The Crystal Horizon: Everest--the First Solo Ascent"On 20 August 1980 Reinhold Messner reached the summit of Everest alone and without the use of oxygen. His vivid account of this extraordinary achievement forms the core of [this book] but it is not merely an adventure story. Messner describes with clarity and passion his journey through Tibet, his emotional reactions to this mysterious country of snow, ruined monasteries, and yak caravans. He identifies with the legendary mountaineers who have been before him and Mallory, Irvine and Wilson come to life as he makes his ascent to the 'roof of the world.' The glittering light and oxygen-starved air lead Messner to profound reflection, and a mountaineering adventure becomes the vehicle for an exploration of self and of the world. Born in 1944 in the South Tyrol, Reinhold Messner did most of his early climbing in the Dolomites and the Western Alps. By the age of twenty he had climbed most of the hardest routes. ... In 1969 he took part in his first expedition to the Andes ... In 1970 he made his first ascent of a Himalayan summit, Nanga Parbat. The next sixteen years saw his conquest of all fourteen 8,000-m peaks, of which his climb of Everest in 1980 is the subject of this book. Messner has also climbed mountains in North America, Kenya, New Guinea and Antarctica."--Dust jacket. |
Contents
Everest | 6 |
Homewards 21 Kathmandu | 21 |
23 Like a Fairytale | 30 |
Copyright | |
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advanced base camp already altitude Ama Dablam avalanche become bivouac breath China Chinese Mountaineering Association Chomolungma climbers clouds colours Couloir crevasse Dalai Lama Denman descent East Rongbuk Glacier energy Everest expedition everything feel foot height Hillary Himalaya ice axe ice-fall Japanese jeep journey Kathmandu Khumbu kilometres Lhasa live look Mallory and Irvine Maurice Wilson metres metres high mist monastery monks monsoon moraine morning moun Mount Everest Nanga Parbat Nena Nepal night North Col North Face North-East Ridge Norton Odell once oxygen peaks Peking perhaps Potala reached the summit Reinhold Messner rock Rongbuk Glacier route rucksack second step Shekar Sherpas Shigatse Shisha Pangma ski sticks sleep sleeping-bag slopes snow solo ascent solo climb South Col South Tyrol stand steep stone tent Tenzing Tibet Tibetan tion Tsao village wall weather West Ridge wind yaks