Thin Air

Encounters in the Himalayas

  • 224 pages
  • Mountaineers Books
  • 978-0-89886-588-2
  • Aug 31, 1998

Paperback / softback
$18.95
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Description

* This classic established Child as one of the great mountaineering writers of our time
* Describes Child's apprenticeship to such climbing legends as Doug Scott, Don Whillans, and Alan Rouse
* Written with a keen eye for detail, a firm sense of drama and, of course, wit

Climbing a Himalayan peak was the stuff of Greg Child's wildest dreams. Then in the late 1970s came a surprise berth on an expedition that was to define his career as a high-altitude mountaineer and transform him personally. A chronicle of his apprenticeship, Thin Air established Child as one of the great mountaineering writers of our time.

Thin Air is about the intensity of climbing on the edge day after day. It is about friendships and tragedies and the memories that linger for decades. Filled with humor, irony, and pathos, Thin Air touches us with the beauty of the Baltoro Glacier's landscape and encounters with the local people. It also paints portraits of legendary mountaineers Doug Scott, Don Whillans, Alan Rouse, and others.

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Details
  • 224 pages
  • Mountaineers Books
  • 978-0-89886-588-2
  • Aug 31, 1998
Reviews
  • Many who write about the mountaineering life are doomed to suffer the question, are they writers who climb, or climbers who write? With Greg Child, at least, the answer is crystal clear: Writing or climbing, he reaches the same heights with style.
    — Jeff Long
  • This book is a treasure, capturing that mixture of stress, excitement, tragedy, humor and joy that makes up extreme climbing in the Himalaya.
    — Chris Bonington
  • Nobody writes better about mountaineering than Greg Child. This is a funny, sometimes wrenching, extremely powerful book. I would recommend it to anyone.
    — Jon Krakauer

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