Snow in the Kingdom: My Storm Years on Everest
Ed Webster
Language: English
Pages: 580
ISBN: 0965319911
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Climb Mt. Everest--without Sherpas or bottled oxygen? No radios? No computers? Up a brand new route...? In 1988, American climber Ed Webster's 4-man team achieved this ultimate Everest ascent--years before the Into Thin Air tragedy. Click here for Everest The Really Hard Way : youtube.com/watch?v=zjAHkTHn4fA
Then delve into Webster's 5-Star Reader-acclaimed Mt. Everest classic, Snow in the Kingdom, illustrated by 100 pages of stunning color photographs.
Nearly 30 years ago, in a climbing style never seen again on Everest, four partners from America, Canada, and England pioneered a super-dangerous new route (the Neverest Buttrress) up the avalanche-blasted precipices of the remote, nearly forgotten Kangshung East Face of Mt. Everest in Tibet. Perhaps most remarkably, not wanting to endanger the lives of any Sherpas, the climbers carried every ounce of gear and food themselves.Only one person summited. This small team's indomitable willpower to succeed, shared bravery, mutual trust, and teamwork have become legendary. But days without food and severe frostbite were the painful prices of victory--and survival.
wind, we decided to attempt a circle, looping west over a suspected col below Kartse’s South Face, and returning to Base Camp along the Kangshung Glacier’s grassy northern bench. The Kartse Glacier ended abruptly in a forty-foot-high ice escarpment. Dedicated photographers all, we studiously framed Chomolönzo and Makalu between the cliff’s dripping icicles. Reaching a rocky col, we built a cairn and christened the pass the “Blackburn La” for Joe, and his new altitude record. Sitting on some
responsibility to pay for all of our local expenditures, and it wasn’t our fault that he didn’t bring enough cash along. Foreigners were not even supposed to have “the People’s Money.” When Mr. Yang tried to hold us accountable for other newly discovered expenses, Robert exploded in anger. We roomed for three hot days in the dusty Kharta compound. And still no vehicles came. As our food dwindled, we attempted to make the best of a bad situation. My teammates would no longer talk to Yang and Shi,
Everest, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1954 Morris, James; Coronation Everest, Faber and Faber Limited, London / E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., New York, 1958 Noyce, Wilfrid; South Col, One Man’s Adventure on the Ascent of Everest 1953, William Heinemann Ltd., London / William Sloane Associates, Inc., Publishers, New York, 1954 K2 (28,251 feet) Pakistan-China border, Karakoram (Italy, 1954) Desio, Professor Ardito; The Ascent of K2, Elek Books, London, 1955 Desio, Professor Ardito; Victory Over K2,
finally arrived in Kharta, at road’s end. Tomorrow, we would prepare the loads, and the next day begin our hike to Base Camp. Paul volunteered to sleep beside the trucks to ward off any adventurous thieves. Upon awakening, I stumbled stiffly outside. My lungs brimmed with clean crisp air, and my visions were of Shangri-La. To the east rose friendly, snow-covered, dome-shaped mountains. Beyond them, distant black-toothed peaks speared higher into the cobalt-blue sky. I could also see the rocky,
year?” he added questioningly. The need for caution and safety had been repeatedly drilled into me during twenty years of climbing. Yet in 1985, on my first Everest trip, I was criticized by some on my team for being too careful, for “not going for it.” After witnessing Lauren’s death and having had a few too many close calls of my own, I knew the importance of triple-checking every knot, anchor, and decision. Hopefully this year we could eliminate all preventable mistakes and lapses in