The Renegades and Rogues Who Built an Industry at the Top of the World
by Will Cockrell
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Readers' rating:
Published Apr 2024
352 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
Featuring original interviews with mountain guides and climbers—including Jimmy Chin and Conrad Anker—this vivid and authoritative adventure history chronicles one of the least likely industries on Earth: guided climbing on Mount Everest.
Anyone who has read Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air or has seen a recent photo of climbers standing in line to get to the top of Everest may think they have the mountain pretty well figured out. It's an extreme landscape where bad weather and incredible altitude can occasionally kill, but more so an overcrowded, trashed-out recreation destination where rich clients pad their egos—and social media feeds—while exploiting local Sherpas.
There's some truth to these clichés, but they're a sliver of the story. Unlike any book to date, Everest, Inc. gets to the heart of the mountain through the definitive story of its greatest invention: the Himalayan guiding industry. It all began in the 1980s with a few boot-strapping entrepreneurs who paired raw courage and naked ambition with a new style of expedition planning. Many of them are still living and climbing today, and as a result of their astonishing success, ninety percent of the people now on Everest are clients or employees of guided expeditions.
Studded with quotes from original interviews with more than a hundred western and Sherpa climbers, clients, writers, filmmakers, and even a Hollywood actor, Everest, Inc. foregrounds the voices of the people who have made the mountain what it is today. And while there is plenty of high-altitude drama in unpacking the last forty years of Everest tragedy and triumph, it ultimately transcends stereotypes and tells the uplifting counternarrative of the army of journeymen and women who have made people's dreams come true, and of the Nepalis who are pushing the industry into the future.
"In this enlightening book, Cockrell, an adventure writer for Outside, Men's Journal, and other publications, expertly traces the industry behind the majesty… An astute history and powerful cautionary tale." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Cockrell chronicles the simultaneous democratization and commercialization of high adventure in his deeply researched debut account of the guided climbing industry on Mt. Everest ... a sure-footed, and at times riveting, history of Everest. Fans of mountaineering adventures will want to add this to their shelf." —Publishers Weekly
"There's something both inspiring and off-putting about humanity's fascination with Mount Everest ... Adventure writer Cockrell (Outside, Men's Journal) teases out both sides of the issue, clearly conveying how exceedingly difficult the climb can be while describing in great detail the exponential growth of the industry … Cockrell has done readers a service in setting it all down." —Booklist
"Although Mount Everest perpetually makes headlines, there have been precious few attempts to objectively chronicle its tumultuous recent history. With deft storytelling and in-depth research, Will Cockrell fills that void, providing a kaleidoscopic view that honors many different perspectives—most important, that of the local Sherpa guides who call the Himalayas home. Whether you are thinking about taking a crack at the world's highest peak, or are simply an armchair mountaineer trying to make sense of the complex dynamics driving the modern Everest industry, Everest, Inc. should be required reading." —Freddie Wilkinson, professional climber, documentary filmmaker, and author of One Mountain Thousand Summits
"With exhaustive reporting, eloquent prose, and spine-tingling pacing, Everest, Inc. deserves a spot alongside the great mountaineering narratives of the last decades. But it's also refreshingly different than any alpine tale before it. Unpacking the mountain's mystery like a detective on a crime scene, Cockrell shows that the story of Everest's industrial complex is every bit as gripping—if not more so—than the challenge of ascent. This book had me glued from the first chapter and gathered momentum like an avalanche." —Jaimal Yogis, author of The Fear Project and Saltwater Buddha
This information about Everest, Inc. was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Will Cockrell has spent more than twenty years as a senior editor, writer, and consultant for national magazines including Men's Journal, Outside, Men's Fitness, and GQ. His work has been awarded by the American Society of Magazine Editors and Professional Publishers Association UK. A former outdoor guide, Cockrell has covered Everest throughout his career, and has visited Everest base camp in Nepal. He lives with his family in Los Angeles, California.
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