Fatal Mountaineer: The High-Altitude Life and Death of Willi Unsoeld, American Himalayan Legend

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Overview

In 1963, Willi Unsoeld became an international hero for his conquest of the West Ridge of Everest. A charismatic professor of philosophy, Unsoeld was one of the greatest climbers of the twentiethth century, a man whose raw physical power and casual fearlessness inspired a generation of adventurers.

In 1976, during an expedition to Nanda Devi, the tallest peak in India, Unsoeld’s philosophy of spiritual growth through mortal risk was tragically tested. The outcome of that ...

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Fatal Mountaineer: The High-Altitude Life and Death of Willi Unsoeld, American Himalayan Legend

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Overview

In 1963, Willi Unsoeld became an international hero for his conquest of the West Ridge of Everest. A charismatic professor of philosophy, Unsoeld was one of the greatest climbers of the twentiethth century, a man whose raw physical power and casual fearlessness inspired a generation of adventurers.

In 1976, during an expedition to Nanda Devi, the tallest peak in India, Unsoeld’s philosophy of spiritual growth through mortal risk was tragically tested. The outcome of that expedition continues to fuel one of the most fascinating debates in mountaineering history.

Fatal Mountaineer is a gripping look at Willi Unsoeld and the epic climbs that defined him—-a classic narrative blending action with ethics, fame with tragedy, a man’s ambition with a father’s anguish.

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Editorial Reviews

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The life of legendary climber Willi Unsoeld, who became a mountaineering icon for being the first to climb Mount Everest's forbidding West Face in 1963 -- an accomplishment which remains unmatched -- is chronicled in this exciting biography. Fatal Mountaineer describes Unsoeld's life against the backdrop of America during a turbulent period, resulting in a compelling, well-rounded account of the man and the times.
Publishers Weekly
Unsoeld, who made the first ascent of Mt. Everest's West Ridge in 1963, was perhaps the most influential high-altitude mountain climber of the 1960s and 1970s; as a professor of philosophy at Evergreen State College, he was also an entertaining and "spellbinding" lecturer. The bulk of Roper's gripping biography describes Unsoeld's 1976 Indo-American Nanda Devi Expedition, which he conceived as a tribute to both to the first ascent of India's tallest peak in 1936 and to his 22-year-old daughter, Devi, who was named after the mountain and who joined the expedition as the fulfillment of a dream. Roper presents the troubled expedition marked by infighting, sickness and Devi's death from intestinal problems just short of the peak as a "sea-change" in climbing: whereas "the ethos of camaraderie" had been essential in Unsoeld's 1963 ascent, by the mid-'70s, it had disappeared. ("As Tom Wolfe declared," Roper writes, "it was the `Me Decade.' ") Through an analysis of Unsoeld's graduate studies in philosophy, Roper shows how the Nanda Devi climb was, in many respects, the realization of Unsoeld's belief that when an "outcome is shadowed by doubt and you may well be on a suicide mission, you feel most intensely alive." But in the two years of life that remained to him (he died in a Mt. Rainier avalanche in 1979), Roper argues that Unsoeld was "devoted to an active refusal to recognize what had happened." This is a provocative look at a still-legendary climber. Two 8-page b&w photo inserts not seen by PW. (Mar. 15) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
A solid account of the exploits of American mountaineer Willi Unsoeld, who made his reputation in 1963 as the first to climb Everest by the formidable West Face, a feat still not duplicated.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780312302665
  • Publisher: St. Martin's Press
  • Publication date: 2/19/2003
  • Edition description: First Edition
  • Edition number: 1
  • Pages: 320
  • Sales rank: 960,367
  • Product dimensions: 5.50 (w) x 8.50 (h) x 0.75 (d)

Meet the Author

Robert Roper is the author of many novels and story collections including Cuervo Tales, The Trespassers, and In Caverns of Blue Ice. He contributes to Men’s Journal and has also written for Outside, National Geographic Adventure, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times.

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