—From David Robert's The Mountain of My Fear

In these thrillingly true tales of narrow brushes with death, Cecil Kuhne has amassed a wide range of stories that show the awesome power of the mountains. Spanning five continents, from the frosty tip of Mount McKinley in the dead of the winter, to the unexplored vastness of the Himalayas and beyond, this is a pulse-pounding collection of disaster and survival at the top of the world.

Also featuring:

• Joe Simpson's Touching the Void—An inspiring story of a climber who topples into a icy crevasse and, though crippled, starving and frostbitten, still manages to crawl to rescue.

• Jon Krakauer's Eiger Dreams—Reaching the limits of his own climbing skills, the author makes a crucial decision whether to brave the treacherous higher altitudes or return to base.

• Nando Parrado's Miracle in the Andes—The stunning first-person account of a Peruvian rugby team's airplane crash in the Chilean Andes and their harrowing journey down the mountain for help.

FOREWORD from Eiger Dreams

Jon Krakauer

NO PICNIC ON MOUNT KENYA

Felice Benuzzi

THE MOUNTAINS OF MY LIFE

Walter Bonatti

MINUS 148°:

The Winter Ascent of Mt. McKinley

Art Davidson

THE WHITE SPIDER:

The Classic Account of the Ascent of the Eiger

Heinrich Harrer

ANNAPURNA:

First Conquest of an 8,000-meter Peak [26,493 Feet]

Maurice Herzog

EVEREST:

The West Ridge

Thomas F. Hornbein

MIRACLE IN THE ANDES:

72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home

Nando Parrado

IN THE ZONE :

Epic Survival Stories from the Mountaineering World

Peter Potterfield

THE MOUNTAIN OF MY FEAR

David Roberts

NANDADEVI:

The Tragic Expedition

John Roskelley

TOUCHING THE VOID

Joe Simpson

SAVAGE ARENA

Joe Tasker

Notes on the Contributors