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K2
- Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
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K2
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No Shortcuts to the Top
- Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks
- Written by: Ed Viesturs, David Roberts
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 51
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 41
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Story5 out of 5 stars 41
For 18 years, Ed Viesturs pursued climbing's holy grail: to stand atop the world's 14 8,000-meter peaks, without the aid of bottled oxygen. But No Shortcuts to the Top is as much about the man who would become the first American to achieve that goal as it is about his stunning quest. As Viesturs recounts the stories of his most harrowing climbs, he reveals a man torn between the flat, safe world he and his loved ones share and the majestic and deadly places where only he can go.
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4 out of 5 stars
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what a life
- By aero_costas on 2023-09-07
Written by: Ed Viesturs, and others
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Touching the Void
- Written by: Joe Simpson
- Narrated by: Andrew Wincott, Daniel Weyman
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 64
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 58
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Story5 out of 5 stars 57
Joe Simpson, with just his partner, Simon Yates, tackled the unclimbed West Face of the remote 21,000-foot Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in June of 1995. But before they reached the summit, disaster struck. A few days later, Simon staggered into Base Camp, exhausted and frostbitten, to tell their non-climbing companion that Joe was dead. For three days he wrestled with guilt as they prepared to return home. Then a cry in the night took them out with torches, where they found Joe, badly injured.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing, wish I knew more.
- By Amazon Customer on 2018-07-24
Written by: Joe Simpson
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Into Thin Air
- Written by: Jon Krakauer
- Narrated by: Philip Franklin
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 497
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 428
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 428
One of the inspirations for the major motion picture Everest, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Keira Knightley. This is the true story of a 24-hour period on Everest when members of three separate expeditions were caught in a storm and faced a battle against hurricane-force winds, exposure, and the effects of altitude, which ended the worst single-season death toll in the peak's history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing
- By Tia on 2019-12-20
Written by: Jon Krakauer
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Eiger Dreams
- Ventures Among Men and Mountains
- Written by: Jon Krakauer
- Narrated by: Philip Franklin
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 25
No one writes about mountaineering and its attendant victories and hardships more brilliantly than Jon Krakauer. In this collection of his finest essays and reporting, Krakauer writes of mountains from the memorable perspective of one who has himself struggled with solo madness to scale Alaska's notorious Devils Thumb.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great collection of stories
- By Konrad J. Komuniecki on 2018-12-17
Written by: Jon Krakauer
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The Climb
- Written by: Anatoli Boukreev, G. Weston DeWalt
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 25
The Climb is a true, gripping, and thought-provoking account of the worst disaster in the history of Mt. Everest: On May 10, 1996, two commercial expeditions headed by experienced leaders attempted to climb the highest mountain in the world, but things went terribly wrong...
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1 out of 5 stars
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Falls short
- By J Burghardt on 2023-04-21
Written by: Anatoli Boukreev, and others
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Lost in the Valley of Death
- A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas
- Written by: Harley Rustad
- Narrated by: Harley Rustad
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 46
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 40
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 40
For centuries, India has enthralled Westerners looking for an exotic getaway, a brief immersion in yoga and meditation, or, in rare cases, a true pilgrimage to find spiritual revelation. Justin Alexander Shetler, an inveterate traveler trained in wilderness survival, was one such seeker.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing!
- By Camille Belzil on 2022-01-23
Written by: Harley Rustad
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No Shortcuts to the Top
- Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks
- Written by: Ed Viesturs, David Roberts
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 51
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 41
For 18 years, Ed Viesturs pursued climbing's holy grail: to stand atop the world's 14 8,000-meter peaks, without the aid of bottled oxygen. But No Shortcuts to the Top is as much about the man who would become the first American to achieve that goal as it is about his stunning quest. As Viesturs recounts the stories of his most harrowing climbs, he reveals a man torn between the flat, safe world he and his loved ones share and the majestic and deadly places where only he can go.
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4 out of 5 stars
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what a life
- By aero_costas on 2023-09-07
Written by: Ed Viesturs, and others
-
Touching the Void
- Written by: Joe Simpson
- Narrated by: Andrew Wincott, Daniel Weyman
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 64
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 58
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 57
Joe Simpson, with just his partner, Simon Yates, tackled the unclimbed West Face of the remote 21,000-foot Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in June of 1995. But before they reached the summit, disaster struck. A few days later, Simon staggered into Base Camp, exhausted and frostbitten, to tell their non-climbing companion that Joe was dead. For three days he wrestled with guilt as they prepared to return home. Then a cry in the night took them out with torches, where they found Joe, badly injured.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing, wish I knew more.
