Nine Lives

Robert Mads Anderson is an elite mountaineer with a solitary goal: to conquer Everest. After nearly getting killed on his first expedition, he led a team up a new route on the Kangshung Face without oxygen or Sherpa support, climbed solo on the remote North Face, and finally guided a team to the top of the world.

Incorporating a who’s who of internationally recognised climbers, including Stephen Venables, Reinhold Messner and Chris Bonington, Nine Lives traces the story of Everest, from the big, nationally supported expeditions of the 1980s; through the small teams forging new routes and climbing solo; to the commercially guided expeditions of today.

Set against the majestic backdrop of the world’s tallest peak, Anderson’s nine Everest expeditions over eighteen years define what truly drives a human being to the greatest of heights. With a foreword by Peter Hillary and 32 pages of colour photography, in Nine Lives Robert Mads Anderson offers his personal account of the world’s highest mountain.

Author Biography

Robert Mads Anderson is a mountaineer, expedition leader and author. In 1988, he led the ascent of a new route on the Kangshung Face of Everest, climbing without Sherpas or oxygen, before going on to climb the Seven Summits, solo. In addition to climbing Everest twice over the course of nine expeditions, he has also reached the summits of Himalayan giants Cho Oyu, Shishapangma and Makalu. He is the author of 7 Summits Solo, To Everest via Antarctica and Antonovs over the Arctic: Flying to the North Pole in Russian Biplanes, and he lectures widely, from the Smithsonian, Washington DC, to the annual Explorers Club dinner in New York City. When not on expedition, he lives in Manchester.