High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places

High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places
by David Breashears

High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places
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Book Summary Information

Author: David Breashears
Foreword: Jon Krakauer
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2000-05-17
ISBN: 0684865459
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
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Book Reviews of High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places

Book Review: good read
Summary: 4 Stars

this is a good book for those who want insight into the world of climbing. this year i have read five books by everest climbers and this one has given me the best understanding of the discipline and training involved in climbing. breashers's account of his climbing career, beginning with his childhood passion for rock climbing, is far from self-indulgent. instead the reader gains respect the skill, psychological mindset, and preparation required for rock climbing and high peak climbing. my only complaint is that breashers rarely mentions the well-known physical hardships endured in high peak climbs. he rarely describes his physical state of being, as if climbing involves only technical logistics, not also overcoming the physical hardship of functioning in states of dehydration, sleep deprivation, oxygen deprivation, undernourishment, and frostbit extremities. nonetheless, his narrative has left me with valuable lessons about how disciplined training can provide one with the confidence necessary for making wise decisions when faced with formidable challenges.

Summary of High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places

For generations of resolute adventurers, from George Mallory to Sir Edmund Hillary to Jon Krakauer, Mount Everest and the world's other greatest peaks have provided the ultimate testing ground. But the question remains: Why climb? In High Exposure, elite mountaineer and acclaimed Everest filmmaker David Breashears answers with an intimate and captivating look at his life.

For Breashears, climbing has never been a question of risk taking: Rather, it is the pursuit of excellence and a quest for self-knowledge. Danger comes, he argues, when ambition blinds reason. The stories this world-class climber and great adventurer tells will surprise you -- from discussions of competitiveness on the heights to a frank description of the 1996 Everest tragedy.


David Breashears has climbed Mt. Everest four times. For this, he is known as a world-class mountaineer. A lengthy career in documentary filmmaking--including the Imax film, Everest--has earned him wide acclaim and four Emmy awards. For this, he is known as one of the elite cinematographers in his field. But his new autobiography, High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Other High Places, proves he is more than a climber and a filmmaker; he is also an able writer.

Breashears has no lack of good material. We follow him through the stunning backdrops of Yosemite, Europe, Nepal, and Tibet, brushing up against triumphs and tragedies along the way. And while the nuts and bolts of his adventures are entertainment enough, his knack for building suspense and employing understated drama makes his autobiography read like a novel: "The morning was sunny and calm, and Rob looked as though he'd lain down on his side and fallen asleep. Around him the undisturbed snow sparkled in the sun. I stared at his bare left hand ... I wondered what a mountaineer with Rob's experience was doing without a glove."

Breashears also likes to remind his audience of humble beginnings surmounted: his early climbing days when he was known as "the kid," and a winter he spent sleeping under a sheet of plywood during the Wyoming oil boom when he was called "the worm." But mostly he documents his filmmaking career and climbing passion, both of which he approaches with an obsessive fervor. Readers interested in either pursuit will find High Exposure a fascinating traverse across the spine of the world. --Ben Tiffany

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