Fragile Edge: A Personal Portrait of Loss on Everest - Softcover

Coffey, Maria; Bonnington, Chris

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0898867371 ISBN 13: 9780898867374

Publisher: Mountaineers Books, 2000

Synopsis

"Maria Coffey's tale is at once a deeply personal love story and a penetrating look into the world of professional climbers. Such clarity and honesty are seldom seen in mountain writing." - Greg Child, author of Postcards from the Ledge

Critically acclaimed Fragile Edge won the coveted the International Literary Mountain prize for Maria Coffey's eloquently written story of how climbing tragedies affect those who are left behind. This is a powerful story describes how she survived the loss of her long-time partner, dealing with the sorrow and confusion, anger and healing.

With openness and honesty, Coffey describes her love affair with elite British mountaineer Joe Tasker, who perished with his climbing partner Peter Boardman while attempting Everest's then-unclimbed Northeast Ridge in 1982. She relives her experiences, first within the hard-partying mountaineering scene and then during her long journey to understanding and acceptance of the tragedy that cost her the man she loved. She gives us an insider's view of the life of a world-class mountaineer and recounts her deeply moving pilgrimage with Boardman's widow across Tibet, a journey that retraced Tasker and Boardman's steps to their abandoned Advance Base Camp at 21,000 feet on Everest.

About this title

Review

"A vivid, insightful book about Everest's real victims-the loved ones of the climbers who don't make it back."--David Breashears

Book Description

'Sensitive and very moving- a very different perspective from the usual climbing story - one that is perhaps uncomfortable for many of us climbers for it is the story of what we leave behind when we get ourselves killed indulging our passion for high, empty places.' Chris Bonington (2002-12-17)

Edition details

• Publisher: Mountaineers Books
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0898867371
• ISBN 13: 9780898867374
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208