Description

BURIED IN THE SKY recreates one of the most dramatic catastrophes in alpine history from a fascinating new perspective. It is at once a gripping, white-knuckled adventure and a rich exploration of Sherpa customs and culture.

For as long as Westerners have been climbing the Himalaya, Sherpas have been the anonymous experts – the unsung heroes in the background. In August 2008, when eleven climbers lost their lives on K2, the world’s most dangerous peak, two Sherpas survived. They had emerged from poverty and political turmoil to become two of the most skillful mountaineers on earth. Based on unprecedented access and interviews, BURIED IN THE SKY reveals their astonishing story for the first time.

PETER ZUCKERMAN has received some of the most prestigious awards in American journalism. In 2005, he was one of the youngest people to ever win a Livingston Award, the largest, all-media, general reporting prize in America. Among the dozens of other awards his reporting has received is the National Journalism Award, given by the Scripts Howard Foundation for the best newspaper writing in the United States; and the Blethan Award, given for the best journalism in the northwest.

AMANDA PADOAN is a mountaineer and alpine historian. She studied literature at Harvard University and law at Pepperdine School of Law. Amanda writes for Explorersweb and is a contributor to Rock and Ice and The Alpinist. She is a Yaddo Fellow.