Thieves, Liars and Mountaineers: On the 8,000m peak circus in Pakistan

by Mark Horrell

Overview

This is the tale of Mark Horrell’s not-so-nearly ascent of Gasherbrum in Pakistan, of how one man’s boredom and frustration was conquered by a gutsy combination of exhaustion, cowardice, and sheer mountaineering incompetence.

He made not one, not two, but three intrepid assaults, some of which got quite a distance beyond Base Camp, and overcame many perilous circumstances along the way. The mountaineer Joe Simpson famously crawled for three days with a broken leg, but did he ever have to read Angels and Demons by Dan Brown while waiting for a weather window?

But that’s enough about Mark’s attempt; there were some talented climbers on the mountain as well, and this story is also about them. How did they get on? Heroes, villains, oddballs and madmen – 8,000m peaks attract them all, and drama, intrigue and cock-ups aplenty were inevitable.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780993413087
Publisher:	Mountain Footsteps Press
Publication date:	05/31/2017
Series:	Footsteps on the Mountain Diaries
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.48(d)

About the Author

For many years Mark Horrell has been writing what has been described as one of the most credible Everest opinion blogs out there. He writes about trekking and mountaineering from the often silent perspective of the commercial client. For nearly 20 years he has been exploring the world's greater mountain ranges and keeping a diary of his travels. As a writer he strives to do for mountain history what Bill Bryson did for long-distance hiking. His favourite mountaineering book is The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W.E. Bowman.