Within Reach: My Everest Story

May 10, 1996, a sixteen year old Mark Pfetzer huddles his tent at 26,000 feet, waiting for his turn to attempt Everest's summit. As a fierce storm descends on the camp, a frightening realization dawns on Mark and his colleagues: many of the climbers who summitted that afternoon have not yet returned. By morning the storm has claimed eight lives - and Mark's long-dreamed-of summit day has become one of the bleakest days in mountaineering history. This is Mark's fascinating first-person account of his Everest experience, in which he takes us past the ever shifting Kjumbu Icefall, over three-hundred-foot crevasses, and up to the high altitude "Death Zone." His story is a dazzling saga of willpower and achievement, and a celebration of the strength that guides men and women through impossibly daring dreams. 224 pages