In this stunning large-format book, British mountaineer Alan Hinkes describes for the first time in one place his experiences of climbing all 14 of the peaks over 8000m: the world's highest mountains, in the Himalaya and Karakoram. While the photographs - despite being taken in impossible conditions - capture the beauty and majesty of the mountain landscapes of the roof of the world, the text describes the minute-by-minute struggle to survive in 'the death zone', let alone climb to the summits, often solo and in roaring winds and Arctic temperatures. As well as reflecting on the Yorkshire childhood and first Alpine ascents that got him to his first 8000m summit attempt, and the life that he has led and plans to lead since becoming the first Briton to reach all the 8000ers, Alan recalls the climbing companions he met along the way, several of whom have died in their beloved mountains, the trek-ins, the base camps, the setbacks and the triumphs. A book to challenge and inspire mountain-lovers everywhere.

In this book, renowned British mountaineer Alan Hinkes relates his experiences of climbing all 14 of the peaks over 8000m: the world's highest mountains. Alongside stunning photography, he describes his expeditions - many as Alpine-style ascents - capturing the beauty, harshness and danger of these mountains.

"The year 2000 is the fiftieth anniversary of the ascent of Annapurna, the first of the 8000-meter peaks to be climbed. In the decade following that first ascent in 1950, all but one of the world's fourteen highest mountains were climbed; the period from 1950 to 1960 can be considered the Golden Age for high altitude climbing. Only Shisha Pangma remained unclimbed until 1964 when a Chinese party led by Hsu Ching reached the summit." "This book brings together the stories behind the discovery, exploration and first successful ascents of each of the fourteen highest peaks, as well as accounts of the most important attempts and ascents that followed. Many of these stories illustrate how modern technology has enabled mountaineers to climb the previously unscaled peaks, while still demonstrating the importance of the human element."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

My Vertical World is the story of a quiet family man from Silesia who was also a single-minded schemer, sailing close to the bureaucratic wind in Poland as well as Pakistan and Nepal, painting factory chimneys and thinking of Lhotse, juggling for most of the time with meagre hard currency, scarce food and indifferent gear to achieve the starting point western climbers took for granted. Slow to acclimatise, once he had done, Kukuczka's stamina and drive were formidable. Preferring where possible to climb alpine-style with one companion, among his more remarkable achievements are his solo ascent of a new route on Makalu; a first traverse of the North and Middle Summits of Broad Peak; climbing two 8000-metre peaks over 3000 kilometres apart in winter within twenty-five days; and making a new route up the middle of the South Face of K2 as a two-man team. His narrative takes the reader behind the catalogue of achievements to discover a diffident man, anxious for his good name, sobered by loss of friends, who can still view the antics of the international climbing circus with good humour, and climbed because his passion for his vertical world was an enveloping as it was infectious.

The book describes a very active expedition in Nepal attempting and succeding in climbing several peaks above 6000 metres and one above 7000 metres in the Everest region of the Himalayas. Baruntse is the first of the authors books to be available in english. Bo Belvedere Christensen has climbed for more than 30 years the last 20 of these mostly in the Himalayas. He leads expeditions to some of the highest peaks and has always documented his expeditions in extensive diaries. Bo is now converting the diaries to books thereby sharing his experience with everyone. On the authors website, www.K2-adventure.dk, you can find more information about his books, lectures, guided trips and other adventures you can take part in.