Archive - April 30, 2013

Broughton Cobern (Nepal 1973-75) is the author of the bestselling Everest: Mountain Without Mercy, a chronicle of the iconic first American expedition to Mount Everest in the spring of 1963. Now he has published to coincide with the climb’s 50th anniversary, The Vast Unknown America’s First Ascent of Everest. Crown Publishing will bring the book out on April 30, 2013, which means that it is already available on line or in book stores, if you can find one. This book and the climb are interesting in a number of ways. Some history that, of course, relates to the Peace Corps. One of the men on that famous climb was Willi Unsoeld who had just gone to work for the Peace Corps as the deputy director in Nepal. The director was the famous American climber Bob Bates, and Shriver in 1961 had asked Bates who he wanted as his deputy. Bates said Unsoeld. . . .