Tigers of the Snow

“Tells the story of Himalayan climbing from the Sherpas’ point of view . . . with great empathy and thorough research.” —The Sunday Times (UK)

In 1934, a German-led team set off to climb the West Himalayan peak of Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest mountain on earth. No such attempt had been made since the disastrous assault of 1895, but Nazi Germany was determined to prove its natural superiority to the world. The heavily funded expedition, accompanied by cameras to record the team’s success, resulted in dangerous pressure to deliver results.

When a hurricane hit the leading party just short of the summit, the Germans broke the unwritten rule of mountaineering and headed down alone, facing almost certain death. It was the moment the Sherpas who survived have never forgotten. Now the Sherpas, not the Europeans, were seen as climbing legends—“Tigers of the Snow.”

Impeccably researched and superbly written, this is the compelling narrative of a climb gone wrong, set against the mountaineering history of the early twentieth century and the haunting background of German politics in the 1930s.

“If there were six people on an expedition who wrote a book about it, a reader would feel he’d been on six different expeditions. And now we have a version from the Sherpas’ perspective, in many ways the most important.” —Doug Scott, mountaineer and award-winning author of Up and About: The Hard Road to Everest

“Both enjoyable and thought-provoking.” —Scotland on Sunday

“Ambitious and original.” —Scotsman

“By turns comprehensive and dramatic . . . The kind of thoughtful and informed portrait that the Sherpas richly deserve.” —Kirkus Reviews