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Highest and Hardest: A Mountain Climber's Lifetime Odyssey to the Top of the World
At age 16 Chris Kopczynski carved the words “Everest/Eiger” into the handle of his ice axe, marking his goal to climb the two mountains known as the "highest and the hardest." He accomplished that goal by the age of 33, becoming the ninth American to summit Everest and the first American to summit both the North Face of the Eiger and Mt. Everest. With the climbing addiction in his blood, he set new goals and became the twelfth in the world to climb the highest peaks on seven continents. Chris’ lifelong odyssey to the top of the world includes the climbs, attempts and summits of every continent’s highest, hardest, and most significant mountains. He gives readers stories of perseverance and survival as he achieved his dreams on Robson in the Canadian Rockies, Chimney Rock in Idaho, the Pamirs and Elbrus in the USSR, Denali in Alaska, Makalu in Nepal, Antarctica’s Vinson, Chile’s Aconcagua, Kosciuszko in Australia, and Africa’s Kilimanjaro.
374 pages, Hardcover
Published February 15, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 17, 2022
Dang, Kop had a lot of adventures. Starting from crazy bridge climbing as a kid to completing the Seven Summits. This is a wild ride, lots of fun, and with lots of ups and downs (both literal and metaphorical). Like all elite climbers, Chris Kopczynski is slightly crazy. But what's most impressive to me wasn't the summits he attained (Everest, Vinson, north face of the Eiger, etc.). It was the ones he didn't. Makalu. Everest again (where he would have been the first American to summit twice). He was very close, but he had the good sense to judge the conditions (internal and external), and realize that he needed to choose life over summiting. To be an elite mountaineer you have to be crazy, but to become an old elite mountaineer you have to be not too crazy.
Kopczynski's not a professional writer, so the prose is solid without being elegant, but that's fine. It fits the story, and fits his life. And the story is amazing. And he does have great interjections of humor, and some really good turns of phrase. The addition of a single adverb elevates this sentence tremendously:
"Roskelley and I arrived in Zurich and optimistically purchased round-trip tickets to the Bernese Oberland."
[page 108, on their way to attempt the north face of the Eiger, which at the time claimed many of the lives of those attempting it]
Note: this review is a duplicate of the one for Into Thin Hair (hair, not air), which was the original title this was published under. Honestly a far better title, lawyers aside.
Kopczynski's not a professional writer, so the prose is solid without being elegant, but that's fine. It fits the story, and fits his life. And the story is amazing. And he does have great interjections of humor, and some really good turns of phrase. The addition of a single adverb elevates this sentence tremendously:
"Roskelley and I arrived in Zurich and optimistically purchased round-trip tickets to the Bernese Oberland."
[page 108, on their way to attempt the north face of the Eiger, which at the time claimed many of the lives of those attempting it]
Note: this review is a duplicate of the one for Into Thin Hair (hair, not air), which was the original title this was published under. Honestly a far better title, lawyers aside.
September 17, 2022
Would I Recommend It?
ABSOLUTELY, YES!
(Perhaps more geared for those who enjoy outdoor adventures. And those who don't mind reading pages upon pages of technical climbing terms and spending the time visualizing those feats. Although I am no mountain climber so visualization has come about through many years of mountain and rock climbing movies and my husband explaining some of the terms and techniques.)
Note
I read this book under his original title, Into Thin Hair: Diary of a Mountain Climber.
Thoughts?
What do you get when you put a Spokanite, a General Contractor, and a Mountaineer into one?
A FANTASTICALLY WRITTEN BOOK!
Chris is not only a world renowned climber, but a wondrously humorous storyteller.
This book tops my list of outdoor adventure books in humans doing amazing things in the outdoors. It places right up there with my favorite mountaineering book, Minus 148 Degrees. And the many tragic stories of mountaineering found in the pages of Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster, K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain.
In the first 27 pages I was captivated by his stories of him as a young and mischievous boy growing up in the small-big-town of Spokane. I drive past the bridge each day that he decided to go and climb the arches of in his quest to collect pigeons for his brother and with a miscalculation about what was underfoot, Chris nearly met his end. I will never look at the arches of that bridge the same way ever again.
I absolutely enjoyed adventuring along with him to each of the eight of the "Seven Summits" plus a couple others. The one that stood out the most for me was the team climb of Makalu. That story had me a bit teary eyed in how four men worked so well together to achieve a common goal with only one summiting, but all returning safely and victoriously in having completed their mission as a collective whole.
At end of each chapter he concludes with “Lessons from the Wild”, but one had the “10 Rules for Effective Living” and as a notary (and former loan processor) who handles real estate loan document signings I wholeheartedly agree with his #6: "Never co-sign for anybody." Don't do it! Mountain climbing is not crazy. Co-signing, however, is. From this lesson I conclude that Chris is a very wise man.
One of Many Favorite Quotes
"At this juncture of the expedition, I was herding deaf cats." - page 287
Interview with the Author!
If you want to watch a interview with the author then go to:
https://fb.watch/8fl15CZySM/
Li Ciavola with Spokane Mountaineers did a live interview with Chris in August, 2021.
ABSOLUTELY, YES!
(Perhaps more geared for those who enjoy outdoor adventures. And those who don't mind reading pages upon pages of technical climbing terms and spending the time visualizing those feats. Although I am no mountain climber so visualization has come about through many years of mountain and rock climbing movies and my husband explaining some of the terms and techniques.)
Note
I read this book under his original title, Into Thin Hair: Diary of a Mountain Climber.
Thoughts?
What do you get when you put a Spokanite, a General Contractor, and a Mountaineer into one?
A FANTASTICALLY WRITTEN BOOK!
Chris is not only a world renowned climber, but a wondrously humorous storyteller.