- By Amazon Customer on 2018-07-24
Written by: Joe Simpson
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Into Thin Air
- Written by: Jon Krakauer
- Narrated by: Philip Franklin
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 497
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 428
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 428
One of the inspirations for the major motion picture Everest, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Keira Knightley. This is the true story of a 24-hour period on Everest when members of three separate expeditions were caught in a storm and faced a battle against hurricane-force winds, exposure, and the effects of altitude, which ended the worst single-season death toll in the peak's history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing
- By Tia on 2019-12-20
Written by: Jon Krakauer
-
Eiger Dreams
- Ventures Among Men and Mountains
- Written by: Jon Krakauer
- Narrated by: Philip Franklin
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 25
No one writes about mountaineering and its attendant victories and hardships more brilliantly than Jon Krakauer. In this collection of his finest essays and reporting, Krakauer writes of mountains from the memorable perspective of one who has himself struggled with solo madness to scale Alaska's notorious Devils Thumb.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great collection of stories
- By Konrad J. Komuniecki on 2018-12-17
Written by: Jon Krakauer
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The Climb
- Written by: Anatoli Boukreev, G. Weston DeWalt
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
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Story5 out of 5 stars 25
The Climb is a true, gripping, and thought-provoking account of the worst disaster in the history of Mt. Everest: On May 10, 1996, two commercial expeditions headed by experienced leaders attempted to climb the highest mountain in the world, but things went terribly wrong...
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1 out of 5 stars
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Falls short
- By J Burghardt on 2023-04-21
Written by: Anatoli Boukreev, and others
-
Lost in the Valley of Death
- A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas
- Written by: Harley Rustad
- Narrated by: Harley Rustad
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 46
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 40
For centuries, India has enthralled Westerners looking for an exotic getaway, a brief immersion in yoga and meditation, or, in rare cases, a true pilgrimage to find spiritual revelation. Justin Alexander Shetler, an inveterate traveler trained in wilderness survival, was one such seeker.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing!
- By Camille Belzil on 2022-01-23
Written by: Harley Rustad
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Beyond the Mountain
- Written by: Steve House, Reinhold Messner - foreword
- Narrated by: Steve House
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 26
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
What does it take to be one of the world's best high-altitude mountain climbers? A lot of fundraising; traveling in some of the world's most dangerous countries; enduring cold bivouacs, searing lungs, and a cloudy mind when you can least afford one. It means learning the hard lessons the mountains teach. Steve House built his reputation on ascents throughout the Alps, Canada, Alaska, the Karakoram, and the Himalaya that have expanded possibilities of style, speed, and difficulty.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent listen
- By U. Javed on 2019-01-01
Written by: Steve House, and others
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The Third Pole
- Mystery, Obsession, and Death on Mount Everest
- Written by: Mark Synnott
- Narrated by: Steve Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 14
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 10
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Story5 out of 5 stars 10
A hundred-year mystery lured veteran climber Mark Synnott into an unlikely expedition up Mount Everest during the spring 2019 season that came to be known as “the Year Everest Broke”. What he found was a gripping human story of impassioned characters from around the globe and a mountain that will consume your soul - and your life - if you let it.
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5 out of 5 stars
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great
- By Scott vanderveer on 2021-08-09
Written by: Mark Synnott
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The Next Everest
- Surviving the Mountain's Deadliest Day and Finding the Resilience to Climb Again
- Written by: Jim Davidson
- Narrated by: Jim Davidson, Tim Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3
On April 25, 2015, Jim Davidson was climbing Mount Everest when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake released avalanches all around him and his team, destroying their only escape route and trapping them at nearly 20,000 feet. It was the largest earthquake in Nepal in 81 years and killed about 8,900 people. That day also became the deadliest in the history of Everest, with 18 people losing their lives on the mountain.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great success story
- By Shaun Clark on 2022-12-18
Written by: Jim Davidson
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Into Thin Air
- A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster
- Written by: Jon Krakauer
- Narrated by: Jon Krakauer
- Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 81
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 71
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 71
Into Thin Air is the definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest by the acclaimed journalist and author of the best seller Into the Wild. Jon Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled so many people - including himself - to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense. Krakauer's eyewitness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Narration
- By Pamela Rogoza-Hayward on 2021-03-15
Written by: Jon Krakauer
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Into the Wild
- Written by: Jon Krakauer
- Narrated by: Philip Franklin
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 269
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 224
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 224
In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Dated reading
- By Marc on 2019-01-28
Written by: Jon Krakauer
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Where Men Win Glory
- The Odyssey of Pat Tillman
- Written by: Jon Krakauer
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 37
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Story5 out of 5 stars 27
Like the men whose epic stories Jon Krakauer has told in his previous bestsellers, Pat Tillman was an irrepressible individualist and iconoclast. In May 2002, Tillman walked away from his $3.6 million NFL contract to enlist in the United States Army. He was deeply troubled by 9/11, and he felt a strong moral obligation to join the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Two years later, he died on a desolate hillside in southeastern Afghanistan.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A bittersweet journey indeed! Well worth it.
- By Darth_Vodka on 2023-09-14
Written by: Jon Krakauer
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The Will to Climb
- Obsession and Commitment and the Quest to Climb Annapurna - the World's Deadliest Peak
- Written by: David Roberts, Ed Viesturs
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 8
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 7
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Story4 out of 5 stars 7
The bestselling author of No Shortcuts to the Top and K2 chronicles his three attempts to climb the world's tenth-highest and statistically deadliest peak, Annapurna in the Himalaya, while exploring the dramatic and tragic history of others who have made -- or attempted – the ascent, and what these exploits teach us about facing life's greatest challenges.
Written by: David Roberts, and others
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Beyond Possible
- The man and the mindset that summitted K2 in winter
- Written by: Nimsdai Purja
- Narrated by: Elliot Fitzpatrick
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 103
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 87
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Story5 out of 5 stars 85
An SBS Gurkha soldier's account of how his tough Nepali upbringing and the lessons learned in his army life enabled his record-breaking conquest of all 14 of the world's 8,000m peaks in under seven months. What happens when ambition meets limitless imagination? Enter Project Possible: a seemingly unreachable goal to climb all 14 'death zone' mountains in record time. The previous record was seven years, 10 months and six days. I did it in six months.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing story of Survival
- By Tony on 2023-04-09
Written by: Nimsdai Purja
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The Mountain
- My Time on Everest
- Written by: Ed Viesturs, David Roberts - contributor
- Narrated by: Tom Beyer
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
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Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
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Story0 out of 5 stars 0
In The Mountain, veteran world-class climber and bestselling author Ed Viesturs—the only American to have climbed all fourteen of the world's 8,000-meter peaks—trains his sights on Mount Everest in richly detailed accounts of expeditions that are by turns personal, harrowing, deadly, and inspiring.
Written by: Ed Viesturs, and others
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Into Thin Air
- A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster
- Written by: Jon Krakauer
- Narrated by: Philip Franklin
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 84
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 74
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Story5 out of 5 stars 75
The definitive, personal account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest by the acclaimed journalist and author of Into the Wild. Read by the author. Also, hear a Fresh Air interview with Krakauer conducted shortly after his ordeal.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Sad but insightful
- By rob i. on 2021-02-01
Written by: Jon Krakauer
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Conquistadors of the Useless
- From the Alps to Annapurna
- Written by: Lionel Terray, David Roberts - foreword
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 15 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 10
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 9
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Story5 out of 5 stars 9
Frenchman Lionel Terray is one of mountaineering history's greatest alpinists, and his autobiography, Conquistadors of the Useless, stands among the "100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time", according to National Geographic Adventure magazine. Following World War II, when France desperately needed successes to heal its wounds, Terray emerged as a national hero, conquering summits atop the planet's highest mountains.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good story telling.
