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

"Fatal Mountaineer...combines vivid characterization, gripping accounts of extreme mountaineering and accessible technical information, as well as pertinent cultural historical and philosophical reflection. It's a rich tapestry, a book for both the general reader and the climbing fanatic." --Floyd Skloot, San Francisco Chronicle "[A] cautionary tale of how pursuit of a mountain at any cost and in any weather can have deadly consequences." --Lynn Arave, Deseret News (Salt Lake City, UT) "With journalistic skill, Roper also delves into Unsoeld's transcendental philosophies and their fallacies...The book's greatest accomplishment is in the light it sheds on the shadows of mountain climbing and the impossible ideals of a hero." --Mark Larabee, The Oregonian

In 1963, Willi Unsoeld became an international hero for conquering the West Ridge of Everest. He was a fearless climber and a charmismatic philosopher and speaker who profoundly influenced the generation of the sixties and seventies. But the darker consequences of Unsoeld's philosophy emerged during an expedition he led on the slopes of Nanda Devi in 1976, the loss of his daughter during that climb continues to fuel one of the great debates in the world of mountaineering. FATAL MOUNTAINEER is an unusual narrative that blends action with ethics, fame with tragedy, and a man's ambition with a father's anguish.