This book tops my list of outdoor adventure books in humans doing amazing things in the outdoors. It places right up there with my favorite mountaineering book, Minus 148 Degrees. And the many tragic stories of mountaineering found in the pages of Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster, K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain.
In the first 27 pages I was captivated by his stories of him as a young and mischievous boy growing up in the small-big-town of Spokane. I drive past the bridge each day that he decided to go and climb the arches of in his quest to collect pigeons for his brother and with a miscalculation about what was underfoot, Chris nearly met his end. I will never look at the arches of that bridge the same way ever again.
I absolutely enjoyed adventuring along with him to each of the eight of the "Seven Summits" plus a couple others. The one that stood out the most for me was the team climb of Makalu. That story had me a bit teary eyed in how four men worked so well together to achieve a common goal with only one summiting, but all returning safely and victoriously in having completed their mission as a collective whole.
At end of each chapter he concludes with “Lessons from the Wild”, but one had the “10 Rules for Effective Living” and as a notary (and former loan processor) who handles real estate loan document signings I wholeheartedly agree with his #6: "Never co-sign for anybody." Don't do it! Mountain climbing is not crazy. Co-signing, however, is. From this lesson I conclude that Chris is a very wise man.
One of Many Favorite Quotes
"At this juncture of the expedition, I was herding deaf cats." - page 287
Interview with the Author!
If you want to watch a interview with the author then go to:
https://fb.watch/8fl15CZySM/
Li Ciavola with Spokane Mountaineers did a live interview with Chris in August, 2021.
January 13, 2022
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
4.5
I have always loved the mountains. I've lived right along the Wasatch Mountain Range for almost my whole life, and enjoy spending a lot of time in them - hiking, camping, fishing. Even though I have enjoyed being in the mountains, I've never had the bug to do big climbs. I sure love reading about them though. It started with "Into Thin Air", and after that I was hooked.
This book was a pretty quick read for me. I devoured it over the course of a few days. I loved reading all the descriptions of the climbs, and trying to imagine what it was like actually being up there. Chris Kopczynski is not a climber I had heard of before, but he accomplished an impressive list of feats. While I enjoyed reading about his different climbs, I also enjoyed when he asked himself what he was doing. He had a family and a job, but all he could think about was the next climb. It made me think about what drives some people to do the things they do, especially when it seems as if that drive to do one amazing thing is ruining another.
There were parts that seemed a little repetitive - he stated after almost every climb he wrote about that the climb after the summit is the most dangerous - some of the conversations seemed a little oddly written, and anyone who doesn't have a basic understanding of climbing and the terms used may be confused as to what's going on, but overall it was a fascinating book and a definite recommend for anyone who climbs or is interested in the subject.
4.5
I have always loved the mountains. I've lived right along the Wasatch Mountain Range for almost my whole life, and enjoy spending a lot of time in them - hiking, camping, fishing. Even though I have enjoyed being in the mountains, I've never had the bug to do big climbs. I sure love reading about them though. It started with "Into Thin Air", and after that I was hooked.
This book was a pretty quick read for me. I devoured it over the course of a few days. I loved reading all the descriptions of the climbs, and trying to imagine what it was like actually being up there. Chris Kopczynski is not a climber I had heard of before, but he accomplished an impressive list of feats. While I enjoyed reading about his different climbs, I also enjoyed when he asked himself what he was doing. He had a family and a job, but all he could think about was the next climb. It made me think about what drives some people to do the things they do, especially when it seems as if that drive to do one amazing thing is ruining another.
There were parts that seemed a little repetitive - he stated after almost every climb he wrote about that the climb after the summit is the most dangerous - some of the conversations seemed a little oddly written, and anyone who doesn't have a basic understanding of climbing and the terms used may be confused as to what's going on, but overall it was a fascinating book and a definite recommend for anyone who climbs or is interested in the subject.
October 26, 2022
I don’t know why I read mountain climbing books but I just can’t put them down. I have no desire to climb a mountain. I think these guys are crazy and not at all reliable or trustworthy with their all consuming quest for prize after prize. I don’t know half the terminology to really follow the technical parts. But man, I love reading about it.
February 17, 2022
"Into Thin Air" hooked me on reading about big mountain climbs, and "Highest and Hardest" did not disappoint. Starting with the author's childhood, readers see how Kopczynski first explored risk, adventure, and friendship. As Kopczynski begins to climb mountain after mountain, I cheered him on through the heavy storms, bivouacs, and relentless decisions. I gasped during his climb of the Eiger North Face and held my breath during some of his nail-biting moments on Everest. But I equally enjoyed reading about his climbs in Canada, Denali, etc. that taught him the mountaineering skills he would later use on other climbs.
Told in a straightforward manner with some technical detail, I appreciated that Kopczynski did not add unnecessary fluff to such grave stories. The "lessons learned" at the end of each chapter drove home his points in a succinct way. The pictures from various climbs interspersed with the stories brought the story to life.
I'll definitely be purchasing a copy for a friend with Everest ambitions. This book is for anyone with even a mild interest in mountaineering or outdoor feats, but it would also be enjoyable for readers who don't venture into risky mountain climbs.
Thank you to Netgalley and Falcon Press Publishing for an advance e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Told in a straightforward manner with some technical detail, I appreciated that Kopczynski did not add unnecessary fluff to such grave stories. The "lessons learned" at the end of each chapter drove home his points in a succinct way. The pictures from various climbs interspersed with the stories brought the story to life.
I'll definitely be purchasing a copy for a friend with Everest ambitions. This book is for anyone with even a mild interest in mountaineering or outdoor feats, but it would also be enjoyable for readers who don't venture into risky mountain climbs.
Thank you to Netgalley and Falcon Press Publishing for an advance e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews