Spy on the Roof of the World - Hardcover

Wignall, Sydney

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1558215581 ISBN 13: 9781558215580

Publisher: UNKNO, 1996

Synopsis

In 1955 Sydney Wignall led the Welsh Himalayan expedition to climb Tibet's highest mountain, Gural Mandhata. Not long into their journey the men were captured and imprisoned by the People's Liberation Army of the Republic of China. In this riveting account, Wignall tells of the incredible courage, humor, and ingenuity that enabled the group to survive. of photos.

About this title

Review:

In this cross between a travel adventure story and an espionage novel, Sydney Wignall tells how he became an ad hoc spy for a renegade faction of Indian intelligence operatives in 1955. Wignall had set out to climb the highest mountain in Tibet, but was recruited to investigate Chinese military activity in the region. After being caught, he spent months in a rat-infested, sub-freezing cell as he underwent interrogation. When international pressure forced his release, his captors "released" him and two companions in a nearly impenetrable wintertime wilderness and said "Go home." Yet Wignall survived--and managed to smuggle out vital information. It is an exhilarating story that only now can be told.

From the Back Cover:

In 1955, Sydney Wignall organized the Welsh Himalayan expedition to climb Tibet's highest mountain, Gurla Mandhata. But Wignall and two of his companions were more than just mountaineers; before setting out, Wignall had been recruited by a covert faction within Indian intelligence to report on Chinese military operations in newly invaded Tibet.Wignall and his band of unlikely spies were soon captured and imprisoned by the Red Army, thus beginning an ordeal that would draw on their last reserves of physical and emotional strength. Subjected to rat-infested, subfreezing cells and months of torturous interrogation, Wignall and his colleagues refused to allow their spirits to be broken.Ultimately, international pressure convinced the Chinese to release the three spies. But instead of being flown safely home, they were ordered to return via the Seti Gorge in the middle of winter, a deadly Himalayan pass considered suicidal even in summer. Their bodies wracked with frostbite and dysentery, their final trek to freedom is an amazing testament to their will to survive. (6 X 9, 304 pages, b&w photos, maps)

About this edition

• Publisher: UNKNO
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 1558215581
• ISBN 13: 9781558215580
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 267