Nobody has written more eloquently about the human side of high altitude mountaineering then Maria Coffey. In this new edition of Fragile Edge, she describes her love affair with elite British mountaineer Joe Tasker, who perished with his partner Peter Boardman while attempting Everest's then unclimbed Northeast Ridge in 1982. Coffey relives her experiences, first within the hard-partying mountaineering scene and then during her long journey to understanding and acceptance of the tragedy that cost her the man she loved. She gives us an insider's view of the life of a world-class mountaineer and recounts her deeply moving pilgrimage with Boardman's widow across Tibet; a journey which retraced Tasker and Boardman's steps to their abandoned Advance Base Camp at 21,000 feet on Everest.