Everest Years A Climber's Life, The

London: Hodder & Stoughton Limited, 1986. BOOK: Corners Bumped; Light Shelf Rub to Boards; Spine Slightly Cocked; Edges Lightly Soiled. DUST JACKET: Lightly Creased; Lightly Chipped; Slight Yellowing Due to Age; In Archival Quality Jacket Cover. CONTENTS: Author's Note; 1 Beginnings 2 The Irresistible Challenge 3 Success on the South-West Face 4 Laissez-Faire on the Ogre 5 Nearly, But Not Quite 6 A Second Chance 7 Getting Down the Ogre 8 K2 9 Avalanche 10 Chinese Overtures 11 Pushing the Limits 12 Small is Beautiful 13 A Fairytale Summit 14 One In Seven 15 Alone on Top of Antarctica 16 A Promise Broken 17 The Build Up 18 Fulfilment 19 Back to Earth; Select Bibliography; Index. SYNOPSIS: In 1985 Chris Bonington crowned an already distinguished mountaineering career by reaching the summit of Everest at the age of fifty - an achievement which won him enormous popular acclaim and affection. His new volume of autobiography chronicles his four expeditions to the world's highest peak from early attempts on the huge South-West Face, through to eventual success in 1975, moving in 1982 to the tragic North-East Ridge trip, and culminating in the very successful Norwegian expedition of 1985. In The Everest Years he tells of his fascination with the highest point on earth and why it meant so much to him finally to stand there himself. The list of people with whom he climbed includes so many of the top mountaineers from what was one of the Golden Ages of British mountaineering - Dougal Haston, Nick Estcourt, Doug Scott, Joe Tasker and Peter Boardman. He talks of climbing partnerships and friendships formed over the years with these men and discusses issues of teamwork, leadership and developments in his own attitudes towards them. He recounts vividly the fight for survival on the epic storm-bound descent from the Ogre when Doug Scott had broken both his legs just below the summit and Chris suffered from pneumonia and broken ribs. Contrasting with this is the elegant, fast two-man ascent of the West Summit of Shivling with Jim Fotheringham, and his trip to the vast wastes of Antarctica to make the first British ascent of Mount Vinson, that continent's highest peak. His love of this country, too, is shown in his descriptions of the more gentle hills of the Lake District, where he lives, and dramatic ice climbing in Scotland. The Everest Years is at once a mirror of evolving climbing taste and practice over the past fifteen years and a celebration of mountaineering at its most exacting and rewarding limits. Chris Bonington's first volume of autobiography, I Chose to Climb, was published in 1966 and followed in 1971 by Annapurna South Face, his account of leading the first attempt on a big Himalayan wall in which Don Whillans and Dougal Haston reached the summit. The Next Horizon (1973) was a second volume of autobiography, covering the years 1962-72. This was followed by Everest South West Face (1973) and Everest the Hard Way (1976) which recount an unsuccessful and the successful attempt to make a new route on Everest. Quest For Adventure (1981) looked at a wider spectrum of adventuring from moon landings to cave diving and this was followed by the book of an expedition into the newly reopened mountains of western China, Kongur, China's Elusive Summit (1982) and Everest the Unclimbed Ridge (1983), an account, written with Charles Clarke, of the 1982 North-East Ridge expedition.. First Edition 1st Printing. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall.