Alpine Rising

Sherpas, Baltis, and the Triumph of Local Climbers in the Greater Ranges

Bernadette McDonald

• Publisher: Mountaineers Books
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN:
  9781680515794
• Edition: 0
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies

2024 National Outdoor Book Award Winner
2024 Banff Mountain Book Competition Mountain Literature Winner - The Jon Whyte Award " Alpine Rising is a fascinating history of the crucial and frequently tragic role of local Nepalis, Tibetans, and Pakistanis on mountaineering expeditions to the world's highest peaks."-- Jon Krakauer The name of Maurice Herzog, the first man to reach the summit of Annapurna, is widely recognized, but how many know Ang Tharkay, leader of the Sherpa team who carried the seriously frostbitten Herzog on his back for miles? Although rarely mentioned in published accounts of early expeditions, local climbers have long been significant members of first ascents on the world's tallest and most challenging peaks. In Alpine Rising, award-winning writer Bernadette McDonald sets the record straight by shining a light on these too often forgotten heroes.Now, in the 21st century, it is often local climbers who are setting records. A Nepali team was the first to climb K2 in winter; they reached the summit while singing their national anthem. Pakistani climbers like Little Karim and Ali Sadpara devoted their lives to helping others survive and succeed on and off the mountains and their stories deserve to be more widely known. Not only a timely reminder of the need to recognize the contributions of local climbers and the importance of correcting the historical record, Alpine Rising is a celebration of a region's local heroes.Sales benefit the Khumbu Climbing Center (Nepal) and the ASCEND climbing program for girls (Pakistan)

Table of contents

• Apine Rising
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Author’s Note
• Introduction One Summit—Two Centuries
• CHAPTER ONE Ten Rupees a Digit
• CHAPTER TWO A Thin Black Wallet: Tragedy on K2
• CHAPTER THREE Darjeeling Tigers
• CHAPTER FOUR Father of the Modern Sherpa Guide
• CHAPTER FIVE The First Superstar
• CHAPTER SIX Forgotten Hero
• CHAPTER SEVEN Not Allah, Little Karim
• CHAPTER EIGHT Turning Points
• CHAPTER NINE Tower of Babel
• CHAPTER TEN Days of Joy and Sorrow
• CHAPTER ELEVEN Sadpara Climbers—Masters of Winter
• CHAPTER TWELVE Ice Warriors
• CHAPTER THIRTEEN Day Job on Everest
• CHAPTER FOURTEEN Big Mountains Are Big Business
• CHAPTER FIFTEEN Gaps in the Line
• CHAPTER SIXTEEN The Nimsdai Effect
• CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Rolwaling’s Mingma G
• CHAPTER EIGHTEEN K2 in Winter
• CHAPTER NINETEEN The Maoists Are Coming
• Epilogue Light and Shadow
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Select Bibliography and Sources
• Index
• About the Author