- By Dan on 2023-10-13
Written by: Lionel Terray, and others
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Alone Against the North
- An Expedition into the Unknown
- Written by: Adam Shoalts
- Narrated by: Adam Shoalts
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 220
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 194
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 194
Gripping and often poetic, Alone Against the North is a classic adventure story of single-minded obsession, physical hardship, and the restless sense of wonder that every explorer has in common. What Shoalts discovered as he paddled downriver was a series of unmapped waterfalls that could easily have killed him. Just as astonishing was the media reaction when he got back to civilization. He was feted by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and congratulated by the Governor General. People were enthralled by Shoalts’s proof that the world is bigger than we think.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Not quite Shackleton
- By Anonymous User on 2019-11-07
Written by: Adam Shoalts
Publisher's Summary
A thrilling chronicle of the tragedy-ridden history of climbing K2, the world's most difficult and unpredictable mountain, by the bestselling authors of No Shortcuts to the Top
At 28,251 feet, the world's second-tallest mountain, K2 thrusts skyward out of the Karakoram Range of northern Pakistan. Climbers regard it as the ultimate achievement in mountaineering, with good reason. Four times as deadly as Everest, K2 has claimed the lives of seventy-seven climbers since 1954. In August 2008 eleven climbers died in a single thirty-six-hour period on K2–the worst single-event tragedy in the mountain's history and the second-worst in the long chronicle of mountaineering in the Himalaya and Karakoram ranges. Yet summiting K2 remains a cherished goal for climbers from all over the globe. Before he faced the challenge of K2 himself, Ed Viesturs, one of the world's premier high-altitude mountaineers, thought of it as "the holy grail of mountaineering."
In K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain, Viesturs explores the remarkable history of the mountain and of those who have attempted to conquer it. At the same time he probes K2's most memorable sagas in an attempt to illustrate the lessons learned by confronting the fundamental questions raised by mountaineering–questions of risk, ambition, loyalty to one's teammates, self-sacrifice, and the price of glory. Viesturs knows the mountain firsthand. He and renowned alpinist Scott Fischer climbed it in 1992 and were nearly killed in an avalanche that sent them sliding to almost certain death. Fortunately, Ed managed to get into a self-arrest position with his ice ax and stop both his fall and Scott' s.
Focusing on seven of the mountain's most dramatic campaigns, from his own troubled ascent to the 2008 tragedy, Viesturs and Roberts crafts an edge-of-your-seat narrative that climbers and armchair travelers alike will find unforgettably compelling. With photographs from Viesturs's personal collection and from historical sources, this is the definitive account of the world's ultimate mountain, and of the lessons that can be gleaned from struggling toward its elusive summit.
What the critics say
“Riveting . . . Viesturs illuminates K2’s challanges, triumphs, tragedies, and follies.”—The Daily Beast
“Viesturs’s you-are-there narration communicates effortlessly the enormous effort, and high adventure, of scaling K2.”—Publishers Weekly
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What listeners say about K2
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- amirmhzadeh
- 2023-06-12
Humble Brags!
A book filled with Ed Viesturs' humble brags. At times it felt way too editorialized.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- g-dogs
- 2021-04-20
Ed Viesturs is a climbing godfather
He's brutally honest about climbing and safety, and is known as one of the safest mountaineers around. Someone reviewed the book as arrogant. Thats not evident at all. He is arguably the guy to dissect climbing disasters or successes, and he does it humbly and bluntly. Excellent book.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- MoonShyne
- 2021-04-01
Don’t waste your time , dry boring and writer is way too smug.
This book is all over the place , jumps from one climb to the next and the biggest letdown is the storytelling is dry and boring. And honestly the writer grates on my nerves. The book should be called “Ed’s Morally Superior Book of endless self-congratulations”. Anyone who’s done anything...Ed’s done it too and BETTER! Ugh can’t believe I wasted a book credit on this. I thought I would like it because I really liked Kraukeurs book but this one is not near as good as that one. In short, there’s better mountain story books out there. Don’t waste your time or money on this one.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kristen
- 2020-05-16
so entertaining!
This was my first audible book, but not my first mountaineering book by far. One of my favourite genres and this did not disappoint. Amazing adventure, terrifying accidents and great story telling. The narrator does an amazing job as well.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Danick Leduc
- 2018-11-06
What is YOUR story
I bought this book Ed to know YOUR story on K2. not to learn what happened in the last 100 years
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- JJ
- 2015-12-30
Almost Makes You Want to Climb K2... Almost
Would you consider the audio edition of K2 to be better than the print version?
I've never ready to print version so I can't be sure. Either way, the audio version is excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
What was one of the most memorable moments of K2?
