Seattle, 1980, 1st edition. 301 pp, 32 ills. Large hardcover with dust jacket. Other than the five signatures, there is no writing in the book or other flaws, and the dust jacket has no wear and is not price clipped. The Dust Jacket is protected by a removable Brodart clear plastic book cover. The Dust Jacket and the Book are in Fine-New condition.
This copy is SIGNED by the first four Americans to climb K2: Louis Reichardt, Jim Wickwire, Rick Ridgeway and John Roskelley. Also signed by Jim Whittaker, expedition leader, who was the first American to climb another peak.
Very few copies have been Signed in this way. There is no other writing in the book, which was new condition when the 4 climbers signed it.
(Chessler Books tried, but was unable, to corral these four climbers to sign multiple copies, as we have done with many other climbers and their books.)
The bigger story is that this was only the third expedition to succeed in summiting K2! K2 had been attempted several times, from 1902 to 1953, including the famous 1909 attempt by the Duke of Abruzzi who gave his name to the standard route, now called the Abruzzi Spur.
American climbers thought of K2 as an "American'' mountain due to several attempts in the 1930s and 1950s, much as the British felt that Everest was theirs. However, the Italians also wanted to climb K2, and they did climb it first. K2 was first climbed in 1954 by two Italian climbers, Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni, and then a long 23 years passed until in 1977 Japanese climbers and one Pakistani climbed K2.
That was all until the American team, described in this book, trekked 39 miles up the Baltoro Glacier and climbed K2 by a new and harder route, the long and corniced Northeast Ridge.
Part of the bigger story is that these 4 Americans were only the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th people to reach the top of second highest mountain on our blue planet. By coincidence, in 1963 an American team plus one Sherpa also made only the 10th-15th ascents of Mount Everest, and on only the 4th successful expedition.
Despite K2's reputation for difficulty and danger, by now over 800 people have reached the summit of K2 with about 96 losing their lives. Everest, with over 11,341 successful climbs, has seen about 330 deaths. The ratio make K2 look like the killer mountain of its legend. If you want to get angry about idiots climbing on gklacier and high peaks, with no gear and no knowledge, check out Mont Blanc. There are various estimates, but 100 deaths per year is in the ballpark. 6000-8000 since 1850 is a good estimate. Can you imagine in hue and cry if those numbers applied to Everest and not Mont Blanc. And Mont Blanc allows you to get to a hut at 3,835 metres or 12,582 ft, with no sleeping bag, tent, food or cooking gear. Its all for sale at the charming Gouter Hut. The soup is good.
The 1978 expedition was not a happy one. Conflicts, hardships, endurance and triumphs, are part of Ridgeway's extraordinary story. Under the leadership of Jim Whittaker, the team had spent 67 days on the mountain, nearly all of them above 18,000 feet, where the stresses of high-altitude living, of monotonous food, of confinement in tiny tents for day after day of frustrating storms had worn them down physically and emotionally.
The Last Step is Rick Ridgeway's inside story of this extraordinary expedition. It's about the people who, battered by the mountain and their isolation, overcame their individual fears, desire, and disappointments to work together to get somebody, anybody, to the top of K2. It's about the glorious success the team finally achieved, and about the perilous bivouac Jim Wickwire spent alone just below the summit without food, oxygen or shelter in temperatures of -40F.
A reviewer wrote ''Without a doubt this is one of the most riveting mountaineering books around. Not just for the climbing, which is in and of itself gripping, but for the slice of human drama found in the deterioration of relationships amongst various members of the expedition. At times, one is mesmerized by the bad behavior displayed at such high altitudes! One would think that these expeditioners were on Melrose Place, rather than fighting for their place in mountaineering history on K2, one of the most perilous mountains in the world to ascend.
''Central to all the squabbling was a love trangle which developed on the expedition, which was perceived by some of the team members to be an extra marital affair in progress. Though this later proved to be true, at the time it was the source of much denial and hard feelings. It further split the team, which was already divided over who would be chosen to summit, and eroded already existing friendships, while preventing new ones which might have otherwise developed.
''On top of all this, add in poor weather which caused them to spend sixty-seven days high on the mountain, mostly at altitudes over eighteen thousand feet, and you have a recipe for disaster. These expeditioners, however, managed to become the first Americans to ascend K2. Their success in achieving their objective, despite the trials and tribulations which they endured, is testament to their fortitude in putting aside petty, mean spirited concerns and inter-personal conflicts. This painstaking account of the first time summit of K2 by Americans is a must read for all climbing enthusiasts and readers of this genre.''
