Book interview

In the world of high-altitude climbing, most mountaineering teams gunning to send an assault party to the summit set up a safe camp as near as possible to the dangerous bit of the ascent. On Mount Everest, for example, the Nepalese ´Base Camp´ is located at a height of around 17,500ft: uncomfortable enough for most of us, but for those whose ambition is to get to the Roof of the World the strategy makes sense. This is where teams place communications, operations, logistics and other life-support mechanisms needed to support the summiteers.