The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest

The New York Times bestselling account of one of mountaineering's most controversial disasters

In May 1996, three expeditions attempted to summit Mount Everest along the Southeast Ridge route pioneered by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. Crowded conditions delayed their progress, leaving twenty-three climbers—including expedition leaders Scott Fischer and Rob Hall—trapped on the mountain when a ferocious blizzard struck. Disoriented, freezing, and running out of oxygen, they struggled down the slopes as darkness approached.

High-altitude guide Anatoli Boukreev stepped up during the crisis. After leading an exhausted and terrified group of climbers back to safety, he plunged back out into the blinding storm to search for the stranded. Rescuing multiple people from near-certain death, Boukreev emerged a hero, having performed one of the most remarkable rescue missions in mountaineering history.

The Climb is an honest and gripping account of human endurance. Featuring interviews with most of the surviving climbers, Sherpa guides, medical staff, and grieving families of the dead, it offers an indispensable perspective on the tragedy.

This edition includes:
Primary Source Records: A complete transcript of the Mountain Madness debriefing recorded just five days after the disaster.
Critical Commentary: Coauthor G. Weston DeWalt’s response to Into Thin Air author Jon Krakauer.
Cinematic Context: The definitive account that inspired key events depicted in Universal Pictures' major film, Everest.