"THE NEXT BOUND I EXPECTED TO TAKE ME OVER A CLIFF IN A TERRIBLE DROP THAT WOULD FINISH IT ALL": K2—THE SAVAGE MOUNTAIN, SIGNED BY THREE MEMBERS OF THE 1953 EXPEDITION, WITH A LAID-IN 1984 LECTURE TICKET SIGNED BY MOUNTAINEERING LEGEND EDMUND HILLARY
(HILLARY, Edmund) HOUSTON, Charles S. and BATES, Robert H. K2. The Savage Mountain. WITH: Ticket signed. New York: McGraw-Hill, (1954). Octavo, original half red cloth, original dust jacket.
First edition of this story of the disaster-struck Third American Karakoram Expedition, signed on the title page by three members of the 1953 expedition, with a laid-in ticket to a 1984 lecture held by the Appalachian Mountain Club signed by mountaineering icon Edmund Hillary.
Standing at 28,238 feet, second only to Everest in height, K2 is generally considered to be the most difficult and dangerous peak in the world. In 1953 the Third American Karakoram Expedition attempted an alpine ascent of the mountain, a near-disaster chronicled by the team's surviving members in The Savage Mountain and one of the best-known stories in the annals of mountaineering. With 20 pages of photographs, eight in color. Signed by Charles Houston ("Best of everything David, Charles Houston"), Robert H. Bates, and Dee Molenaar ("To David—Another lover of the mountains & its literature. Dee Molenaar"). With a laid-in ticket to a 1984 lecture entitled "Higher Mountains to Climb" at The Appalachian Mountain Club signed by acclaimed Everest summiter Edmund Hillary, accompanied by seven original photographic prints of Hillary at the lecture.
Book with interior generally clean and slight foxing to binding. Dust jacket with light rubbing to extremities and a paper panel affixed to verso of rear flap. A near-fine signed copy, most desirable with ticket signed by Hillary.