num_pages: 166
description: "It was coming right for us. Giant armchairs of green water ice and a great wave of smaller ice debris rumbling down the face itself. I grabbed hold of the axe and hammer in front of me, trying to leave only my pack and helmet vulnerable to what would very soon be on me . . . Ten strong men pulled on my legs, an angry crowd beat on my helmet and shouted in my ears. The rope slackened; I could hold no longer. Ice, rock, freefall; bounce, tumble in a storm of meteorites rushing across the heavens. An incredible silence . . . Ken was gone. Our friend was gone."These deeply-felt words convey the shock and despair the author felt after the avalanche had swept him and his three companions off the mountainside, killing one, leaving Peter badly injured and his two friends shocked and hurt. The attempt on Ama Dablam was the climax to Peter Hillary's year in Nepal. Earlier he had worked with his father Sir Edmund and a Himalayan Trust team on bridge and school hostel construction. This was followed by an attempt on unclimbed Kusum Kang and a monsoon jaunt with his Canadian girlfriend, Nena, in southern India. The story has zest, humour, romance and excitement as Peter describes his adventures with the observant eye of an enthusiastic young man. This, indeed, adds a new dimension to modern mountaineering, with rock music among the peaks. It shows Peter Hillary to be not only an accomplished adventurer, but also an author of considerable promise. Readers will eagerly await his future books."
language: English
title: A Sunny Day In The Himalayas
publisher: Hodder and Stoughton