How 12 sherpas recovered two bodies from the 27,000-foot mark of Mount Everest.
climbing
Posted inEditor's Pick
Deliverance From 27,000 Feet
In May 2016, four Bengali mountaineers attempted to achieve a lifelong dream: to summit Mount Everest. After an egregiously late start to their summit attempt, they were abandoned by their guides and left to die on the mountain. Only one survived. John Branch reports on the ill-fated expedition and how a team of sherpas recovered […]
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Quote Posts, Quotes
Once You Reach the Top of Mt. Everest, There’s Nowhere to Go But Down
Climber and explorer Cory Richards shares his challenges with PTSD, alcoholism, and infidelity.
Posted inEditor's Pick, Nonfiction, Quotes
Making Sense of Life In the Death Zone
At The Walrus, read an excerpt from The Escapist: Cheating Death on the World’s Highest Mountain, by Gabriel Filippi with Brett Popplewell.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Making Sense of Life In the Death Zone
At The Walrus, read an excerpt from The Escapist: Cheating Death on the World’s Highest Mountain, by Gabriel Filippi with Brett Popplewell.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Ethics on the World’s Highest Peak
The climber’s code of ethics, issued by the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation, specifies “helping someone in trouble has absolute priority over reaching goals we set for ourselves in the mountain.” Most take this to heart. “Saving one life is more important than summiting Everest 100 times,” says Serap Jangbu Sherpa, the first person to climb all […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Limits, or How to Avoid the Precipice Between Courage and Humility
I need to tell you about the Cirque of the Unclimbables. Ever since I went there, I’ve tried to describe it to friends and family, tried to explain its power and its perfection. It is, I tell people, the best natural campsite I have ever visited. It’s also among the most beautiful eyefuls of landscape […]