It's hard to identify a single moment. Hearing about all the difficult circumstances while climbing the mountain is what makes the book so riveting. You learn the history of K2 and get firsthand perspective on how difficult and scary it is to actually climb it. In my opinion, better (and safer) than climbing it yourself.
What about Fred Sanders’s performance did you like?
Sander's does a solid job in narrating this book. I don't know what Ed Viesturs sounds like in person, but Sanders made me believe that Viesturs was talking to me in my car every day.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes and no. The story was fascinating but the historical spread and detail had my head swirling at different points. The desire was there but the will was weak.
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- TemperPolk
- 2015-03-30
Fascinating!
Great account of the mountain's history and awesome performance by the narrator. It's definitely a must for any mountaineering enthusiast.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- Johnnie Walker
- 2009-10-27
Well written and researched
I like mountain climbing books. My husband does not. His attitude is that if you have read one you have read them all. "We climbed a mountain and then it all went to hell." The more I thought about it, the more I agree with him but I don't care. I still like mountain climbing books and this was one of the better ones. Worth the credit.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Kehley
- 2019-06-18
Solid read about mountaineering
This work is a good combination of memoir and mountain history. As described, the book covers a series of notable expeditions, through which you learn a lot about attempts, ascents, and disasters on the mountain. As a mountaineer, Viesturs can interject with his own assessments about some of these events (noting, in many cases, what went wrong and how different climbers make different decisions on the mountain). If you're looking for Into Thin Air 2 then you need to adjust your expectations -- this is a wider ranging work going back to the early 1900s and therefore much is based in history; there are some dramatic and disastrous events, but it's not all first-hand gripping storytelling.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- CMEP
- 2018-09-12
Not what i expected
I thought this book was going to be focused on the authors climb but it seemed more about the history of mountaineering with a touch of the authors climb sprinkled in. The allure of hearing about one tale was dust covered with foreshadowing and analysis of past climbs.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
- Jacqueline
- 2009-10-30
Hard to Follow
The author talks about many different climbing expeditions during this book, but he goes back and forth so much that it is hard to keep track. There is also a lot of bragging about how he would have handled certain situations, although he repeatedly says he doesn't want to talk about his accomplishments or how disasters could have been avoided if he had been the one making the decisions. He second guesses the people who were actually on these expeditions, and it is annoying. Maybe some better editing would have helped. I struggled through it twice to try and put together the pieces of the book, but it really didn't help much. If you are interested in reading about mountain climbing, and not specifically about the K2 expedition, one of the finest books on this subject is Into Thin Air, which is not only very well written, but the narration by the author is great.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- M. Arnelöf
- 2015-01-17
Facinating and educational!
Clear headed, well balanced writing that includes historical story telling about this facinating mountain and the human persuits of climbing it from beginning. Ed's personal endevours are painted with a humble and realistic touch that leaves me full of awe and respect of the natures wonders (in this case the awsome K2). Also that the human ego has no place in it.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- undergroundlabisbal
- 2018-05-20
Must listen
Really fluid and interesting story, goes through several expeditions with the authority that provides the experience of the writer. Strongly recommendable for mountain lovers, makes you want to go to the karakorum at once
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- mmoore0325
- 2016-03-31
My first foray into mountaineering history
Would you listen to K2 again? Why?
Maybe. It was a fascinating story, especially since I didn't know much about mountaineering beforehand and was way more familiar with Mt. Everest. There were a lot of wisdom gems about living life.
What did you like best about this story?
I like learning about the history of nearly anything, but I had never read about the history of mountaineering before. Seeing "Everest" in 2015 piqued my interest in other 8000ers, and after researching a bit, I figured this book would be a good entrance into the subject, and I was right. I liked how Viesturs writing made everything understandable and relatable. Given how lazy I tend to be, I didn't expect to see myself in any of the climbers he mentioned, but surprisingly, I did; I found I could empathize quite a bit.
Which character – as performed by Fred Sanders – was your favorite?
None
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- F. D. Warren
- 2019-08-15
Negative Book
Starts out ok then descends into a negative complaints fest about how other people did things. Sure the author is experienced but what I find ironic is he criticizes the Italian expedition which successfully reached the summit of K2, yet praises US expeditions which failed and in which multiple people died? Huh? Don't bother, it is just a personal rant.
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2 people found this helpful