[alansplace]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Finished. Definitely made me want to watch the IMAX movie "Everest" that was shot during that fateful season. Into Thin Air is still one of the most compelling and harrowing true stories I've read in recent years, and with the death just a couple of weeks ago of four climbers including a Canadian, it's even more so. 5 stars out of 5.

Try this one: Annapurna by Maurice Herzog.

Mountaineer Maurice Herzog gives a gripping firsthand account of one of the most daring climbing expeditions in history

Annapurna I is the name given to the 8,100-meter mountain that ranks among the most forbidding in the Himalayan chain. Dangerous not just for its extreme height but for a long and treacherous approach, its summit proved unreachable until 1950, when a group of French mountaineers made a mad dash for its peak. They became the first men to accomplish the feat, doing so without oxygen tanks or any of the modern equipment that contemporary climbers use.

The adventure nearly cost them their lives. Maurice Herzog dictated this firsthand account of the remarkable trek from a hospital bed as he recovered from injuries sustained during the climb. An instant bestseller, it remains one of the most famous mountaineering books of all time, and an enduring testament to the power of the human spirit.