Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men And Mountains

Jon Krakauer is a critically acclaimed author who has written about mountaineering and its attendant hardships and victories. In this collection of his finest work, he explores the subject from the unique perspective of one who has battled peaks like K2, Denali, Everest, and the Eiger. The book is more about people than about rock and ice, with compelling and colorful characters such as Adrian the Romanian, John Gill, and Krakauer himself. "The Devils Thumb" recounts Krakauer's own near-fatal struggle with solo-madness as he scales Alaska's Devils Thumb. Eiger Dreams is stirring, vivid writing about one of the most compelling and dangerous of all human pursuits.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 208 pages
Publication date: 17 November 2019
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

No one writes about mountaineering and its attendant hardships and victories more brilliantly than critically acclaimed author Jon Krakauer. In this collection of his finest work from such magazines as Outside and Smithsonian, he explores the subject from the unique and memorable perspective of one who has battled peaks like K2, Denali, Everest, and, of course, the Eiger. Always with a keen eye, an open heart, and a hunger for the ultimate experience, he gives us unerring portraits of the mountaineering experience.

Yet Eiger Dreams is more about people than about rock and ice—people with that odd, sometimes maniacal obsession with mountain summits that sets them apart from other men and women. Here we meet Adrian the Romanian, determined to be the first of his countrymen to solo Denali; John Gill, climber not of great mountains but of house-sized boulders so difficult to surmount that even demanding alpine climbs seem easy; and many more compelling and colorful characters. In the most intimate piece, "The Devils Thumb," Krakauer recounts his own near-fatal, ultimately triumphant struggle with solo-madness as he scales Alaska's Devils Thumb. Eiger Dreams is stirring, vivid writing about one of the most compelling and dangerous of all human pursuits.

Weight: 316g
Dimension: 153 x 228 x 12 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781493035373