Overview

In 1963, Willi Unsoeld became an international hero for conquering the West Ridge of Everest. He was a fearless climber and a charmismatic philosopher and speaker who profoundly influenced the generation of the sixties and seventies. But the darker consequences of Unsoeld's philosophy emerged during an expedition he led on the slopes of Nanda Devi in 1976, the loss of his daughter during that climb continues to fuel one of the great debates in the world of mountaineering. FATAL MOUNTAINEER is an unusual narrative that blends action with ethics, fame with tragedy, and a man's ambition with a father's anguish.

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9780312302665

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With journalistic skill, Roper also delves into Unsoeld's transcendental philosophies and their fallacies...The book's greatest accomplishment is in the light it sheds on the shadows of mountain climbing and the impossible ideals of a hero.--Mark Larabee The Oregonian

Author Information

Robert Roper has won awards for his fiction and nonfiction alike. His book, Fatal Mountaineer, a biography of the American climber/philosopher, Willi Unsoeld, won the 2002 Boardman-Tasker Prize given by London's Royal Geographical Society. His works of fiction include Royo County, On Spider Creek, Mexico Days, The Trespassers, and Cuervo Tales; which was a New York Times Notable Book. He has won prizes or grants from the NEA, the Ingram-Merrill Foundation, the Joseph Henry Jackson Competition, and the British Alpine Club. His journalism appears in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Outside, Men's Journal, National Geographic, and others. He teaches writing and film at Johns Hopkins, and lives in Baltimore and northern California.

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