The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest by Anatoli Boukreev

One of the inspirations for the major motion picture Everest, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Keira Knightley

In May 1996 a number of expeditions attempted to climb Mount Everest on the Southeast Ridge route. Crowded conditions slowed their progress and late in the day 23 men and women, including the expedition leaders, were caught in a ferocious blizzard. Disorientated and out of oxygen, climbers struggled to find their way to safety. Alone and climbing blind, Anatoli Boukreev rescued a number of climbers from certain death. This honest and gripping account includes the transcript of the Mountain Madness debriefing, recorded five days after the tragedy, as well as G. Weston de Walt's response to Jon Krakauer.

'Powerful . . . a breath of brisk, sometimes bitter clarity . . . Boukreev did the one thing that denies the void. He took action. He chose danger, and he saved lives.' New York Times Book Review

'The best book I've read this year . . . The Climb has a story that will grip and haunt you.' Alex Garland, author of The Beach and The Tesseract