Made me realize I do not want to climb a mountain.

A compilation of mountain-climbing "disaster" stories from some of the best-known mountaineers in the world. Personally, I love to read stories about mountain climbing, although I myself have never climbed a mountain and have no intention of ever doing so. Willis managed to bring an interesting mix of stories together to highlight the wide variety of dangers that one might face while summiting the world's highest peaks - both the expected (freak storms, human error) and the unexpected (corrupt o...

Did not get to read all of it as it was my friend's and I had limited time. Crazy true stories that will cure you of any desire you might have to climb serious mountains or even camp in the snow. No thanks, I'll enjoy the devil's thumb from my recliner.

A collection of short stories is exactly that; not too much detail, but enough to satisfy one's curiosity.This book taught me that I want to climb a mountain and also, that I don't want to climb a mountain.Also, Mr. Crowley (shout out to my Ozzy Osbourne fans) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. His name came up in this book, I made the connection and dug a little deeper and sure enough, Aleister Crowley is a real person.I want to climb a moun...

Why are all mountaineering books about climbing disasters?

This book has some of the most well know mountaineering stories combined into one exciting read. If you are interested in man versus mountain this will give you a good dose. Alas the book carries the name Krakauer and one must suspect foul play.

This is another of many books I have read in this Adrenaline series, all edited by Clint Willis. I have enjoyed them all, and perhaps this one most of all. Not because the writing is better than in those other books, but just because these are the types of stories I am most drawn to. Almost all of them are written in the first person by the climbers themselves, and so they vibrate with the immediacy of being right there with them.Okay, at least a couple of them are written by someone not taking

Audiobook from Hoopla. Not my favourite, but some good stories. I was almost about to drop it for a while during an old autobiographical essay about a summit attempt of Everest that was post-Mallory and pre-Hillary. It was laden with old fashioned descriptive language where everything seemed to happen to the uttermost as he attempted his summit alone. I guess it wasn’t as fascinating when you already a) knew he wasn’t going to make it to the top, and b) knew he was going to make it to the bottom...

I listened to this and HIGH. Both are excerpts from books by well-known climbers or adventurers. I seem to need stories of survival to help me deal with difficult times in my own life (it is currently the covid isolation and the lead up to the 2020 election that has me in high anxiety). In the introduction, Willis notes that an Epic adventure is one that does not go well, often involving the death a participant. In this selection there are more frozen toes and hands that I ever remember as well

Audiobook for 2022 Arky with the Barkies Spring BreakA collection of excerpts of the worst part of mountaineering catastrophies. I like the idea of it, but the way they'd start the story mid-misadventure was too jarring and then they stopped the story the same way. If I wasn't really paying attention, I'd find myself lost in a new story not realizing we'd moved on from the last one. I like a short story that leaves me wanting more, but a little context to start the story would've gone a long way...

After reading Jon Krakauer’s book, Into Thin Air, I’ve had a fascination with Everest, harboring a secret desire to climb it. This book cured me of that. I loved all of the different perspectives of the writers/climbers including not just accounts of the mountains themselves but also the bureaucracy of traveling in that area. Thanks Taylor, for recommending it!

While I enjoyed this book, I wasn't invested in each story. Each tale was full of interchangeable casts of characters encountering some tragic difficulty. The most notable difference between each were the authors writing abilities. As many of the events were enthralling, I plan to read full accounts of mountaineering that resonated with me.

Great collection of accounts. Some were more riveting than others, but all were excellently written and so interesting to read! It is safe to say that some of the situations described in these pages did not make me want to go mountain climbing anytime soon!

A selection of pieces of stories about crazy people climbing mountains.It is gripping and gave me the heebie jeebies. Just the descriptions of the precarious situations these climbers found themselves in made me shudder and kicked my fear of heights into over drive.Climbers be cray

some interesting stories, many felt unfinished, I guess most were excerpts from other books. also only so many stories of icy trails & snowstorms I could read at once so this one took a while to finish.

A solid collection of excerpts from other books. Some awesome climbing stories, but can be also a tease, as I think I'd rather read the complete stories. Although I do now have a great list of books I want to read!

listened to the audiobook, as excellently narrated as Climb in the same series. Although the audiobooks say unabridged they are only a selection of all the stories in the print book.

Enjoyable My husband enjoyed all things mountains and exploration so this was right up his street.

Great collection of mountaineering and survival stories from different eras

Interesting stories but they are all excerpts from larger books so it was a bit disheartening to have the tales end suddenly.

Between this book, "Into Thin Air," and "Climb," I will never use an ice axe.

I didn't really enjoy it so I quit reading it.

Epic is a collection of stories (and excerpts of longer novels and works) of survival from various eras and time periods, from the point of view of well experienced climbers who have tackled some of the highest peaks and in the most dire of situations while on those peaks. Overall, this was sort of a mixed bag with some stories with some very good and others skip-worthy. My biggest beef was that some of the stories lacked the human or emotional element that might have made the reader feel more i...

Ever since my husband took me to see the IMax film "Everest" for my 36th birthday, I've been a big fan of adventure stories about Everest and other 8,000 meter peeks. At least I was a fan up until I read this book. This book could be the blooper reel of all the mountaineering memoirs. All that went wrong, all that was painful, all that went tragic.The writing is very good and engaging, but please don't read or listen to this book while eating or cooking as it will turn your tummy. Lots of TMI wi...

I enjoyed the short story version of these stories.

Clint Willis' "Epic - Stories of Survival from the World's Highest Peaks" is a pretty good primer for those interested in mountaineering survival stories. Several of the stories included, especially the miracle belay in the attempt to save Art Gilkey, are considered mountaineering classics. I've read a lot of books by mountaineers -- of the 16 stories in "Epic," ten were excepts from books I've already read. Most were good selections and fit with the theme well. Even though I've read them before...

Listening to this book and having read and seen a few other things relating to climbing Everest really makes me wonder why people still attempt the climb. While on one hand technology has improved since some of these climbs with better clothing, more technical footwear and oxygen, the crazy fact is that still 1 in 10 odd people die during an Everest climb. Then add the macabre imagery of the bodies of the dead remaining in their last resting place, surrounded by their possessions, littering the

This book is a collection of excerpts from mountaineers writing about their experiences. Some are better writers than others. I liked reading about the expeditions, though I would never like to experience what these men did. It made me cold just reading about it! The story that has stuck with me the longest is about an expedition on Mt. Denali (McKinley at the time) in the winter. Yikes! Three men in a tiny ice cave for at least 5 days pinned down by a howling wind - not much food, no room to mo...

My other find from the shelf in Amsterdam: excerpts from mountaineering books by the likes of John Krakauer, Eric Shipton or Joe Tasker. Very gripping, and it made me want to read some of the books in full -- the one about the winter ascent of Denali ("Minus 148" by Art Davidson) is already earmarked.

Some of the stories got a bit samey after a while, and I preferred the stories of the more recent treks to the ones from the early 1900's, but overall a good book for anyone who enjoys true-life moutaineering peril stories.