
Conquistadors of the Useless
From the Alps to Annapurna
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Narrated by:
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Nigel Patterson
About this listen
Frenchman Lionel Terray is one of mountaineering history's greatest alpinists, and his autobiography, Conquistadors of the Useless, stands among the "100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time", according to National Geographic Adventure magazine. Following World War II, when France desperately needed successes to heal its wounds, Terray emerged as a national hero, conquering summits atop the planet's highest mountains.
This biography of Lionel Terry is filled with first-time feats and acts of bravery in the face of unspeakable odds. He climbed with legends such as Maurice Herzog, Gaston Rebuffat, and Louis Lachenal. He made first ascents in the Alps, Alaska, the Andes, and the Himalaya. Terray's gripping story captures the energy of an optimistic world shaking off the restraints of war and austerity. It's a mountaineering classic.
©1961 Editions Gallimard (P)2021 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Superb
- By Harri on 04-18-19
By: Steve House, and others
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Left for Dead
- My Journey Home from Everest
- By: Beck Weathers, Stephen G. Michaud
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1996, Beck Weathers and a climbing team pushed toward the summit of Mount Everest. Then a storm exploded on the mountain, ripping the team to shreds, forcing brave men to scratch and crawl for their lives. In this powerful memoir, Weathers describes not only his escape from hypothermia and the murderous storm that killed eight climbers but the journey of his life. This is the story of a man's route to a dangerous sport and a fateful expedition, as well as the road of recovery he has traveled since.
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Bait-and-switch
- By Reggie on 05-07-19
By: Beck Weathers, and others
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The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne
- The Outlaws, Book 1
- By: Jonathan Stroud
- Narrated by: Sophie Aldred
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Scarlett McCain is a shoot-first ask-questions-later kind of outlaw. She scrapes by on bank heists, her wits - and never looking back. She’s on the run from her latest crime when she comes across Albert Browne. He is the sole survivor of a horrific accident, and against her better judgement, Scarlett agrees to guide him to safety.
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Missing Originality
- By Joki on 12-25-21
By: Jonathan Stroud
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Limits of the Known
- By: David Roberts
- Narrated by: David Chandler
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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David Roberts, "veteran mountain climber and chronicler of adventures" (Washington Post), has spent his career documenting voyages to the most extreme landscapes on earth. In Limits of the Known, he reflects on humanity's - and his own - relationship to extreme risk. Part memoir and part history, this book tries to make sense of why so many have committed their lives to the desperate pursuit of adventure.
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Superlative book by an author I have grown to love
- By Darlene H. Moak on 01-11-25
By: David Roberts
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A Voyage for Madmen
- By: Peter Nichols
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1968, nine sailors set off on the most daring race ever held: to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe nonstop. It was a feat that had never been accomplished and one that would forever change the face of sailing. Ten months later, only one of the nine men would cross the finish line and earn fame, wealth, and glory. For the others, the reward was madness, failure, and death. In this extraordinary book, Peter Nichols chronicles a contest of the individual against the sea, waged at a time before cell phones and electronic positioning systems.
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Not Awesome
- By Shaun G. on 04-23-19
By: Peter Nichols
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A Life on the Edge
- Memoirs of Everest and Beyond
- By: Jim Whittaker
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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In May of 1963, Seattle mountaineer Jim Whittaker stepped into world history by becoming the first American to summit Mount Everest. More than 50 years later, he is still regarded as a seminal figure in North American mountaineering, as well as an astute businessman who helped create the outdoor recreation industry. A Life on the Edge: Memoirs of Everest and Beyond is Jim's courageous, no-punches-pulled autobiography and a look at a peripatetic, sometimes difficult life.
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Such a great book
- By Sherry Wood on 01-15-21
By: Jim Whittaker
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When You Find My Body
- The Disappearance of Geraldine Largay on the Appalachian Trail
- By: D. Dauphinee
- Narrated by: Traci Odom
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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When Geraldine "Gerry" Largay first went missing on the Appalachian Trail in remote western Maine in 2013, the people of Maine were wrought with concern. When she was not found, the family, the wardens, and the Navy personnel who searched for her were devastated. The Maine Warden Service continued to follow leads for more than a year. They never completely gave up the search. Two years after her disappearance, her bones and scattered possessions were found by chance by two surveyors.
