***NPR Books We Love selection*** “If you’re only going to read one Everest book this decade, make it The Third Pole. . . . A riveting adventure.”—Outside Shivering, exhausted, gasping for oxygen, beyond doubt . . . A hundred-year mystery lured veteran climber Mark Synnott into an unlikely expedition up Mount Everest during the spring 2019 season that came to be known as “the Year Everest Broke.” What he found was a gripping human story of impassioned characters from around the globe and a mountain that will consume your soul—and your life—if you let it. The mystery? On June 8, 1924, George Mallory and Sandy Irvine set out to stand on the roof of the world, where no one had stood before. They were last seen eight hundred feet shy of Everest’s summit still “going strong” for the top. Could they have succeeded decades before Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay? Irvine is believed to have carried a Kodak camera with him to record their attempt, but it, along with his body, had never been found. Did the frozen film in that camera have a photograph of Mallory and Irvine on the summit before they disappeared into the clouds, never to be seen again? Kodak says the film might still be viable. . . . Mark Synnott made his own ascent up the infamous North Face along with his friend Renan Ozturk, a filmmaker using drones higher than any had previously flown. Readers witness first-hand how Synnott’s quest led him from oxygen-deprivation training to archives and museums in England, to Kathmandu, the Tibetan high plateau, and up the North Face into a massive storm. The infamous traffic jams of climbers at the very summit immediately resulted in tragic deaths. Sherpas revolted. Chinese officials turned on Synnott’s team. An Indian woman miraculously crawled her way to frostbitten survival. Synnott himself went off the safety rope—one slip and no one would have been able to save him—committed to solving the mystery. Eleven climbers died on Everest that season, all of them mesmerized by an irresistible magic. The Third Pole is a rapidly accelerating ride to the limitless joy and horror of human obsession.

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER NEW YORK TIMES MONTHLY BESTSELLER One of the 10 Best Books of March, Paste Magazine A deeply reported insider perspective of Alex Honnold’s historic achievement and the culture and history of climbing. “One of the most compelling accounts of a climb and the climbing ethos that I've ever read.”—Sebastian Junger In Mark Synnott’s unique window on the ethos of climbing, his friend Alex Honnold’s astonishing free solo ascent of El Capitan’s 3,000 feet of sheer granite is the central act. When Honnold topped out at 9:28 A.M. on June 3, 2017, having spent fewer than four hours on his historic ascent, the world gave a collective gasp. The New York Times described it as “one of the great athletic feats of any kind, ever.” Synnott’s personal history of his own obsession with climbing since he was a teenager—through professional climbing triumphs and defeats, and the dilemmas they render—makes this a deeply reported, enchanting revelation about living life to the fullest. What are we doing if not an impossible climb? Synnott delves into a raggedy culture that emerged decades earlier during Yosemite’s Golden Age, when pioneering climbers like Royal Robbins and Warren Harding invented the sport that Honnold would turn on its ear. Painting an authentic, wry portrait of climbing history and profiling Yosemite heroes and the harlequin tribes of climbers known as the Stonemasters and the Stone Monkeys, Synnott weaves in his own experiences with poignant insight and wit: tensions burst on the mile-high northwest face of Pakistan’s Great Trango Tower; fellow climber Jimmy Chin miraculously persuades an official in the Borneo jungle to allow Honnold’s first foreign expedition, led by Synnott, to continue; armed bandits accost the same trio at the foot of a tower in the Chad desert . . . The Impossible Climb is an emotional drama driven by people exploring the limits of human potential and seeking a perfect, choreographed dance with nature. Honnold dared far beyond the ordinary, beyond any climber in history. But this story of sublime heights is really about all of us. Who doesn’t need to face down fear and make the most of the time we have?

New York Times bestselling author Mark Synnott has climbed with Alex Honnold. He’s scaled Mount Everest. He's pioneered big-wall first ascents, including the north-west face of the mile-high Great Trango Tower, and skied monster first descents. But in 2022, he realized there was a dream he’d yet to achieve: to sail the Northwest Passage in his own boat-- a feat only four hundred or so sailors have ever accomplished—and in doing so, try to solve the mystery of what happened to legendary nineteenth-century explorer Sir John Franklin and his ships, HMS Erebus and Terror. Only a few hundred vessels have ever transited the Northwest Passage, and substantially fewer have done so in a fiberglass-hulled boat like Polar Sun. But Mark was determined to return to the Arctic, where he cut his teeth as a young climber, and in the process investigate one of the great mysteries of exploration: What really happened to Sir John Franklin and his entire 128-man crew, which disappeared into these ice-strewn waters 175 years ago? In this pulse-pounding travelogue, Mark Synnott paints a vivid portrait of the Arctic, which is currently warming twice as fast as any other part of our planet. He weaves its history and people into the first-person account of his epic journey through the Northwest Passage, searching for Franklin's tomb along the way-- all while trying to avoid a similar fate. In Into the Ice, Mark and his crew race against time and treacherous storms in search of answers to the greatest mystery of all time: What is it that drives someone to risk it all in the name of exploration?

