Peter Zuckerman is 29 and one of the youngest ever winners of the Livingston Award, the most competitive prize for reporting in the US. He has been a reporter for the Oregonian for the last four years and his writing about climbing has appeared in Rock and Ice magazine.

 

Amanda Padoan is the 31 year old Pakistan Program Director at the Mountain Fund, a charity that provides humanitarian aid to remote villages in Nepal and Pakistan. She has been a mountaineer since the age of 14 and counts many within the Sherpa community as personal friends. Price approximate.

 

“In 2008, eleven climbers died in one day near the summit of K2. Buried in the Sky is one of the very best books on the tragedy. Pacey, compelling and clear, this is an excellent account of what happened that fateful August day. More importantly, it tells the story and reveals the lives of those Himalayan-born high-altitude workers who risked everything for their ambitious employers - some of whom paid the ultimate price. These once anonymous figures leap off the page with all their hopes and fears - and astonishing courage.” (Ed Douglas, author of Tenzing: Hero of Everest )

“An informative and inspirational book... I couldn’t put it down. I am proud to know of the determination and loyalty of the Sherpa climbers and their tireless efforts to risk their lives for the other climbers.” (Jamling Tenzing Norgay, son of Tenzing Norgay, author of Touching My Father's Soul )

“A well-researched, detailed, and fast-paced narrative of the 2008 disaster that claimed the lives of eleven mountaineers descending from the summit of of K2, Buried in the Sky, will appeal to every mountaineer (armchair or otherwise) interested in the climbing history of that beautiful and deadly peak. Particularly welcome is Zuckerman and Padoan’s focus on the experience and lives of two Sherpa climbers, Chhiring Dorje Sherpa and Pasang Lama, who at the risk of their own lives heroically aided others in getting off the mountain safely, and without whose efforts the death count would likely have been even higher. It is reassuring to know that, even in an age of commercialized hyper-individualism on the world’s highest mountains, there are some mountaineers who still live by the values of the ‘brotherhood of the rope.'” (Maurice Isserman, co-author of Fallen Giants: A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes )

“Buried in the Sky reveals the heroic deeds of the Sherpa. . . . [It] brings to light how immensely strong, loyal and talented the Sherpa climbers are. When most other climbers were faltering on the descent from the K-2’s summit, the Sherpa climbers not only rescued themselves, but also went back up to rescue others. Finally credit is given, where credit is due.” (Ed Viesturs, bestselling author of No Shortcuts to the Top and K2: Life and Death on the World’s Most Dangerous Mountain )

“Through phenomenal research, Zuckerman and Padoan have dug deeper than anyone else into one of the most mysterious tragedies in mountaineering history. Thanks to their efforts, the heroism and humanity of the Sherpa climbers who saved lives shine through the chaos and grief of that awful day on K2.” (David Roberts, co-author of Ks: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain and author of On the Ridge Between Life and Death )