Book
Description :Willi Unsoeld became an international
hero during the Kennedy years, when he emerged as
probably the greatest American climber of the
Himalayan golden age. Displaying the sort of vigor
that President Kennedy so admired, Unsoeld became
the most visible hero of an ascent of Everest's
previously-unclimbed West Ridge -- an ascent that
cost him parts of both feet and nearly his life.
His
casual fearlessness and physical power established
the template for extreme adventure, and his
lectures as a charismatic professor inspired the
generation of the sixties to test itself in acts
of physical daring. Fatal Mountaineer sets Willi
Unsoeld's intense life against the story of two
defining adventures: the triumph on Everest and a
more ill-starred expedition in 1976, when he led a
group of mountaineers up a new route on Nanda
Devi, the tallest peak in India. One of that
gifted group of climbers was Willi's daughter,
Devi -- a golden girl named for the mountain she
sought to ascend with her beloved father. The
intense rivalries within the expedition team, and
the dangers of the route, led to an outcome
darkened by tragedy, an outcome that continues to
fuel one of the most tormenting debates in
mountaineering history.
Blending
adventure with a frank look at the cultural
background, Fatal Mountaineer considers the
pressures on mountaineers in a period of our
history torn by conflict. It balances hunger for
fame with stark tragedy, a man's ambition with a
father's love. Unsoeld emerges as an American
classic, a self-invented genius of adventure to
rank with Mark Twain or Will Rogers for sheer
attractiveness. Under the close scrutiny of this
thrilling story, his heroism turns out to be
deeply authentic-as does his suffering.
