About this item

Imagine a world without IMAX or Gore-tex, before North Face, a world without mobile phones or high-altitude Internet links, super-light hiking boots and polyamide fleece. Imagine a time when the Alps were as remote as the Himalayas and the Himalayas as remote as the moon. Traversing a century of climbing that began with the Victorian enthusiasts and ended with the conquest of the great Himalayan peaks, Mick Conefrey and Tim Jordan take us back to that (not-so-distant) world to tell the stories of the extraordinary men who were the first to climb the world's best-known mountains---the Matterhorn, McKinley, Everest, and K2. Their quests provide welcome historical context and very modern thrills for readers of adventure narratives. Accompanied by unique archival materials, detailed maps, and photographs, Mountain Men invites us to follow in the footsteps of these fearless explorers, and tells us the stories with all their romance and stupidity, bravado and suffering, courage and miscalculation, intact.