Adventure/Memoir   High Adventure-Our Ascent of Everest Sir Edmund Hillary               On 29 May 1953 Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first men to set foot on the highest point on earth, the peak of Mount Everest at 29035 feet. This is Edmund Hillary's memoir of this remarkable feat.             He writes in a smooth flowing prose, maintaining a charming style and language. He is never dismissive of his achievements nor indulges in self-aggrandizement. 'I was sixteen before I ever saw a mountain.' This sentence starts the memoir and this forthrightness is seen throughout the book. He writes about the 1951 expedition for reconnaissance and exploration of the Southern approach to Everest and the 1952 practice climbing expedition to Cho Lou too.             In mid-twentieth century most of...

Adventure Annapurna-Conquest of the First 8000 Metre Peak Maurice Herzog A friend of mine, an avid mountaineer and who has summited Mount Everest in 2011, was once relating to me his experience of climbing Everest. When I repeatedly expressed my awe of people who have climbed Everest, he brushed aside my sense of amazement saying that there was not much adventure left in climbing Everest these days. He said climbing Everest has now become a highly organised tourism industry (for the host country i.e. Nepal). Before the beginning of climbing season, Sherpas fix ropes all along the route, right till the peak. Climbing gear, including oxygen equipment, has improved much since the days of Mallory. All one needs is money, reasonable fitness and training in mountaineering. Rush of climbers on Everest, he said in an exasperated voice, further increasing my incredulity, is so menacing that at times there is a literal queue of mountaineers holding on to the ropes, clinging to the s...

****/*****                                                                                                                                                         Adventure Kon-Tiki: Across The Pacific By Raft Thor Heyerdahl This is ...