Baffin Island, by world-renowned adventurer, filmmaker and writer Mark Synnott, is the first comprehensive guide to Canada's largest island (fifth largest in the world), which is quickly becoming known as a premiere destination for adventure travellers and thrill-seekers alike. Beautifully illustrated with stunning photos and detailed maps, Baffin Island is the best available volume for anyone considering a trip to - or even remotely interested in - the possibilities that a trek to Baffin Island has to offer.

A middle grade adaptation of the adult bestseller that chronicles what The New York Times deemed "one of the great athletic feats of any kind, ever": Alex Honnold's free-solo ascent of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. On June 3, 2017, as seen in the Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo, Alex Honnold achieved what most had written off as unattainable: a 3,000-foot vertical climb of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, without a rope or harness. At the time, only a few knew what he was attempting to do, but after topping out at 9:28 am, having spent just under four hours on this historic feat, author Mark Synnott broke the story for National Geographic and the world watched in awe. Now adapted for a younger audience, The Impossible Climb tells the gripping story of how a quiet kid from Sacramento, California, grew up to capture the attention of the entire globe by redefining the limits of human potential through hard work, discipline, and a deep respect for the natural world.

A hundred-year mystery lured Mark Synnott into an expedition where a history of passionate adventure, chilling tragedy, and human aspiration unfolded. George Mallory and Andrew "Sandy" Irvine were last seen in 1924, eight hundred feet shy of Everest's summit. A century later, we still don't know whether they achieved their goal of being first to reach the top

Kniha popisuje ucelený příběh vůbec nejslavnějšího free solo výstupu v dějinách skalního lezení – roku 2017 Alex Honnold, aniž by se přitom jakýmkoliv způsobem jistil, pokořil strmou yosemitskou stěnu El Capitan měřící téměř kilometr, ačkoliv byla až do roku 1958 považována za nezdolatelnou i tradičním způsobem na laně. Než čtenář dojde k fascinujícímu a v podstatě "nemožnému" počinu, předestře Mark Synott genezi pokořování skal Yosemitského údolí a free solo lezení vůbec. A protože je autor rovněž profesionální lezec, vezme s sebou čtenáře také na stěnu, kam se příležitostně vydal se samotným Alexem Honnoldem. Strhující text nechá nahlédnout do uvažování, motivací i osobnosti Alexe Honnolda, jenž na rozdíl od jiných špičkových sportovců riskuje pro dosažení životního výsledku jistou smrt. Kniha zaujme všechny fanoušky Adama Ondry, jehož jméno je v textu zmiňováno několikrát a s obdivem, milovníky adrenalinu, ale i nesportovce fascinované překonáváním hranic možného. O výstupu též vznikl Oscarem oceněný dokumentární snímek Free Solo.

Alleine und ungesichert Nur wenige wagen sich an die Freerider-Route am El Capitan im Yosemite Nationalpark. Alex Honnold klettert die senkrecht abfallende Granitwand in Rekordzeit. Ohne jede Sicherung. Free solo zu klettern ist ein Balanceakt: zwischen Luft und Fels, Hängen und Fallen, Leben und Tod. Mark Synnott begleitet in diesem Buch den jungen Kletterer Alex Honnold auf seiner Mission eine Route zu begehen, die im Free Solo-Stil als unschaffbar gilt. Dabei zeichnet er ein feinfühliges Portrait dieses Ausnahmesportlers und öffnet Türen für ein tieferes Verständnis des Klettersports, der selbst im gesicherten Zustand ein mitunter großes Verletzungsrisiko birgt.

Il free solo di Alex Honnold su El Capitan «Uno degli exploits sportivi più incredibili di tutti i tempi» The New York Times Alex Honnold è una gemma rara, il diamante più prezioso che le formazioni rocciose di Yosemite siano riuscite a produrre. Perché Alex sembra appartenere al granito stesso sul quale arrampica con movimenti aggraziati ed eleganti, incollato a invisibili appigli. La sua impresa clamorosa – salire la via Freerider su El Capitan in free solo, quindi senza corda né assicurazione – è stata talmente impressionante da un punto di vista tecnico e soprattutto umano, che il documentario della salita girato in presa diretta dal grande fotografo e alpinista Jimmy Chin ha vinto inevitabilmente il premio Oscar. Non poteva che venirne fuori un film potente, grandioso ed estremamente sincero. Perché dietro questo alpinista estremo si nasconde un uomo, bizzarro e geniale al tempo stesso, erede ideale delle generazioni di climber che l’hanno preceduto. Un frutto della controcultura hippie degli anni Settanta, quando a Yosemite si radunavano alpinisti stravaganti, emarginati ma anche fortissimi, come in una Woodstock della montagna. Mark Synnott, amico di Alex ed esponente di spicco della generazione che l’ha preceduto, non solo riesce, da un punto di vista unico e privilegiato, a farci rivivere «in diretta» la tensione della storica arrampicata «impossibile» di Alex Honnold, ma ci immerge anche nell’atmosfera dell’età dell’oro di Yosemite, come se fossimo anche noi lì, intorno al fuoco, dopo una giornata in parete, a scambiarci storie con i compagni di cordata.