Tomaž Humar - Softcover

McDonald, Bernadette

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099505096 ISBN 13: 9780099505099

Publisher: Arrow, 2009

Synopsis

In August, 2005, Tomaž Humar was trapped on a narrow ledge at 19,000 feet on the formidable Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat. He had been attempting a new route, directly up the middle of the highest mountain face in the world—solo. After six days he was out of food, almost out of fuel, and frequently buried by avalanches. Three helicopters were poised for a brief break in the weather to pluck him off the mountain. Because of the audacity of the climb, the fame of the climber, the high risk associated with the rescue, and the hourly reports posted on his base-camp website, the world was watching. Would this be the most spectacular rescue in climbing history? Or a tragic—and very public—death in the mountains? Years before, as communism was collapsing and the Balkans slid into chaos, Humar was unceremoniously conscripted into a dirty war that he despised, where he observed brutal and inhumane atrocities that disgusted him. Finally he did the unthinkable: he left and eventually arrived home in what had become a new country—Slovenia. He returned to climbing, and within very few years, he was among the best in the world. Reinhold Messner, among others, called him the most remarkable mountain climber of his generation.

About this title

About the Author:

Bernadette McDonald is a former vice president of mountain culture at the Banff Center in Calgary, Alberta, and director of the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festivals. She is also the author of I’ll Call You in Kathmandu and the coeditor of Voices from the Summit and Whose Water Is It?

Review:

"Cleverly constructed, using the tale of the extraordinary and prolonged rescue effort on the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat as a coathanger for Tomaž’s life and extraordinary climbs . . . well-written and perceptive."  —Chris Bonington, author, Everest: The Unclimbed Ridge

"This extraordinarily absorbing insight into Humar’s originality ultimately compels the reader to participate personally in his decisions. Besides breath-taking descriptions of what happens on the mountains, this book most importantly helps us understand the main character as Bernadette McDonald sets him free from the swirls of mist."  —Kurt Diemberger, mountaineer and author, K2: Challenging the Sky

"The intense and penetrating biography of one of the brightest burning flames in modern climbing . . . a must read for anyone with a love of pushing the boundaries."  —Adventure Travel

About this edition

• Publisher: Arrow
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0099505096
• ISBN 13: 9780099505099
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272