No Shortcuts to the Top

Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks

Nonfiction, Sports, Outdoors, Mountaineering, Travel, Adventure & Literary Travel, Biography & Memoir
Cover of the book No Shortcuts to the Top by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts, Crown/Archetype
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Ed Viesturs, David Roberts ISBN: 9780767926416
Publisher: Crown/Archetype Publication: October 17, 2006
Imprint: Broadway Books Language: English
Author: Ed Viesturs, David Roberts
ISBN: 9780767926416
Publisher: Crown/Archetype
Publication: October 17, 2006
Imprint: Broadway Books
Language: English

This gripping and triumphant memoir from the author of The Mountain follows a living legend of extreme mountaineering as he makes his assault on history, one 8,000-meter summit at a time.

For eighteen years Ed Viesturs pursued climbing’s holy grail: to stand atop the world’s fourteen 8,000-meter peaks, without the aid of bottled oxygen. But No Shortcuts to the Top is as much about the man who would become the first American to achieve that goal as it is about his stunning quest. As Viesturs recounts the stories of his most harrowing climbs, he reveals a man torn between the flat, safe world he and his loved ones share and the majestic and deadly places where only he can go.

A preternaturally cautious climber who once turned back 300 feet from the top of Everest but who would not shrink from a peak (Annapurna) known to claim the life of one climber for every two who reached its summit, Viesturs lives by an unyielding motto, “Reaching the summit is optional. Getting down is mandatory.” It is with this philosophy that he vividly describes fatal errors in judgment made by his fellow climbers as well as a few of his own close calls and gallant rescues. And, for the first time, he details his own pivotal and heroic role in the 1996 Everest disaster made famous in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air.

In addition to the raw excitement of Viesturs’s odyssey, No Shortcuts to the Top is leavened with many funny moments revealing the camaraderie between climbers. It is more than the first full account of one of the staggering accomplishments of our time; it is a portrait of a brave and devoted family man and his beliefs that shaped this most perilous and magnificent pursuit.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

This gripping and triumphant memoir from the author of The Mountain follows a living legend of extreme mountaineering as he makes his assault on history, one 8,000-meter summit at a time.

For eighteen years Ed Viesturs pursued climbing’s holy grail: to stand atop the world’s fourteen 8,000-meter peaks, without the aid of bottled oxygen. But No Shortcuts to the Top is as much about the man who would become the first American to achieve that goal as it is about his stunning quest. As Viesturs recounts the stories of his most harrowing climbs, he reveals a man torn between the flat, safe world he and his loved ones share and the majestic and deadly places where only he can go.

A preternaturally cautious climber who once turned back 300 feet from the top of Everest but who would not shrink from a peak (Annapurna) known to claim the life of one climber for every two who reached its summit, Viesturs lives by an unyielding motto, “Reaching the summit is optional. Getting down is mandatory.” It is with this philosophy that he vividly describes fatal errors in judgment made by his fellow climbers as well as a few of his own close calls and gallant rescues. And, for the first time, he details his own pivotal and heroic role in the 1996 Everest disaster made famous in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air.

In addition to the raw excitement of Viesturs’s odyssey, No Shortcuts to the Top is leavened with many funny moments revealing the camaraderie between climbers. It is more than the first full account of one of the staggering accomplishments of our time; it is a portrait of a brave and devoted family man and his beliefs that shaped this most perilous and magnificent pursuit.

More books from Biography & Memoir

Cover of the book 3:14 am by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts
Cover of the book This Just In by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts
Cover of the book Last of the Fathers by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts
Cover of the book Kings of Comedy - The Unauthorised Biography of Matt Lucas and David Walliams by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts
Cover of the book Freud by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts
Cover of the book Enron by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts
Cover of the book Ulysses S. Grant by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts
Cover of the book Finding God in the Rubble of Numbers by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts
Cover of the book The Jesus Experience by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts
Cover of the book Delta Epiphany by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts
Cover of the book Carrier! by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts
Cover of the book Leonardo by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts
Cover of the book Rebecca West and the God That Failed by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts
Cover of the book Mental Illness by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts
Cover of the book Uma casa no meio do caminho by Ed Viesturs, David Roberts
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy