K2: Mountain of Mountains

Description

Published by Kaye & Ward, London, 1981, 1st UK Edition, D/w, Fine.   Signed by Alessandro Gogna and dated May 16th 2001.   Acknowledged as the hardest of the eight-thousanders to climb, there being no easy route, this volume describes Messner’s 1979 Expedition and provides a history of K2, the second highest mountain in the world, from the survey of 1856 to the first ascent and ascents up to 1980.  Twenty five years after the first ascent in 1954, Messner set out to climb K2 by its most difficult route, his projected ‘Magic Line’. Delays and accidents during the approach meant the team had to settle for an ascent of the Abruzzi Spur, which Messner and Michl Dacher successfully achieved on 12th July.  Despite repeated efforts by Gogna, one of the lead climbers as well as the co-author of this book, Robert Schauer and Friedl Mutschlechner, no-one else achieved the summit. Superbly illustrated throughout with copious colour illustrations.