Tomaz Humar

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The heartbreaking, triumphant and inspirational story of the man who fled civil war in Yugoslavia and became one of the world’s greatest mountaineers.In August 2005, Tomaz Humar was trapped on a narrow ledge at 5,900 metres on the formidable Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat. He had been attempting a new route, directly up the middle of the highest mountain face in the world — solo. After six days, he was in a desperate situation. Three helicopters were poised for a break in the weather to pluck him off the mountain and, because of the audacity of the climb and the fame of the climber, the world was watching via the hourly reports posted on his base camp website. Would this be the most spectacular rescue in climbing history? Or a tragic death in the mountains?Years before, Humar had been conscripted into a dirty war in the Balkans, a war he despised, where he observed brutal and inhumane atrocities that disgusted him. Finally, he did the unthinkable: he left, and finally arrived home in what had become a new country — Slovenia.He returned to climbing, and within a very few years, he was among the best in the world. Reinhold Messner called him the most remarkable climber of his generation. As this book was being written, he achieved the first-ever solo ascent of the east summit of Annapurna.From the Hardcover edition.

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Bernadette MacDonald’s was for many years Vice-President, Mountain Culture at The Banff Center and Director of The Banff Mountain Film and Book Festivals.