Within Reach: My Everest Story » (Reprint)

The world's most famous teenage mountain climber offers an extraordinary personal account.

In May, 1996 the media scrambled to document the gripping and inspirational story of sixteen-year-old Mark Pfetzer's expedition to Mount Everest. Not only was he the youngest climber to attempt the summit, but he bore witness to the tragedy documented in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, in which eight climbers perished in a sudden storm. Within Reach is Mark's extraordinary personal account of this experience, and of his triumphs over several other challenging peaks. In this suspenseful first-person narrative, Mark takes the reader past the ever-shifting Khumbu Icefall, over three-hundred-foot crevasses, and up into the high altitude "Death Zone" of Everest. By turns triumphant and tragic, this story will be an inspiration to climbers, athletes, and armchair enthusiasts young and old.

Mark Pfetzer holds several world records for high altitude climbing. He lives in Villa Hills, Kentucky.

Jack Galvin is a well-known sportswriter and columnist who has written feature articles for many newspapers and magazines. He lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

VOYA

Unlike most teenagers who mostly learn at school, Mark Pfetzer's education involves traveling around the world to climb mountains while learning from other climbers, including architects, doctors, and philosophers. Experiencing different cultures is also a valuable lesson for Mark. Here Mark's life is chronicled from 1994 to 1996 through his travels to Peru, Argentina, Tibet, Nepal, Africa, and Washington. On what Mark calls a pilgrimage, he learns to get along with various people, face the physical challenges of staying in shape, and handle the emotional challenges of missing his family. Mark describes preparing to climb: "Over my down pants, jacket and hood, I put on an oxygen mask tank, heavy backpack, and goggles. The trouble is the mask. It has an extra-long tube to the tank under my arms and around my back, which I keep getting twisted. I feel tied up." One of the flaws in this book is that it is difficult to keep track of the different expeditions and eventually they seem to merge. As someone without a background in climbing, it was a bit difficult to understand some of the terms being used. However, readers with and without climbing experience will enjoy this story as will anyone who wants to read about a successful teenager who fulfilled his dream. Galvin writes in the preface, "Mark's adolescence can show us that there are still adventures available for young people, indeed for all of us. Most of us will never climb Mount Everest but Mark has shown us that we can all live our adventures if we have the strength of will." Glossary. Photos. Chronology. VOYA Codes: 3Q 2P J S (Readable without serious defects, For the YA with a special interest in the subject, Junior High-defined as grades 7 to 9 and Senior High-defined as grades 10 to 12).