This is the epic account of the 1938 American Karakoram expedition to the summit of K2, a climb considered more treacherous and difficult than Everest. Equipped with the most "modern" gear available to them--wool mittens, canvas tents, and buckle-up, leather-strapped cramp-ons--this group of young men set out to surmount the insurmountable. A four-month-long journey would take them nearly 27,000 feet above sea level and hundreds of miles from any sign of humanity. With a shrewd wit and a survivalist"s sense of determination, four of the six climbers provide an intimate and gripping account of their adventures, evoking all the terror, excitement, and pure exaltation of standing, five miles high, on a part of the globe where no person has stood before.