--- product_id: 12475625 title: "High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed" price: "$61.06" currency: USD in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.us/products/12475625-high-crimes-the-fate-of-everest-in-an-age-greed store_origin: US region: United States of America --- # High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed **Price:** $61.06 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed - **How much does it cost?** $61.06 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.us](https://www.desertcart.us/products/12475625-high-crimes-the-fate-of-everest-in-an-age-greed) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description High Crimes is journalist Michael Kodas's gripping account of life on top of the world—where man is every bit as deadly as Mother Nature. "Well written, and as deftly plotted as the finest mystery novel, Kodas brings to life a disturbing picture of society at high altitude." ― Austin Chronicle In the years following the publication of Into Thin Air , much has changed on Mount Everest. Among all the books documenting the glorious adventures in mountains around the world, none details how the recent infusion of wealthy climbers is drawing crime to the highest place on the planet. The change is caused both by a tremendous boom in traffic, and a new class of parasitic and predatory adventurer. It's likely that Jon Krakauer would not recognize the camps that he visited on Mount Everest almost a decade ago. This book takes readers on a harrowing tour of the criminal underworld on the slopes of the world's most majestic mountain. High Crimes describes two major expeditions: the tragic story of Nils Antezana, a climber who died on Everest after he was abandoned by his guide; as well as the author's own story of his participation in the Connecticut Everest Expedition, guided by George Dijmarescu and his wife and climbing partner, Lhakpa Sherpa. Dijmarescu, who at first seemed well-intentioned and charming, turned increasingly hostile to his own wife, as well as to the author and the other women on the team. By the end of the expedition, the three women could not travel unaccompanied in base camp due to the threat of violence. Those that tried to stand against the violence and theft found that the worst of the intimidation had followed them home to Connecticut. Beatings, thefts, drugs, prostitution, coercion, threats, and abandonment on the highest slopes of Everest and other mountains have become the rule rather than the exception. Kodas describes many such experiences, and explores the larger issues these stories raise with thriller-like intensity. Review: High altitude attitude - After reading this book, it's clear the armchair adventurers who have always dreamed of Everest should perhaps concentrate on more pedestrian, less-life-threatening pursuits - say, helicopter skiing, or extreme whitewater rafting; even high-altitude hang-gliding. Mountain climbing would appear, in this day and age, to be fit only for canny professionals. Tyros need not apply, on pain, literally, of death. I heard the author of this book, Michael Kodas, being interviewed on National Public Radio, a lightning rod for me in deciding on literary works; if NPR thinks it's worthy of note, then I usually will read whatever book is being discussed. It helped that the author seemed well-informed, at pains to be fair to all concerned, even restrained in his answers; it intrigued me all the more. I can't recall the last time I bought a book, hardbound, right at publication. This was a worthy read. I will never understand what it is that drives people to WANT to crawl up the face of a mountain, literally hanging in space, aware that they are courting frostbite, storms, failure, and death, from the capricious mountain they yearn to conquer. As it turns out, the mountain - Everest - is almost the least of their worries. Michael Kodas, a journalist for the Hartford Courant, and several other Connecticut people collaborate with a successful climber of Everest to make an attempt at the summit of the one mountain every mountaineer hungers to put on their resume. None of them, apparently, are rank amateurs; the nominal leaders of the party have achieved the summit several times already. But what they are all totally unaware of is the level of humanity to which the base camps has stooped in the past twenty years. The book chronicles two parallel climbs, on opposite sides of the mountain; Mr Kodas's party, and another party fully funded by a wealthy transplanted Bolivian doctor from the Washington, DC area. There is pure tragedy in the doctor's party; he has hired a guide whose credentials he trusts, who turns out to be the lowest sort of glory hound. Mr Kodas's party, not even starting out with all members on a level footing, descends into a bickering, acrimonious mess, with saboutage, missing equipment, and cruelty thrown into the mix. Apparently it has devolved into an every-man-for-himself mindset on Everest over the years. The climbers - who, just because they can afford to climb, doesn't mean they should - are the chief source of revenue for the Sherpas who are native to the area, and those poor people can perhaps be somewhat forgiven in taking what advantage they are offered by the advent of a lot of ill-prepared, difficult-to-deal-with Westerners, whose whole goal is summit. The stories of them routinely bypassing dying climbers who might, with intervention, be saved, chilled me to the bone. Theft of gear and saboutage of equipment are rampant. The most chilling story in the book was of a climber, having achieved the summit, rappelling down to one of the camps and looking behind him just in time to see that the rappel rope ends just below where he is, over a fearsome void; the rest, along with the anchors, has been stolen. His perilous primitive climb down the rest of the route gave me goose pimples. Most of the book seesaws between the tale of the doctor, left to die by an unscrupulous guide, and the doctor's daughter's subsequent and dogged efforts to discredit the guide out of ever doing the same thing to someone else; and Mr Kodas's trials with the fractious and foreboding leader of his expedition. I really think I would have left far sooner than Mr Kodas; the leader sounds unhinged at best, and at worst downright criminal, threatening the lives of those in disagreement with him, not to mention throwing in some domestic abuse, as he assaults his wife in front of everybody. The Base Camps on Everest would appear to be very unpleasant places, no better than the Wild West of the 1880s; and Mr Kodas does a good job of demystifying Kathmandu as well, a place I had long held in my mind as full of