Within Reach: My Everest Story (Nonfiction) Paperback – January 1, 2000

This is an amazing story of a very motivated young man who is focused and determined in his efforts to climb mountains. It reinforces all the positive things we keep saying to our kids about the payoff when they set their minds to doing something. It is an engaging story that my son loved, and from which he, hopefully, absorbed some of the lessons about focus, persistence, and self motivation that I'd like him to know.

I needed this book for a project due the following week and two-day shipping have shipped my book and i received it in the best condition.It was brand new no scratches no damages every page there.The book was an amazing read and I would recommend this to a friend.

Great book! Very interesting. What a remarkable story of a brave young boy.

Interesting book written from an unusual perspective, a teenager. He writes very well about his views and insights not only about climbing, but also the world he's experiencing. It's an inspiring book written by a smart, committed, and talented young man.

Received the item quickly and was just as described

I listened to this book on audible and because it’s young persons fiction the narration was quite animated which made it a good listen. I’m sort of an Everest junkie and will read about anything about it or watch movies about it so in that respect it was interesting but after I was done with the book I googled the author and found that there wasn’t much to his life after Everest. I felt sort of cheated that all he did was become a motivational speaker. Feel like what he did in his teen years was the height of his life and everything since then is kind of blah.

My niece needed this book as part of her summer reading list. It arrived promptly and in great condition. It was true to its description. Thanks so very much. I highly recommend this seller.

Mark Pfetzer and Jack Galvin's book "Within Reach: My Everest Story" is a page-turner. Mark began climbing the worlds highest mountains at age 14 and had summited eight peaks by age 16. He holds the titles of being the youngest to climb Mount Everest from the Tibet side (reached 25,000 ft.) and the Nepal side (reached 26,000 ft.). Marks fascinating first-person account of his many climbs is a dazzling tale of achievement and willpower. His memoir is like no other. He befriended the Sherpas, visited their homes and helped them carry equipment. They taught him that time means little, to focus on each day, get up with the sun, eat, work all day and go to bed when it's dark.Mark endured climbing at high altitudes in the cold with an oxygen-deprived, slow motion brain and having to pay close attention to everything he did. He said he loved feeling the patient, steady progress, the strength of his legs, the crunch of snow and the challenge of breathing high up. He said climbers cough in the thin air. Sometimes so hard they break ribs or get respiratory infections when their immune system get overburdened.He said he'd rather be alone in Kathmandu, sleepless, tossing around in pain from a broken rib than sitting in his tenth-grade English class in his hometown in Rhode Island.Mark's observations on Everest made me feel like I was there: the blood-red sunsets, taking three hours to melt enough snow for a gallon of water, using a pee bottle in the tent to minimize frostbite, the throbbing, hurt-your-eyes and the don't-move-too-fast high altitude headaches. Also seeing "souvenirs" of climbers' presence: assorted plastic containers, garbage and white toilet paper unfurled in the wind. Sherpas call the toilet paper white man's prayer flags as they don't biodegrade up there.Mark shares some of his secrets to success. When stuck in a gap in a rock face on a razor-thin ledge on a vertical ridge on the mountain of Ama Dablam he fights the feeling of panic with all his energy. He says he tries to control his fear and resist the beginner's climbing mind.Mark says he learned something climbing the big mountains and watching the dirt-poor Nepali people smile all day with so little to smile about. When Mark visited a Buddhist monastery he wondered who had the best deal - a kid like him in his fancy hiking clothes, traveling thousands of miles, ready to take on Everest, or the monk who lived at the foot of Everest, praying.Mark said whenever he thinks of getting closer to God on his pilgrimages to the mountains, he remembers the monastery, already closer to heaven than any other house of prayer and the face of one young monk. Mark believes his three years of mountain climbing was a pilgrimage to the mountains as his journey separated him from his ordinary life, it was full of hardship and it changed his life.