Sublime

Because most of our gear was carried by yaks and human porters, my own backpack held little more than a jacket, a few candy bars, and my camera.

Although Unsoeld’s toes froze and would later be amputated, both men survived to tell their tale.

The team goal—get the pig to the top—drove every decision and united the team. Individual goals such as summiting were secondary. Pig over person. In one instance, Breashears ordered Sumiyo, a Japanese climber on the team, to stay behind on summit day because she was climbing a bit slower than the rest. The team could not afford to slow down, even

At 6:00 A.M., as they skirted a steep rock promontory called the First Step, twenty-one-year-old Eisuke Shigekawa and thirty-six-year-old Hiroshi Hanada were taken aback to see one of the Ladakhi climbers, probably Paljor, lying in the snow, horribly frostbitten but still alive after a night without shelter or oxygen, moaning unintelligibly. Not wa