From the rigours and risks of high-altitude climbing on Everest to the challenges of scaling El Captain's 3,000 vertical feet, this collection examines the subject of mountaineering through the eyes of gifted writers with great stories to tell. These stories reveal climbing's allure as well as its terrible risks. Legendary Yosemite veteran John Long recalls the joys of climbing the world's hardest rock routes in the company of friends whose boldness scares even him. Scotsmen Hamish MacInnes, Tom Patey and Andrew Greig all feature, too, in stories from the Eiger's dreaded North Face, Mustagh Tower in the Karakoram aand the Alps. This title spans a century of great literature, from Evelyn Waugh and H.G. Wells to contemporary authors such as Daniel Duane and Maureen O'Neill. All of these writers have something to say about the beauty, the excitement, the ambition and the love that drives men and women to risk everything in the mountains.