No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks
Ed Viesturs, with David Roberts. . Broadway, $23.95 (368pp) ISBN 978-0-7679-2470-2
In the opening scene of Viesturs's memoir of his quest to become the first American to climb the 14 mountains in the world higher than 8,000 meters, he and a friend nearly get thrown off the face of K2 when they're caught in an avalanche. It's one of the few moments in the story when his life genuinely seems at risk, as his intense focus on safety is generally successful. "Getting to the top is optional," he warns. "Getting down is mandatory." That lesson comes through most forcefully when Viesturs recounts how he almost attempted to reach the summit at Everest the day before the group Jon Krakauer wrote about in
Reviewed on: 08/14/2006
Genre: Nonfiction
Paperback - 384 pages - 978-0-7679-2471-9