced, others less prepared—ascended K2, the world's second-highest mountain, with the last group reaching the summit at 8 p.m. Then disaster struck. A huge ice chunk came loose above a deadly three-hundred-foot avalanche-prone gully, destroying the fixed guide ropes. More than a dozen climbers—many without oxygen and some with no headlamps—faced the nearly impossible task of descending in the blackness with no guideline and no protection. Over the course of the chaotic night, some would miraculously make it back. Others would not.

From tragic deaths to unbelievable stories of heroism and survival, No Way Down is an amazing feat of storytelling and adventure writing, a definitive work of mountaineering history and, in the words of explorer and author Sir Ranulph Fiennes, “the closest you can come to being on the summit of K2 on that fateful day.”

Based on hundreds of interviews with the survivors, No Way Down meticulously reconstructs the minute-by-minute chaos of the deadliest day on the world’s most dangerous mountain:

• The Death Zone: What happens when a serac collapse above 26,000 feet severs the guide ropes, trapping more than a dozen climbers in darkness with no way down and dwindling oxygen.
• A Cascade of Errors: An unflinching investigation into the fateful decisions and delays—from late ascents to forgotten equipment—that compounded the tragedy as eight international teams converged on the summit.
• Heroism and Survival: The unbelievable true stories of those who fought their way back from the brink, and the harrowing accounts of the eleven climbers who would never return.
• Meticulous Reconstruction: Drawing on extensive interviews with the survivors and their families, Bowley pieces together a definitive, moment-by-moment account of one of mountaineering's worst disasters.