Everest: Kangshung Face [Hardcover]

Stephen Venables (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1989

This is the story of the author's remarkable feat of climbing to the summit of Mount Everest alone, unaided by oxygen and by a new route, in 1988. His previous book "Painted Mountains" won the Boardman Tasker Award for Climbing Literature.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Stephen Venables is one of the best-known mountaineers of his generation and the author of EVEREST - ALONE AT THE SUMMIT. Joanna Wright is Curator of Photography at the Royal Geographical Society Picture Library in London. John Keay is the author of THE GREAT ARC: THE DRAMATIC TALE OF HOW INDIA WAS NAMED. Ed Douglas is the editor of the ALPINE JOURNAL. Tashi Tenzing is grandson of Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and with his wife, Judy, is the author of TENZING NORGAY AND THE SHERPAS OF EVEREST. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Odyssey Books; 1St Edition edition (May 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0340423668
• ISBN-13: 978-0340423660
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,201,323 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Should become a classic of mountainering literature, May 16, 2001

By 

Gwilym Archer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Everest: Alone at the Summit (Adrenaline Classics Series) (Paperback)

Everest Alone At the Summit is an extremely well-written account of a fascinating and harrowing first ascent by a new route on Everest's Kangshung wall by a small, four man team. Climbers (and many non-climbers as well) will appreciate the aesthetic appeal of the route they take: an almost straight line up a buttress ridged with massive ice towers. The butress itself lies between steep slopes that are constantly avalanching. A veteran of many Himalayan climbs, Venables is aware of the risks of the route, and of attempting it with such a small team, and without oxygen. In the end, it comes down to a question of survival (the book is subtitled a survival story) as the climbers desperately fight off exhaustion, loss of equipment, hunger, thirst, and the effects of extreme cold and altitude. Their descent is even more dramatic than the summit push. While the climb to the South Col is a triumph of teamwork and shared responsibility, the summit climb and descent to the bottom becomes an individual fight to stay alive as the climbers become too weak to help each other. Venables' account has just the right mix of detail, emotion, and reflection. He writes clearly and carefully and with great respect for the seriousness of what is being attempted. There are plenty of photographs and helpful maps, and an interesting appendix on the history of climbing at extreme altitude without oxygen. Alone at the Summit should become a classic of mountainering literature.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mountaineering isn't always pretty., November 14, 2002

By 

Mongoose (MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Everest: Alone at the Summit (Adrenaline Classics Series) (Paperback)

Many of the reviews of this book berate it because the author got injured and had to be rescued from the base of the mountain. Well, I assume many of these people havn't done much mountain climbing.

The whole lure of mountain climbing is the risk involved. If nothing could ever go wrong when climbing a mountain, then what's the point of doing it? It's the thrill of danger and the challenge of staying a live that makes it so attractive. Stephen Venables met this challenge head on. He had to fight through injuries, exhaustion and the elements to get down the mountain alive and so did his friends. That's nothing to put down, that is what happens when mountaineering. And this was down the East face, the hardest part of Everest to climb.

I thought this was a great book. The author really shows what pushing yourself to the limits in life threatening conditions feels like. This book will go on the shelf with my other top adventure books.

I must add that the author was not rescued at the top of the mountain as people seem to be saying. He was rescued at the base of the mountain in the valley, after climbing down the mountain himself. There's a big big difference there.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars True Adventure and Survival Story, January 13, 2003

By 

California Climber (Northern California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Everest: Alone at the Summit (Adrenaline Classics Series) (Paperback)

"Alone at the Summit" is a fantastic book about a team of four climbers on the tallest mountain in the world. Against all odds, this team pioneered a route that was one of the last "frontiers" of mountaineering. Much has been said and written about the author's actions and the way he describes the events on Everest. First of all, read the book and you will be pleased to find that Venables WAS NOT rescued at the summit of Everest-the ending has not been spoiled. Second, he and the other members of his team overcame a great deal of adversity on this climb-including Venables' bivouac that has kiled a great number of people on Everest. Lastly, everyone involved in mountaineering (climbers, rescuers, etc.) is aware of the great risk involved in the activity. Individuals make a concsious decision to strap on their crampons and head up the mountain. There is no excuse for adding unneccesary risk in this sport, nor is there much room for hubris. "Alone at the Summit" fulfills these requirements. Venables has the right mix of self-responsibility, humor and frustration to make this a balanced book. This one of a few books I recommend for dealing with the power of determination in overcoming adversity.