As told with Peter Potterfield, award-winning mountaineering journalist, Viesturs narrates his successful quest to climb the 14 highest mountains of the world, those peaks above 8,000 meters in height. Viesturs and Potterfield take readers along on some of the successes and failures of Viesturs` quest, including five separate ascents of Mount Everest (the tallest peak in the world) and the sheer triumph of the final two summits. The riveting tales of Viesturs` mountaineering adventures are illustrated by Viesturs` own stunning photographs, between 85 and 100 images, a photographic collection that is the primary focus of the book, a collection that shows like never before the deadly beauty and haunting menace of the Himalaya. Captions explain each photograph and its setting, describing both the heartbreaking tragedy Viesturs has faced and the ineffable joy he has experienced while striving at the limits of human endurance.