This adventure story is also the biography of Heinrich Harrer, already a famous mountaineer and Olympic ski champion when he was caught by the outbreak of the World War II while climbing in the Himalayas.;Being an Austrian he was interned in India but succeeded in escaping into Tibet. After a series of experiences in a country never before crossed by a Westerner he reached the forbidden city of Lhasa. He stayed there for seven years, learned the language and acquired an understanding of Tibet and the Tibetans.;He became the friend and tutor of the young Dalai Lama and finally accompanied him into India when he was put to flight by the Red Chinese invasion.;As a mountaineer Heinrich Harrer was a member of the party which successfully ascended the North Wall of the Eiger in 1938.

A classic of mountaineering literature, The White Spider tells the story of the harrowing first ascent of the Eiger's North Wall, one of the most legendary and terrifying climbs in recorded history.Heinrich Herrer, author of Seven Years in Tibet, was a member of the four-man party that scaled the previously untouchable North Wall of the Eiger in 1938. In The White Spider, Herrer tells the story of this harrowing first ascent, a gripping first-hand account of daring and resilience in the high Swiss Alps.Moving from his own amazing experiences to the numerous later attempts to replicate his team's achievements (some tragic failures, others spectacular successes), Herrer writes as well as he climbs, drawing the reader into a beguiling story of courage, strength and a confidence always on the edge of hubris.A new introduction by Joe Simpson, author of the acclaimed mountaineering epic Touching the Void, reminds us of the enduring relevance of this absolute classic.

The full autobiography of one of the world's most well known adventurers. Heinrich Harrer, traveller, explorer and mountaineer led one of the most extraordinary lives of the twentieth century. He famously spent Seven Years in Tibet (published in 1953 and made into the film starring Brad Pitt in 1997) and was tutor, mentor and a lifelong friend of the Dalai Lama. He made the first ascent of the notorious North Face of the Eiger (told in his book The White Spider) and summited unclimbed peaks in Alaska, the Himalaya and South America. In this dramatic autobiography he brings to life all of his adventures, from growing up in a small mountain village in Carinthia, to the early days of climbing in the Alps, his success on the Eiger in 1938, through his time in Tibet, to his later expeditions. Looking back in his 90's on a long life full of adventures, Harrer candidly recounts his meeting with Adolf Hitler and his flirtation with the Nazi regime in the late 1930's. He reviews his time in Tibet and reveals many never before disclosed details.He chronicles his later expeditions that include the first ascent of Carstenz Pyramid in New Guinea, exploration of the Amazon with King Leopold III of Belgium and ethnological research and travels to remote parts of Asia, South America and Africa. This book brings to life his incredible life, much of which is little known outside his standout achievements.

Sky Burial is the remarkable story of a young American physician who witnesses the largest independence demonstrations in Lhasa since China entered Tibet in 1949. After graduating from medical school, Blake Kerr hitch-hiked across the Tibetan Plateau with a college friend, John Ackerly, and trekked as high as they could on the Tibetan side of Everest in sneakers. Before returning to Lhasa, there were glimpses of China's occupation: Tibetan children unable to learn Tibetan in Chinese schools; Buddhist monks at monasteries who were "tour guides in a museum;" and Tibetans in cities outnumbered by a majority of Chinese immigrants. On October 1st 1987, China's National Day, monks chanting "Free Tibet" prompted thousands of Tibetans to demonstrate. Dr. Kerr documented 12 deaths when Chinese police opened fire on unarmed Tibetan men, women and children. Sneaking out to treat the wounded who hid in their homes and monasteries, Dr. Kerr also met the victims of torture and forced sterilization. After being arrested and escaping to Kathmandu, Dr. Kerr's and Mr. Ackerly's testimony of the riots in Lhasa led to international condemnation of China's crackdown in Tibet. Both men have since become activists committed to ending China's military occupation of Tibet. Mr. Ackerly worked as president of the International Campaign for Tibet for 20 years. Dr. Kerr has journeyed to Tibetan refugee camps in India, and conducted on site investigations in Tibet of China's torture of Tibetan political prisoners, and China's National Family Planning Policy of coerced abortion, sterilization and infanticide. Sky Burial's unprecedented, first-hand accounts of Tibetans struggling for freedom in their Land of Snows articulates why many Tibetans fear that the Chinese are trying to end their race.

Mrs. Dorje Yuthok's frank and fascinating account of life in upper-class Lhasa before the Chinese occupation is also a quiet, dignified description of a noblewoman's status in the family and the community. She moved in the highest government circles--both her father and her husband were cabinet ministers, and her brother served as prime minister. Yet her outlook on life is grounded in the Buddhist practice she learned as a close disciple of well-known lamas and spiritual teachers.

The astonishing adventure classic about life in Tibet just before the Chinese Communist takeover is now repackaged for a new generation of readers.
In this vivid memoir that has sold millions of copies worldwide, Heinrich Harrer recounts his adventures as one of the first Europeans ever to enter Tibet and encounter the Dalai Lama.