Description

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The New York Times bestselling true story of how an intrepid film crew became a heroic rescue team during the disastrous 1996 climbing season.
 
It was a death-defying assignment: Gather a rugged crew of climbers and photographers to hoist equipment—including an IMAX camera—to the top of the world and record the summiting of Mount Everest as never before.
 
But then a freak storm swept the mountain, claiming eight lives, including two world-class guides, and the venture turned into a life-or-death rescue mission. The group did what they could to save lives—and came back with a story like no other.
 
The terror and triumph of May 1996 will go down in infamy. Made famous by Jon Krakauer’s bestseller Into Thin Air and recounted in David Breashears's IMAX film, the narrative is relayed here in a gripping volume from National Geographic. Written in suspenseful detail, the book documents how a courageous photographic team, facing hazards of their own, became an essential part of an effort that brought some—but not all—of their companions down from the mountain alive.

About the Author

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Broughton Coburn is a writer, lecturer, and college instructor who specializes in crafting narratives of the people and landscape of the Himalayas. He has authored a young adult photobiography of Sir Edmund Hillary, Triumph on Everest; collaborated with Jamling Tenzing Norgay on his autobiography, Touching My Father's Soul: A Sherpa's Journey to the Top of Everest; and written The Vast Unknown, which explores the first American ascent of Everest and its aftermath.

Tim Cahill is a founding editor and the editor at large of Outside magazine. A successful travel writer, he is the author of numerous books, including Buried Dreams: Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer, Hold the Enlightenment, and Pass the Butterworms: Remote Journeys Oddly Rendered. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times Book Review, National Geographic Adventure, and other publications. Cahill lives in Livingston, Montana.

David Breashears is a mountaineer, filmmaker, author, and professional speaker who has made more than 40 movies. He shot Everest, the first IMAX production ever filmed on the world's highest mountain, during the historically tragic season of 1996. Breashears has summited there five times and continues to photograph the Himalayas.