The Kid Who Climbed Everest: The Incredible Story Of A 23-Year-Old's Summit Of Mt. Everest

In 1996, a twenty-three-year-old soldier in the British Army was flying over an African desert on a routine parachute jump. He had a lot to look forward to-a long career ahead of him in the army, a beautiful girlfriend back home. But those dreams were cut short when his parachute failed to open at eleven thousand feet. He had cracked three vertebrae and had come within a fraction of an inch of severing his spinal cord. A grueling eight months of physical therapy followed. Bear had to retrain his muscles to do all of the things we take for granted-how to sit, to stand, to walk, even to breathe. Eighteen months after his accident, he overcame incredible odds to reach the peak of Everest.
The Kid Who Climbed Everest is a tale of courage and determination. Bear's quest for funding for his expedition, his seventy days on Everest's southeast face, and a narrow brush with death after a fall into a crevasse at nineteen thousand feet, make this story an essential read for anyone who's ever had a dream and made it come true.
Bear Grylls was brought up on a small island off the south coast of England, where his late father taught him to climb and sail. Now one of the youngest and most sought-after motivational speakers, he relates his remarkable experiences to audiences and corporations all around the world.

Editorial Reviews

For a year, Grylls held the record for the Youngest Englishman on the Hill for his summit ascent at age 23 (only to be bested the following year by a 22-year-old). Grylls, while serving in the army, suffered a parachuting accident that nearly severed his spinal cord. After eight months in a military rehab center, he decided to leave the military and climb the legendary Everest. Barely escaping death (he fell into a crevasse at 19,000 feet), he reached the summit just 18 months after his accident. Unfortunately, Grylls's account of 70 days on Everest has a flat pitch, stiff syntax and little insight to offer on the experience of reaching for the top of the world save earnest observations on grit, body functions at high altitudes, his grandpa, faith, queen and country. The transcendent folly and physical drama of climbing above 26,000 feet were sharp narrative tools in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, but the Kid can't quite elaborate on how he felt as he passed the decayed, mummified body of Rob Hall, who tragically failed to scale the summit ridge. Grylls's report from the top of the world is almost without discernible color except the "bully" attitude Grylls and his mates brought along from England and took back home after a few celebratory ales in Kathmandu. His story adds little to the ever-expanding Everest genre. (May) Forecast: No matter how unexceptional they might appear to the uninitiated, diehard Everest fans never seem to tire of books like this. The effusive blurb from British Prime Minister Tony Blair certainly won't hurt sales, either. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

About The Author:

Bear was brought up on a small island off the south coast of England, where his late father taught him to climb and sail.

A martial arts expert, Bear went on to spend three years as a soldier in the British Special Forces (21 SAS). He then suffered a free fall parachuting accident in Africa, and broke his back in three places.

Yet despite this, and after months of military rehabilitation, he went on to become the youngest Briton ever, and one of only an elite number of climbers, to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Now one of the youngest and most sought-after motivational speakers, he relates his remarkable experiences to audiences and corporations all around the world.

Bear lives with his wife, Shara, and their little son, Jesse, on a Dutch barge in London and on a small, remote Welsh island.

One day he hopes to buy a home that doesn't leak.