In the Ghost Country: A Lifetime Spent on the Edge

Literate and evocative, In the Ghost Country is a joyful tribute to the craft of mountaineering, a Shackleton-like tale of endurance, an adventure story and introspective recollection with rare insight.A memoir of extraordinary depth and searing honesty, In the Ghost Country is the story of Peter Hillary's physical and emotional journey across the icy wastes of Antarctica. A place where the thoughts and memories of a lifetime were called forth by the blank slate of the Antarctic snows - so real that the ghosts of lost friends and loved ones walked with Peter Hillary in the white maelstrom. During the three-month long expedition, Peter Hillary and his two companions skied 900 miles across the forbidding and beautiful expanse of Antarctica to the South Pole. Early on, the relationships in the little tent disintegrated to acrimony and distrust, and exploded on their return, damaging friendships and resulting in profound soul-searching. This is the story of that journey: a chronicle of profound isolation, of great stamina and skill, of the mental and emotional toll exacted by travel in extreme environments. It is also a meditation on a lifetime spent on the edge, a memory book of more than 30 expeditions in the Himalayas, the Andes, the Arctic and the Antarctic.