Craig StortiTHE HUNT FOR MT EVEREST

Author’s way of describing his lifelong journey through mountains is breathtaking. I thoroughly enjoyed the approach of the author to bring the reader along this incredible journey with him. With the authentic stories of mastering all the hurdles this inspiring book is a lot more than another book about high altitude mountaineering but with a tragic end.

Very good photos & very good content.

Standing tall—taller than everything else on the planet—and aloof, there was a mountain, mighty and majestic, unknown to the humans for the best part of their history. It still stands tall—in fact a bit taller than before—but is no longer left alone; besieged by thousands of people willing to risk their lives just to set foot on its summit, Mount Everest is the most famous mountain on earth today. The Hunt for Mount Everest by Craig Storti tells the story of this transformation from obscurity to renown, from the moment when some British surveyors on the hills near Darjeeling in British India trained their theodolites on this blotch on the horizon a hundred-odd miles away, up to the day seventy-one years later when a group of mountaineers and explorers stood at the foot on this colossus.Situated on the Tibet-Nepal border, Mount Everest was inaccessible to the western explorers—particularly to the British rulers of the neighbouring India—due to political considerations. But that did not deter some enterprising individuals, drawn by the irresistible allure of the mountain, from doing all that was possible to find it, reach it and climb it. The account of these efforts is full of absorbing drama, political intrigue and espionage, wars and treaties, acts of cleverness and foolishness, feats of determination and endurance, and a lot of breath-taking adventure. Spanning across several decades and featuring an eclectic cast of characters—some well-known, like Sir Francis Younghusband, Lord Curzon and George Mallory, and some unsung, like Alexander Kellas, Sir Charles Bell and Guy Bullock—The Hunt for Mount Everest is a magnificent picture set on the immense canvass of the Himalayas.While much has been written about Mount Everest and the attempts to climb it, beginning with the first attempt in 1921, there is little publicised information about the decades prior to that, and this book fills that void pretty nicely. In addition to telling the Everest story, the author generously touches upon the history of mountaineering itself—beginning with alpine climbing in late eighteenth century—providing a detailed background to the core of this book.Backed by meticulous research and written in an appealing prose, The Hunt for Mount Everest is an essential read for all those who love mountains, mountaineering and adventure in general.

Waste of money

I have long been fascinated by Mt. Everest. But everything I have read has been about Mallory, Hilary and the 20th-century competition to be the first to climb the world’s highest mountain. Craig Storti has thankfully published a long-needed book on the important history that proceeds this well-known story of climbing Everest. The Hunt for Mt. Everest is history at its best – well-written, thoroughly-researched, and at times gripping. From Great Game machinations, to Great Britain’s disastrous first war in Afghanistan, to history’s most interesting and notorious colonial soldiers and administrators, this is a fantastic read.

The Hunt for Mount Everest is one of the most thoroughly researched and exciting tales I have had the pleasure to read. Craig Storti’s masterpiece brings to life a monumental Hunt for the top of the world that moves the reader through an evolving set of adventures commencing with James Nicholson’s observation in 1847 from Darjeeling, India of a peculiar shadow on the northern horizon. Storti comfortably moves the reader through a multitude of fascinating historical tales about how the location and height of Everest were established, fragile political negotiations with Tibetan leaders and the Dali Lama, as well as the enormous egos and surveyors of the Royal Geographic Society, and the mountaineering community. We come to know well the personalities whose compulsiveness paved the wave for the eventual ascent to Everest’s northern col.Storti’s style of writing is reminiscent of Lillian Helman who effortlessly moves the reader into the past with historical vignettes that bring to life the protagonists for the Hunt who we meet on our own journey to the Everest base-camp at 17,000 feet. He then effortlessly re-joins his tale of the iconoclasts whose risky and sometimes erroneous decisions create an exciting background for the epic struggles of Kellas, Wheeler, Bullock and Mallory which Storti ensures will endure in the lore of the Hunt for Mt Everest.I have worked and travelled in Nepal and India for several years, and never before read such a rich account of scientific, historical, biographical, and geographical fact pouring from the pages of a single book.

Yes it is an excellent book telling the story of Hunt for Everest I have been a follower of the great mountain for many a year but this one outstrips all the others Remember that this is my opinion you may agree or disagree with my comments but that's my rightThank you for a superb book

We’ll written. Very interesting story of the quest for summiting Everest before it was achieved. Much more backstory than I ever realized. Good maps included to follow progress. I passed it on a fellow climber who also liked it.

Something exhilarating about this wonderful book-Something you have always taken for granted is cast in a new light -How did they ever even find the path onto the summit of Everest ?For someone who knew absolutely nothing about the history of the discovery of Everest this book was rich in detail and nuance with fascinating history - it’s also beautifully written so a joy to read and rather like going up a mountain as we finally get to meet Mallory the trail picks up new zest and after the early foothills one suddenly just can’t put the book down - and once I’d read it once I went straight back and reread it - it was so good - enjoy !