The Boldest Dream
The story of twelve who climbed Mount Everest
By Rick Ridgeway

Editorial Review:
The odds were against this group of mostly amateurs achieving the ultimate mountaineer's triumph--reaching the summit of Mount Everest, the world's highest peak. But two of the 12 climbers did so, including Chris Chandler, a doctor who lives on Vashon Island.

Ridgeway's book is a detailed account of the 1976 American Bicentennial Everest Expedition, of which he was a member. The Boldest Dream captures human stamina stretched to it's maximum on the trek to and climb up the mountain. The group carved a route through the dangerous icefall at Everest's base in four days, a time rivaling the record of any other expedition. They reached inside themselves for every ounce of fortitude, climbing above 18,000 feet for 44 days to place themselves and supplies in a position for a summit attempt. Then there was the triumph and jubilation as Chandler and Robert Cormack reached the top of Everest, followed by concern later that they may have perished as darkness enveloped them on the descent. But the expedition beat the odds - a majority of Everest expeditions lose at least one member.

The book is dedicated to the late Tacoma adventurer Ron Fear, with whom Chandler and Ridgeway shared a number of experiences. Ron Fear drowned in 1973 while rafting down a Peruvian river. - Jim Erickson