Climbing the World's 14 Highest Mountains (Hardcover)

~ (Author), John Cleare (Author, Photographer)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The year 2000 marks the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of an 8,000-meter peak. In the decade that followed, all but one of the world’s fourteen 8,000m peaks were summited. (The single exception was Shishapangma.) This was the golden age of high-altitude climbing.

A must-read for mountaineers and mountaineering history buffs, Climbing the World’s 14 Highest Mountains brings together the stories behind the conquest of every peak and describes how each has been ascended since then. The epic drama of groundbreaking climbs comes alive through stunning, large-format photographs. The accompanying text describes each peak’s physical characteristics, the origins of its name, who discovered it (and how and when), and a catalog of all the significant climbs, from the first through the present day.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Mountaineers Books (August 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898867274
• ISBN-13: 978-0898867275
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #210,764 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Climbing the World's 14 Highest Mountains, November 12, 2000

By	Claudia Berryman-Shafer (Fernley, NV USA) - See all my reviews

Climbing The World's 14 Highest Mountains A History of the 8000-Meter Peaks by Richard Sale and John Cleare

Whether you are an active climber, an armchair mountaineer or interested in the history of climbing you will thoroughly enjoy this book. The book begins with an overview of the difficuties of high altitude climbing and in the history of climbing you will thoroughly enjoy this book. The book begins with an overview of the difficuties of high altitude climbing and mans search for challenges.Next the authors give a history of the discovery of the great mountains, beginning with trade routes and moving on through the surveyors of the late 1700's and early 1800's.

Following then are the chapters for each of the peaks. they are arranged in order of ascent from Annapurna in 1950 to Shisha Pangma in 1964. For each mountain there is a history of its discovery, how it was named, descriptions of the early attempts to climb it, accounts of the first ascent and notable ascents of other routes and ski and snowboard descents.

One of the finest features are the beautiful photographs. There are color photographs of each mountain from several aspects plus historical black and white photos of many of the peaks. There are small inset photos with lines of ascent of the most commonly climbed routes of each peak.

Finally the authors include ascent ststistics including names of those who have made ascents through 1999 and a bibliography of accounts of first ascents.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Shoot the proof reader...., July 29, 2001

By	Peter Rees (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This is indeed an excellent book and I agree with the other reviewers. It was somewhat spoilt for me (hence 4 not 5 stars) by the incredible number of spelling mistakes, typos, grammatical errors, punctuation errors etc etc. Sometimes the authors seem to have gone back to older text and just inserted new stuff, sometimes almost out of context. I found myself reading it to find errors and, when found, the urge to highlight them was unbearable, although thankfully I only did this mentally....

This is an expensive book and one should get more than this- it is a great read to learn the history of these ascents and to put them all together in a big picture. Perhaps the author's 'Guinness Book of Records' approach is a little too clinical- a good list of other recommended books would have been great to hear the stories 'from the horse's mouth'.

It's already out of date so maybe a new edition will iron out some of this annoying stuff. As Ed Drummond once said, 'may others come to do the work better' (Avon Gorge Climbing Guide).

Pete Rees (New Zealand)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars High altitude achievement, May 1, 2001

By	roy johnstone "royjo71" (st albans england) - See all my reviews

As climbing books go, this is a star. The content covers the exploration, first ascent and subsequent ascents of the "awesome 14". The main pull is the excellent range of photography throughout the book. Incredible summit shots from Lhotse, Manaslu, and Hermann Buhl's classic ice ax shot from the top of nanga parbat are justification for the purchase alone. The text is well written, informative and generally accurate (with the odd spelling mistake). My only gripe would be with the sections on each mountain covering later ascents. The author is arbitrary in the amount of time and space given to these, but this is the authors perogative. The ascent route maps are good, as are the appendices with full ascent data. All in all, a good read, and a book that will come back off the shelf for reference purposes time and time again