Himalayan Quest: Ed Viesturs Summits All Fourteen 8,000-Meter Giants
by Peter Potterfield; photos by acclaimed American mountaineer Ed Viesturs
When I first picked up a copy of Himalayan Quest, I wasn’t expecting such stunning photos! Ed Viesturs, the most famous American mountaineer, has climbed the 14 highest peaks in the world. While doing so, he managed to capture breaktaking photos that were compiled in this book.
If you’ve read through some of my other Book & Movie Reviews, you may already know about Ed Viesturs. He was the expedition leader in the IMAX film Everest, and also recently published a fantastic book called K2: Life and Death on the World’s Most Dangerous Mountain, which I reviewed as soon as it was published.
Himalayan Quest is a compilation of photos hand picked by Ed, who is a self-proclaimed “incidental photographer”. But clearly he is a humble man; the pictures in this book are stunning! Since I am an avid hiker and novice mountaineer myself, I fully appreciate the difficultly in capturing photos during a strenuous hike or climb. Then throw in sub zero temperatures, fierce winds, and clumsy gloves… and that is when Ed captures his inspiring photos!
David Breashears, the author of High Exposure, wrote the introduction, and the rest of the book was written by Peter Potterfield, who is an expert on mountains and the wilderness. This book was a fun one to read, mainly because the pictures are so enticing that I couldn’t wait to learn more about them and the adventures involved in getting to their peaks (and back down of course!)
Hiking Lady Recommendation: 5 of 5 stars