Seattle, Mountaineers, 1999, 2nd paperback printing. 306 pp, color photos. Ex Lib paperback with library RSMs, 1 internal label, no pocket, no spine mark. Near Fine.
The first American ascent of K2 placed four climbers on top: Rick Ridgeway, John Roskelley, Jim Wickwire and Lou Reichardt. This was the culmination of many American expeditions to K2 in 1938, 1939, 1953.
Conflict, hardship, endurance, triumph, are all here in Ridgeway's extraordinary story In September 1978, Rick Ridgeway, Jim Wickwire, Lou Reichardt and John Roskelley stood atop K2, the first Americans ever to achieve this victory. Under the leadership of Jim Whittaker, they and their teammates 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 to the core.
A Revewer writes 'Without a doubt, this is one of the most riveting mountaineering books around. Not 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!
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