Ed Viesturs Boeken

For eighteen years Viesturs pursued climbing's holy grail: to stand atop the world's fourteen 8,000-meter peaks, without the aid of bottled oxygen. As he recounts his most harrowing climbs, he reveals a man torn between the safe world he and his loved ones share and the majestic and deadly places where only he can go. A cautious climber who once turned back 300 feet from the top of Everest, but who would not shrink from a peak (Annapurna) known to claim the life of one climber for every two who reached its summit, Viesturs has an unyielding motto, "Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory." It is with this philosophy in mind that he vividly describes fatal errors in judgment made by his fellow climbers as well as a few of his own close calls and gallant rescues.--From publisher description

At 28,251 feet, the world's second-tallest mountain, K2 thrusts skyward out of the Karakoram Range of northern Pakistan. Climbers regard it as the ultimate achievement in mountaineering, with good reason. Four times as deadly as Everest, K2 has claimed the lives of seventy-seven climbers since 1954. In August 2008 eleven climbers died in a single thirty-six-hour period on K2-the worst single-event tragedy in the mountain's history and the second-worst in the long chronicle of mountaineering in the Himalaya and Karakoram ranges. Yet summiting K2 remains a cherished goal for climbers from all over the globe

A seasoned mountain climber describes his harrowing attempt to climb the Himalayas' Annapurna, the statistically most deadly peak in the world. By the best-selling author of K2.

-- The new book by Art Wolfe, internationally acclaimed nature photographer-- Intimate interviews with world-renowned climbers Ed Viesturs, Doug Scott, and Reinhold Messner-- 160 stunning full-color photographsArt Wolfe has achieved what few photographers have attempted -- capturing the spirit of the entire Himalayan region. This stunning collection of photographs presents not only breathtaking mountain landscapes, but also the flora, fauna, and culture of the highest mountain range in the world. More than 150 photographs -- taken during Wolfe's many travels through Pakistan, India, Nepal, Tibet, and China -- provide us an inside look at the people, architecture, religious icons, plants, and mountain vistas of these countries. With the skill and artistry for which he is renowned, Wolfe brings the Himalaya to life.Complementing his spectacular images are Peter Potterfield's interviews with a select group of world-class climbers. Reinhold Messner, Doug Scott, and Ed Viesturs share their thoughts on the Himalaya as a natural world, a social and cultural world, and a climbers' world. Their personal insights, paired with the diversity of Wolfe's images, set this book apart from all others.Award-winning photographer Art Wolfe is an internationally respected nature photographer. He has published more than forty books, including Photography Outdoors (page 19). A Seattle resident, he travels all over the world to capture his photographs. Wolfe performs many slide shows and lectures of his work each year. In April 2000 Wolfe was awarded the coveted Alfred Eisenstaedt Magazine Photography Award. In 1998 he was named Outstanding Nature Photographer of the Year and was recognized bythe National Audobon Society with the first-ever Rachel Carson award. Peter Potterfield is the author of In the Zone (page 29) and Selected Climbs in the Cascades, Volumes I and II (page 24). Norbu Tenzing Norgay is a world-class climber, the Director of Development for the American Himalayan Foundation in San Francisco, and the son of Tenzing Norgay, who summited Mount Everest with Sir Edmund HIllary in 1953.

Osmnáct let se snažil Ed Viesturs dosáhnout na svatý grál alpinismu: stanout na vrcholu všech osmitisícových hor planety bez pomoci umělého kyslíku. Je to neobyčejně opatrný horolezec, který se neváhal otočit a sestoupit zpět sotva devadesát metrů pod vrcholem Mount Everestu. A nezastavil se ani před výzvou jménem Annapurna, před horou, která proslula tím, že si vyžádá za každé dva horolezce, které pustí na svůj vrchol, jeden život. „Dostat se na vrchol je možnost. Vrátit se zpátky dolů je povinnost.“ Ve světle své nezlomné filozofie líčí Ed osudově chybná rozhodnutí svých kolegů horolezců, několik případů, kdy sám jen se štěstím vyvázl, a také pár záchranných akcí, kterých se zúčastnil. A poprvé také detailně popisuje klíčovou roli, kterou sehrál při katastrofě na Everestu v roce 1996, proslavené Jonem Krakauerem v jeho knize Into Thin Air. Na vrchol žádné zkratky nevedou je víc než jen celistvý popis jednoho z nejúžasnějších počinů současnosti; je to zároveň portrét statečného a rodině oddaného muže a vysvětlení motivace, která jej dohnala až k tomuto vrcholně nebezpečnému a velkolepému výkonu. V epilogu hovoří Viesturs o uběhnutí svého prvního newyorského maratonu a o své výpravě na jaře roku 2007 na kanadský Baffinův ostrov, kde studoval dopady globálního oteplování.