No Shortcuts to the Top

August 14, 2006
In the opening scene of Viesturs's memoir of his quest to become the first American to climb the 14 mountains in the world higher than 8,000 meters, he and a friend nearly get thrown off the face of K2 when they're caught in an avalanche. It's one of the few moments in the story when his life genuinely seems at risk, as his intense focus on safety is generally successful. "Getting to the top is optional," he warns. "Getting down is mandatory." That lesson comes through most forcefully when Viesturs recounts how he almost attempted to reach the summit at Everest the day before the group Jon Krakauer wrote about in Into Thin Air
, but backed out because it just didn't feel right. His expertise adds a compelling eyewitness perspective to those tragic events, but the main focus is clearly on Viesturs and his self-imposed "Endeavor 8000." From his earliest climbs on the peaks of the Pacific Northwest to his final climb up the Himalayan mountain of Annapurna, Viesturs offers testimony to the sacrifices (personal and professional) in giving your life over to a dream, as well as the thrill of seeing it through.

August 15, 2006
In 2005, Viesturs ("No Boundaries: Spirit of Adventure") completed Endeavor 8000, a campaign to climb the world -s 14 highest mountains without supplemental oxygen. He became the first American to do so. In this memoir, cowritten by veteran mountaineering book author Roberts ("On the Ridge Between Life and Death"), Viesturs chronicles his climbing career, starting with his summers guiding for Rainier Mountaineering Inc. and concluding with his success (after several attempts) on Annapurna, a series of peaks in the Himalayas. In between, Viesturs summited Mt. Everest as part of the 1990 International Peace Climb led by Jim Whittaker, the first American to climb Everest, along with climbers from the Soviet Union and China. He credits his success in mountaineering to being not a risk taker but a risk manager.

Decades earlier, a group of British climbers took big risks in pushing the boundaries of mountaineering. Willis ("Ice: Stories of Survival from Polar Exploration") focuses his history on mountaineer Chris Bonington and the motley group of quirky characters with whom he climbed. This dramatic and romantic look at the -greatest generation of climbers - uses previously published accounts and interviews with the surviving climbers to describe the expeditions and what motivated these men. First ascents on Eiger -s north face, Annapurna -s south face, Changabang, Everest -s southwest face, the Ogre, and K2 are detailed and dissected. Viesturs -s book is a thrilling read, fresh in the story it tells. Willis -s book is an exciting reprisal of some of mountaineering -s most infamous climbers and the legends their expeditions created. Both are recommended for public libraries, although those with limited funds for this genre would be better served buying Viesturs -s memoir. [For Viesturs -s book, see Prepub Alert, "LJ "6/1/06.]" -Margaret Atwater-Singer, Univ. of Evansville Libs., IN"

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2006
For nearly two decades Viesturs has been living his dream: to scale the world's 14 tallest peaks--the 8,000ers, as they're known, the 14 mountains taller than 8,000 meters (26,247 feet). All of them are in Nepal, Pakistan, and Tibet, and none is easy to conquer. Viesturs, who has stood atop Everest half a dozen times, is among the world's most accomplished climbers, and even he admits it's no picnic dragging yourself up to those heights. With coauthor Roberts, a veteran mountaineering author, Viesturs turns his quest to conquer the 8,000ers into a compelling story of dedication, desperation, danger, derring-do, and devotion (physical and spiritual). Fans of extreme-sport books, especially tales of high adventure, will want to add this one to their collections.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)