Books about Breashears from Amazon.com

For generations of resolute adventurers, from George Mallory to Sir Edmund Hillary to Jon Krakauer, Mount Everest and the world's other greatest peaks have provided the ultimate testing ground. But the question remains: Why climb? In High Exposure, elite mountaineer and acclaimed Everest filmmaker David Breashears answers with an intimate and captivating look at his life.

For Breashears, climbing has never been a question of risk taking: Rather, it is the pursuit of excellence and a quest for self-knowledge. Danger comes, he argues, when ambition blinds reason. The stories this world-class climber and great adventurer tells will surprise you -- from discussions of competitiveness on the heights to a frank description of the 1996 Everest tragedy..
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Since the first successful ascent of Everest 50 years ago, many others have attempted the daunting summit, and many have succeeded But, though Everest can be climbed, it cannot be conquered. Few know this as well as David Breashears. A filmmaker and veteran climber of the Himalaya, Breashears agreed to lead the May 1996 expedition that would capture Everest in a large-format IMAX© motion picture. Even in the best conditions, Breashears knew, Everest is a dangerous challenge—that May, an unexpected blizzard proved how deadly it could be. Shocking the world, the storm claimed the lives of eight climbers, including two of the world’s top expedition leaders.

Everest is the breathtaking chronicle of a filmmaking expedition turned rescue mission, and of the courage and cooperation of Breashears and his team as they rose to the life or death challenge. A companion to Breashears’s record-grossing large-format film, Everest features an introduction by Outside magazine editor-at-large Tim Cahill, an afterword by David Breashears, and 125 stunning, full-color images, including IMAX frames from the film.

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From renowned Everest mountaineer and filmmaker David Breashears and historian Audrey Salkeld, comes the first lavishly illustrated account of Englishman George Mallory's 1920's Everest expeditions, including the ill-fated 1924 attempt with Andrew Irvine to be the first to summit Everest. Included are rare, never-before-published archival photographs, as well as an account of the recent, sensational discovery of Mallory's body, 75 years after his disappearance.

The question of whether George Mallory and Andrew Irvine reached the summit of Everest in June 1924, thirty years before Edmund Hillary remains one of the great mysteries of twentieth century exploration. That mystery was partially solved on May 3, 1999 when the body of George Mallory was found on a rocky ledge about 2,000 feet below the summit. But was he on the way up, or down, when he died in a fall? David Breashears and Audrey Salkeld have culled remarkably evocative archival photography from Mallory's expeditions to Everest and, by virtue of their long familiarity with Everest, bring a uniquely insightful perspective to this dramatic story.

The world's tallest mountain, lying on the border between Tibet and Nepal-though it had been identified since 1856 and its summit was distantly visible as a small bump on the Himalayan horizon from the Indian hill station of Darjeeling-had remained remote because both countries were at the time strictly out of bounds to travelers. Having negotiated permission to enter Tibet, three expeditions in the 1920s (1921, 1922, 1924) succeeded in surveying and mapping territory unknown to outsiders, and climbing to heights above 28,000 feet-and just maybe all the way to the top of Mount Everest. All in all, while it was a magnificent achievement, these first three ventures cost the lives of at least twelve men. These brave explorers brought home the magnificent images of Himalayan mountains and a medieval way of life on the roof of the world, which are dramatically showcased in this book. AUTHOR BIO: David Breashears is a world-class filmmaker and mountaineer, who has worked on such feature films as Seven Years in Tibet and the award-winning documentary Red Flag over Tibet. In 1983 he transmitted the first live pictures from the summit of Mount Everest. Breashears is the recipient of four Emmy awards for his achievements in cinematography. In 1987 he directed and produced the documentary film, "Everest: The Mystery of Mallory and Irvine." In 1996, he co-directed, photographed, and co-produced the acclaimed IMAX large-format film Everest, and contributed his still photographs from that climb, as well as a foreword, to the best-selling National Geographic book Everest: Mountain Without Mercy. David is largely credited with spearheading rescue efforts during the harrowing tragedy of May 10, 1996. The first American to summit Mount Everest twice, he has made four successful ascents of the world's highest mountain. David Breashears is the author of High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places, recently published by Simon & Schuster. Audrey Salkeld maintains one of the most comprehensive private archives on mountaineering. She has written the scripts for a number of films including David Breashears' The Mystery of Mallory and Irvine, for which she took part in Tom Holzel's 1986 expedition and climbed to the North Col of Everest. With Holzel she is the author of The Mystery of Mallory and Irvine. She is also the author of the highly acclaimed book on her Himalayan travels in Mustang and Tibet, People in High Places..
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A British prime minister in Queen Victoria’s England once dismissed Kilimanjaro as “that mountain behind Zanzibar with the unrememberable name.” Today, there can be few who don’t recognize its most beautiful and evocative name. From the literature of Ernest Hemingway, from movies, and from a multitude of images, the world is familiar with the Elysian view of elephants and giraffes grazing against the shimmering backdrop of Kilimanjaro. Floating over the plains of East Africa, more mirage than mountain, Kilimanjaro exudes mystery and romance. At the same time, it is an accessible mountain, drawing more than 20,000 visitors each year to its slopes and snowy dome. The climb up Kilimanjaro has been likened to a journey from the equator to the poles, passing as it does through zone after zone of climatic change, from tropical forest to frozen desert. And Kilimanjaro’s human history is no less rich than its natural history. Close to the cradle of mankind, the mountain has watched history unfold at its foot, from the earliest hunter-gatherers and the scramble of colonization to World War I battles and the wave of independence that swept Africa in the mid-20th century.

In Kilimanjaro: To the Roof of Africa, accomplished mountaineer and writer Audrey Salkeld presents a comprehensive and awe-inspiring portrait of this noble mountain and its myriad facets. To be published in conjunction with the release of David Breashears’s stunning new IMAX® film about Kilimanjaro, this book is an extraordinary journey to the roof of Africa.

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Himalayan Quest offers an unforgettable glimpse into the remarkable world of Ed Viesturs, America’s best-known high altitude climber, and the breathtaking landscape in which he works. It is an unparalleled showcase of both the heartbreaking tragedy and the ineffable joy Viesturs has experienced while striving at the limits of human endurance. Written with Peter Potterfield, an award-winning mountaineering journalist, Viesturs narrates his quest to climb the 14 highest mountains in the world—those peaks above 8,000 meters in height. To date, Viesturs has succeeded in summiting 12 of the peaks, including five separate ascents of Mount Everest. For these ascents he has been profiled in Outside and Sports Illustrated, People, Newsweek, the New York Times Sunday Magazine, and has appeared on NBC’s Today. As a spokesman for Microsoft, he is often positioned at the top of the company?s Web site.

At the center of this extraordinary account of his mountaineering adventures are Viesturs’s own awe-inspiring photographs from the top of the world. This collection of images will show readers, like never before, the deadly beauty and haunting menace of the Himalaya. A unique, inspiring, and spine-tingling glimpse into the rarified world of the extreme climber, Himalayan Quest will appeal not only to Viesturs?s significant fan base (fondly known as Edophiles or Edheads), but to outdoor aficionados and armchair adventurers everywhere.

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