Eiger Dreams : Ventures among Men and Mountains

by KRAKAUER, JON

• ISBN13: 9780385488181
• ISBN10: 0385488181
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1997-06-01
• Publisher: Anchor

Summary

No one writes about mountaineering and its attendant victories and hardships more brilliantly than Jon Krakauer. In this collection of his finest essays and reporting, Krakauer writes of mountains from the memorable perspective of one who has himself struggled with solo madness to scale Alaska's notorious Devils Thumb. In Pakistan, the fearsome K2 kills thirteen of the world's most experienced mountain climbers in one horrific summer. In Valdez, Alaska, two men scale a frozen waterfall over a four-hundred-foot drop. In France, a hip international crowd of rock climbers, bungee jumpers, and paragliders figure out new ways to risk their lives on the towering peaks of Mont Blanc. Why do they do it? How do they do it? In this extraordinary book, Krakauer presents an unusual fraternity of daredevils, athletes, and misfits stretching the limits of the possible. From the paranoid confines of a snowbound tent, to the thunderous, suffocating terror of a white-out on Mount McKinley, Eiger Dreams spins tales of driven lives, sudden deaths, and incredible victories. This is a stirring, vivid book about one of the most compelling and dangerous of all human pursuits.

Table of Contents

Author's Note	x
1 EIGER DREAMS	1	(13)
2 GILL	14	(13)
3 VALDEZ ICE	27	(15)
4 ON BEING TENTBOUND	42	(9)
5 THE FLYBOYS OF TALKEETNA	51	(13)
6 CLUB DENALI	64	(20)
7 CHAMONIX	84	(19)
8 CANYONEERING	103	(13)
9 A MOUNTAIN HIGHER THAN EVEREST?	116	(14)
10 THE BURGESS BOYS	130	(19)
11 A BAD SUMMER ON K2	149	(14)
12 THE DEVILS THUMB	163