Nanda Devi: The Tragic Expedition

In 1976, John Roskelley joined a joint American-Indian expedition to climb Nanda Devi, a 26,645-foot peak in India's remote northwest frontier. The team of 13 climbers tackled the unclimbed Northwest Face, a spectacular wall of rock buttresses and snow and ice fields, and overcame monsoon storms and massive avalanches down the face. Roskelley's narrative details the expedition conception to end, from selecting the team and traveling through northern India to climbing the route and all the controversies that developed with the team. What unfolded during this climb was a story of strong emotion, conflicting ambitions, death and victory, desire and regret.