Everest: The Ultimate Book of the Ultimate Mountain

by Walt Unsworth

After John Hunt's successful 1953 expedition he wrote in his diary that at least the Everest story was finished. In fact, in had scarcely begun. The first ascent was the end of a chapter but far from the end of the story. Since those days, well over 300 men and women have stood on the summit of the world's highest mountain, some of them several times, seeking new routes, faster times-or simply to be numbered among the elite who have stood on the roof of the world.

This complete history, updated through 1998, tells the truth about many of the world's mountaineering heroes, about the incompetence, the pettiness, and rages as well as the courage, skill, and altruism that have gone into attempts to climb the mountain. By giving the heroes a human dimension the author has succeeded in making their achievements even more impressive than before.

With color and b&w photos.

Genres: Mountaineering, Nonfiction, Travel, Adventure, Biography

720 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Ambar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a complete history of two centuries climbers to conquer highest point on earth. It's obviously from Western point of view, but compiling vivid record from foremost adventurer was a praise to Walt Unsworth. The book itself very thick, probably can be sample as Koran or Bible. But yes, this is a bible for Everest. You will see the personal account being written in great details and sometime very intimidating. If you want seriously study about mountaineering's attitude and the progress (or decreasing values) of climbing this mountain, this book is for you. The heroes, the villain, the notorious, the famous, the government, politics and even media, all will covered here. Massive references and appendix, very good 'climbing' vocabulary.

[Alejandro Gonzalez Zerbo · Rating 4 out of 5]

In spite of a variety of aspects I have to criticize about the book, I'm still giving it 4 stars because it's an overwhelming mass of information, backed by what can only have been some exhaustive research, which paints a very complete picture of the full history of Everest mountaineering (which is ultimately what we're coming for if pursuing such a book). The wholly detailed stories and facts are balanced well with interesting anecdotes.

But. The book can actually be a real mess at times. In all fairness, what I actually got to read is not the last edition but the 2nd one, and the issues I bring up here might already have been addressed in the later version. Nevertheless, the way the progression/upgrading of editions was dealt with was my main source of dissatisfaction. Rather than adapting the original to its newest form in light of adding a full decade of new Everest history, the book rather just practically inserts this new information at the end, even virtually apologizing for having done it like that as per the money saving interests of its publisher (authors own words in the Appendix). The end result is a narrative with temporal contradictions, outdated affirmations, confusing chains of events, and sentences like "next year/last year" refering to a moment of time which later in the new pasted section is way in the past or doesn't fit the time frame of the context either way.

Like I said. Perhaps this has been fixed in the latest edition. Or perhaps they pasted another decade of stories at the end, making the situation even worse. Someone can illuminate me with this.

All in all, it's a recommended reading for the Everest pursuers and very much enjoyed it.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A completely enthralling reading experience.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of the climbing history of Mt Everest. It ends in 1979 so it doesn’t address the commercial aspects of the mountain these days.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, succinct, and well written account of the history of the climbing of Sagarmatha from the earliest British expeditions to 1999. A mountain (no pun intended) of information that is digestible and I turn to often.

[Simon Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Story piled on story, era on era, this reads like a sequence of the best adventure stories you ever read, and although it's big, it's also concise you when consider the vastness of the scope