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Sincere and Respectful
- By Bethany Carter on 07-30-19
By: D. Dauphinee
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Mountains of the Mind
- Adventures in Reaching the Summit
- By: Robert Macfarlane
- Narrated by: James A. Gillies
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Combining accounts of legendary mountain ascents with vivid descriptions of his own forays into wild, high landscapes, Robert Macfarlane reveals how the mystery of the world's highest places has come to grip the Western imagination - and perennially draws legions of adventurers up the most perilous slopes. His story begins three centuries ago, when mountains were feared as the forbidding abodes of dragons and other mysterious beasts.
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Pretentious Narrator
- By karla arens on 09-07-20
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Coming Back Alive
- The True Story of the Most Harrowing Search and Rescue Mission Ever Attempted on Alaska's High Seas
- By: Spike Walker
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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When the fishing vessel La Conte sinks suddenly at night in 100-mile-per-hour winds and record 90-foot seas during a savage storm in January 1998, her five crewmen are left to drift without a life raft in the freezing Alaskan waters and survive as best they can. One hundred fifty miles away, in Sitka, Alaska, an H-60 Jayhawk helicopter lifts off from America's most remote Coast Guard base in the hopes of tracking down an anonymous Mayday signal. A fisherman's worst nightmare has become a Coast Guard crew's desperate mission.
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Outstanding Story and Performance
- By Stephen Bowlby on 05-22-18
By: Spike Walker
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Surviving the Extremes
- A Doctor's Journey to the Limits of Human Endurance
- By: Kenneth Kamler MD
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Physiological constraints confine our bodies to less than one-fifth of the earth's surface. Beyond that fraction lie the extremes. What happens when we go to them? Dr. Kenneth Kamler has spent years observing exactly what happens. A vice president of the legendary Explorers Club, he has climbed, dived, sledded, floated, and trekked through some of the most treacherous and remote regions in the world. A consultant for NASA, Yale University, and the National Geographic Society, he has explored undersea caves, crossed the frozen Antarctic wastelands, and more.
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boring narrator
- By Dok Plein on 05-27-25
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Ascent into Hell
- By: Fergus White
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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There is but one aim: the summit, the summit of Mount Everest. What starts with a trouble-free trek into the Nepalese highlands explodes into a gripping tale of hardship, peril, and adversity. Pushed beyond their physical and mental limits, climbers drop by the wayside. Their primal instincts for survival battle with their dogged resolve to drag themselves to the top of the world. But the focus remains: battle to the summit, and if successful, somehow get back down again.
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Chocolate Bars and Pee
- By Amazon Customer on 08-26-20
By: Fergus White
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Forever on the Mountain
- The Truth Behind One of Mountaineering's Most Controversial and Mysterious Disasters
- By: James M. Tabor
- Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne
- Length: 16 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1967, seven young men, members of a twelve-man expedition led by twenty-four-year-old Joe Wilcox, were stranded at 20,000 feet on Alaska's Mount McKinley in a vicious Arctic storm. Ten days passed while the storm raged, yet no rescue was mounted. All seven perished in what remains the most tragic expedition in American climbing history.
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Very Well-Researched and Written
- By Andrei Assa on 06-08-25
By: James M. Tabor
A must read for all mountaineers
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Superb
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Awe Inspiring masterpiece. Brilliant Reading.
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A Classic!
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best mountaineering book
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Terray came of age when climbing transitioned from fragile hemp rope and clod-hopper nail boots to modern technology and techniques, as such, he was first ascent to many climbs or nearly so. They were superstars in the days after the war doing things people thought insane and impossible, the book gives a sense of the fraternity of climbers in the Alps during the 40s and 50s. Remember 'The Eiger Sanction'? Well that sort of time period and place is what this concerns but for real. This is a long book and the early sections are not so great, but once he started on the Big Walls it takes off. The interlude of WWII is interesting as he sneaks up on Germans from mountain tops they didn't think anyone could climb, only to have his gun freeze! So many stories. This is a must read for climbers, NatGeo completionists, or really anyone who likes good stories, Terray is a likeable, down to earth character,
Conquistadors of the Useless
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Adventure and history perfectly united
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Worth the time
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Fantastic reading & narrative
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Great adventure, auto biography
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