Everest the Hard Way [Paperback]

Sir Chris Bonington (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1980

When Chris Bonington and his team set out in August 1975 to climb the South West face of Everest they were attempting the ultimate challenge of mountaineering - to conquer the steepest and highest face in the world. Two months later, overcoming daunting physical conditions and massive psychological pressures, the lead climbers scaled 1000 sheer feet of the previously unconquered Rock Band to reach the summit - the hard way. Drawing on first-hand accounts of his fellow climbers, Chris Bonington portrays the tensions, emotions and, on one occasion, bitter personal tragedy behind one of the most spectacular ascents in the history of climbing.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Hodder; Book Club edition (February 1, 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0340208333
• ISBN-13: 978-0340208335
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,608,660 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another classic, November 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Everest the Hard Way (Paperback)

The story of the British expedition to the Southwest face of Everest by the expedition leader Chris Bonington. The story is well told and very interesting. Bonington intermingles his own thoughts with the views of other members of the team. One of the better books on an Everest expedition I have read. I found it much more interesting then Tom Hornbein's "The West Ridge." Bonington includes many Appendix sections, almost half the book, on the logistics of the expedition. You could run your own expedition by just reading the appendixes. A classic in the Everest pantheon.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Superb Climbing story, May 4, 2005

By 

Kiwi (Mississauga, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Everest the Hard Way (Paperback)

For many years Chris Bonington was one of the leading organizers of British climbing expeditions and a superb climber in his own right. He wrote a whole series of books around his expeditions, all of them well worth reading of you like these kind of books. In "Everest the Hard Way" he leads a team that successfully climbs to the top via the South West Face. This was back in August 1975, and it was (and is) a pretty amazing story. There are some great descriptions of the climb, the camps, the preparation, the personalities of the climbers. I picked up this one when it was first published and highly recommend it! I've been to Base Camp myself, looked at the mountain, and there's no way I'd be trying it, even the easy way! But I don't mind reading about it!

The climbing team that Bonington put together for this expeiditon reads like a whos' who of British climbing in the 70's - and sadly, a number of them later died in climbing accidents. This particular expedition lost one climber, Mick Burke, in a summit bid. Basically, they climbed the south-west face of Everest, the steepest and highest face in the world, including the sheer 1000 ft "Rock Band" at 26,000 ft. They put up 6 camps, the highest just above the Rock Band at 27,300 ft and in one of the summit attempts, 2 members of the team successfuly bivouaced out on the South Summit.

The books got a great collection of photos, like most of Bonington's books do, as well as a huge series of appendices (150 pages out of the 350 page book) on the organisational, logistical and other aspects of the expedition. Like all Bonington's books, it's well written, descriptive, and conveys the challenges, both physical and mental, that the climbing team faced. Published in 1976, it's still, 30 years on, a really good read about a climbing team that took on one of the toughest climbs in the world and suceeded.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Definitely a classic, March 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Everest the Hard Way (Paperback)

This is the expedition book about the first ascent of the difficult Southwest Face route. Bonington's own writing, a little dry, is supplemented by interesting excerpts from the diaries of his teammates, including Pete Boardman, who as always writes beautifully. This is the ascent on which Mick Burke was lost. Overall, though not quite among the very best of mountaineering books, this is a classic and belongs on all shelves. The photos included capture the bleakness and mystery of the terrain and the precarious box-tent camps beautifully.