Overview
Scott Fischer, world-class mountain climber, led one of the tragic Mount Everest expeditions documented in the NYT bestseller Into Thin Air. Fischer died during the climb, but little was said about the 40 years of his life that led up to those final dramatic days. Mountain Madness is the first and only biography of this internationally famous mountain climber, written by a close friend, Robert Birkby, who knew him well and climbed with him on many occasions. The exciting, touching and largely untold story of one of modern times' most fascinating mountain climbers.
Full Product Details
Author: Robert Birkby
Publisher: Citadel Press Inc.,U.S.
Imprint: Citadel Press Inc.,U.S.
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 3.20cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.577kg
ISBN: 9780806528755
ISBN 10: 0806528753
Pages: 368
Publication Date: 06 March 2008
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: No Longer Our Product
Availability: Out of stock
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.
Reviews
World-class mountain climber and guide gets a posthumous tribute from a mournful, devoted friend and fellow mountaineer.Birkby opens atop the 18,000-foot Himalayan peak Kala Patar. It's 1996, and Scott Fischer (1955 - 96) is showing him the skyline of Mount Everest, where Fischer will shortly lose his life. That climb was a far cry from the pair's initial adventure back in 1982, when Fischer convinced a then-inexperienced Birkby to scale Mount Olympus. The author details Fischer's childhood, when a love of camping and a penchant for thrill-seeking blossomed into challenging hikes as a teenager with the National Outdoor Leadership School. He would later join NOLS as an instructor, counting among his students Sebastian Junger (The Perfect Storm, 1997, etc.). Birkby tenderly recalls Fischer's clumsiness in his early 20s, when he miraculously survived more than 12 deadly plummets and was nicknamed the Fallingest Man in Climbing. After gaining increased experience and acumen, he left NOLS and formed Mountain Madness, a company offering guided climbs whose motto was Make it happen. Deftly detailing Fischer's life in conversational prose, Birkby shares stories about encountering bears and traversing frozen terrain in the Alaskan wilderness, adventures ascending Kilimanjaro and the death-defying challenges of the Annapurna Circuit trail. As his son neared his first birthday, Fischer became more determined than ever to scale Everest. Climbing down from its 29,000-foot peak in May 1996, the group he was guiding got caught in a blizzard. Everyone managed to descend to safety except Fischer, who perished from exposure. The tragedy received widespread media attention and a lasting memorial in Jon Krakauer's eyewitness account, Into Thin Air (1997).A fitting homage to one of the great outdoor extremists. (Kirkus Reviews)
