Left For Dead: My Journey Home from Everest
By (Author) Dr Beck Weathers
Little, Brown Book Group
Sphere
2nd January 2002
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
True stories of heroism, endurance and survival
Climbing and mountaineering
Coping with / advice about death and bereavement
796.522095496092
Paperback
304
Width 129mm, Height 195mm, Spine 19mm
212g
Anyone who read Jon Krakauer's account of the 1996 Everest disaster, "Into Thin Air", will be aware of the story of Beck Weathers: the gregarious Texan climber who went snow-blind in the Death Zone below the summit and who spent a night out in the open during a blizzard that took the lives of a dozen colleagues and friends. Even as he staggered back into Camp 4 the next morning, Beck's condition was such that the other survivors assumed he would not make it back down the mountain. He was effectively left for dead, but drawing upon reserves of determination and courage he didn't know he had - as well as the extraordinary selflessness and bravery of a Nepalese helicopter pilot he'd never met - he finally made it to safety. Only then could a new battle begin: to rebuild his life with a family he'd taken for granted for too long.
'An engaging memoir . . . Candid [and] moving . . . Weathers' upbeat attitude perhaps yields the biggest clue about how he got home from Everest' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
Beck Weathers trained as a medical doctor and now lectures across the United States. His co-writer, Stephen G. Michaud, is a former editor at NEWSWEEK and the co-author of eight books.