cover image Everest Grand Circle: A Climbing and Skiing Adventure Through Nepal and Tibet

Everest Grand Circle: A Climbing and Skiing Adventure Through Nepal and Tibet

Jan Reynolds, Ned Gillette. Mountaineers Books, $22.5 (216pp) ISBN 978-0-89886-111-2

In 1980, Gillette led an American climbing expedition to China; Reynolds was a member of his team. When the Chinese Mountaineering Association later also granted permission for a ""ski trek'' in Tibet, Gillette expanded his travel plans; he would encircle Mt. Everest in two phasesNepal in the winter, Tibet in the spring. The expedition, limited to four, would trek, climb and ski for more than 300 miles at altitudes above 17,000 feet. Gillette and Reynolds give alternating accounts of their adventure; it is a remarkable story of physical and mental endurance. In Nepal, they first climbed Pumoni (23,442 ft.) then crossed three remote high passes; they ran short of food, lost their way and eventually arrived in the Arun Valley. In Tibet, they met a British expedition en route to climb Everest (an expedition that would end in tragedy), and in both countries they crossed the trails of earlier mountaineers. A tale of tension and drama, this is a book to appeal to all who like an element of danger in their adventures. Photos. November