Overview

A gripping and terryfying account of the fatal mission to climb Everest in 1996. Perfect for fans of extreme sports books and mountaineering adventures, including the prize-winning book documentary, Touching the Void. It seemed like any other season on Mount Everest. Ten expeditions from around the world were preparing for their summit push, gathered together to try for mountaineering's ultimate prize. Twenty-four hours later, eight of those climbers were dead, victims of the most devastating storm ever to hit Everest. On the North face of the mountain, a British expedition found itself in the thick of the drama. Against all odds, film-maker Matt Dickinson and professional climber Alan Hinkes managed to battle through hurricane-force winds to reach the summit. In Death Zone, Matt Dickinson describes the extraordinary event that put the disaster on the front cover of Time and Newsweek. The desperate attempts of teams on the southern side of the mountain, fatal errors that led to the deaths of three Indian climbers on the North Ridge and the moving story of Rob Hall, the New Zealand guide who stayed with his stricken client, and paid with his life. Based on interviews with the surviving climbers and the first-hand experience of having lived through the killer storm, this gripping non-fiction book tackles issues at the very heart of mountaineering. Death Zone is an extraordinary story of human triumph, folly and disaster.

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9780099255727

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Reviews

Dickinson's book reads like a thriller, pacy and exciting, [...] a real page turner The Guardian A gripping account of filming - and surviving - in the death zone Mail on Sunday Takes off like an F-16...After the first chapter I was starving for more and had trouble putting the book down Wanderlust

On 10th May 1996, a huge storm, worse than anyone could remember, swept over Mount Everest. At that time, a number of expeditions were on the mountain, expert 'traditional' teams, and commerial teams, in part comprised of people who had the money to climb, but not necessarily the expertise. And with them was Matt Dickinson, a producer of adventure films, documenting the actor Brian Blessed's obsession with Everest, and his third attempt on the summit. Here, Dickinson tells the story of his own attempt on the summit, filming as he went, and also the stories of those other expeditions and the tragedies which ensued. Eight climbers died on the mountain on that day, and more later, highlighting the current state of mountaineering on Everest, where people are practically queuing to climb the last few hundred feet. But while Dickinson shows an understanding of the problems of commercialisaion, the book never properly engages with the tragedy, settling for enumeration rather than analysis. Nevertheless, Dickinson paints a vivid portrait of the assault on Everest and questions the tragedy, even if he can't provide answers. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

Matt Dickinson is a British film-maker and writer who is best known for his documentary work for Discovery Channel, National Geographic and the BBC. In 1996, Dickinson became the first British film-maker to film from the top of Mount Everest and return alive. His documentary film about this ill-fated expedition, Summit Fever, has been critically acclaimed worldwide. He has written a number of mountaineering books and made many adventure and nature documentaries.

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