Winner: 2017 Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature. `A profound and subtle profile of one of the international climbing world's most complex mountaineers.' - Helen Mort, Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature. Voytek Kurtyka is one of the greatest alpinists of all time. Born in 1947, he was one of the leading lights of the Polish golden age of mountaineering that redefined Himalayan climbing in the 1970s and 1980s. His visionary approach to climbing resulted in many renowned ascents, such as the complete Broad Peak traverse, the 'night-naked' speed climbs...

2020 Banff Mountain Book Competition Finalist in Mountain Literature

    Recounts some of the most dangerous feats in mountaineering history
    Insights into the human attraction to danger and suffering
    Award-winning author

While you wouldn't expect climbing an 8000-meter peak in winter to be a popular activity, there have been 178 expeditions (as of 2019) to the Himalaya and Karakoram during the cruelest season to do just that. Polish alpinist, Voytek Kurtyka, termed the practice the...