peace, harmony, and followers of the Dalai Lama, and which instead appears to be little better than a grimy little border town on the frontier. I do not read books very fast, but I zipped through this one; someone else commented that they had a hard time remembering who was who, but if you keep in mind what storyline you are following - aside from the very interesting side stories, of which there are many - it isn't hard; and this is a heckuva good read. Review: Thought Provoking & Sad - I may be on the fringe of popular opinion here but I find it difficult to feel sorry for Dr. Antezana and his fate. I think his guide Gustavo has serious psychological issues and needs to be be dealt with legally, but seriously......Dr. Antezana made some very poor choices. He was suspicious, distrustful of Gustavo and unhappy with his level of support but ignored all of his intuition and climbed anyway. As an athlete (but not an extreme one) I understand how you can be driven toward an objective and blind to ominous feelings and in that regard, I'm empathetic. Nonetheless, the victim must accept the responsibility for being foolish. Climbing Everest is not a walk in the park! I feel badly for the people who felt guilty because they didn't say something to encourage Dr. Antezana not to climb; thinking they could have avoided his fate. To me, no one could have avoided his fate but himself. He was not an 18 year old giving into peer pressure, he was a 69 year old, intelligent, successful man who made a deadly choice to climb Everest. All the other examples of poor behavior and bad choices in this book just means there were more foolish people with money and time on their hands who like to participate in extreme sports (snowboarding down Everest, really?). And for each of them, there was someone to sell them the experience based on what they could afford. What is truly sad is that this pathetic side of humankind overshadows the effort serious climbers take to prepare and train for this phenomenal endeavor; the climbers who give up on the dream to help another in distress and/or risk their life for another. This author gave us the darkside. This book is not a positive story of human triumph over adversity; it's a painful and sad story of some ugly human ambition and risk taking, which will continue so long as people push the limits of physical abilities to try to tempt fate. Some folks will "jump on the bandwagon" of the latest extreme craze and end up dead because they will not be prepared and will foolishly put their trust in the untrustworthy just so they can say they did it! Good book, sad book. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #268,902 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #13 in Mountain Ecology #65 in Mountain Climbing #407 in Traveler & Explorer Biographies | | Customer Reviews | 4.1 out of 5 stars 621 Reviews | ## Images ![High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71UaY81aeuL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ High altitude attitude *by F***) on February 14, 2008* After reading this book, it's clear the armchair adventurers who have always dreamed of Everest should perhaps concentrate on more pedestrian, less-life-threatening pursuits - say, helicopter skiing, or extreme whitewater rafting; even high-altitude hang-gliding. Mountain climbing would appear, in this day and age, to be fit only for canny professionals. Tyros need not apply, on pain, literally, of death. I heard the author of this book, Michael Kodas, being interviewed on National Public Radio, a lightning rod for me in deciding on literary works; if NPR thinks it's worthy of note, then I usually will read whatever book is being discussed. It helped that the author seemed well-informed, at pains to be fair to all concerned, even restrained in his answers; it intrigued me all the more. I can't recall the last time I bought a book, hardbound, right at publication. This was a worthy read. I will never understand what it is that drives people to WANT to crawl up the face of a mountain, literally hanging in space, aware that they are courting frostbite, storms, failure, and death, from the capricious mountain they yearn to conquer. As it turns out, the mountain - Everest - is almost the least of their worries. Michael Kodas, a journalist for the Hartford Courant, and several other Connecticut people collaborate with a successful climber of Everest to make an attempt at the summit of the one mountain every mountaineer hungers to put on their resume. None of them, apparently, are rank amateurs; the nominal leaders of the party have achieved the summit several times already. But what they are all totally unaware of is the level of humanity to which the base camps has stooped in the past twenty years. The book chronicles two parallel climbs, on opposite sides of the mountain; Mr Kodas's party, and another party fully funded by a wealthy transplanted Bolivian doctor from the Washington, DC area. There is pure tragedy in the doctor's party; he has hired a guide whose credentials he trusts, who turns out to be the lowest sort of glory hound. Mr Kodas's party, not even starting out with all members on a level footing, descends into a bickering, acrimonious mess, with saboutage, missing equipment, and cruelty thrown into the mix. Apparently it has devolved into an every-man-for-himself mindset on Everest over the years. The climbers - who, just because they can afford to climb, doesn't mean they should - are the chief source of revenue for the Sherpas who are native to the area, and those poor people can perhaps be somewhat forgiven in taking what advantage they are offered by the advent of a lot of ill-prepared, difficult-to-deal-with Westerners, whose whole goal is summit. The stories of them routinely bypassing dying climbers who might, with intervention, be saved, chilled me to the bone. Theft of gear and saboutage of equipment are rampant. The most chilling story in the book was of a climber, having achieved the summit, rappelling down to one of the camps and looking behind him just in time to see that the rappel rope ends just below where he is, over a fearsome void; the rest, along with the anchors, has been stolen. His perilous primitive climb down the rest of the route gave me goose pimples. Most of the book seesaws between the tale of the doctor, left to die by an unscrupulous guide, and the doctor's daughter's subsequent and dogged efforts to discredit the guide out of ever doing the same thing to someone else; and Mr Kodas's trials with the fractious and foreboding leader of his expedition. I really think I would have left far sooner than Mr Kodas; the leader sounds unhinged at best, and at worst downright criminal, threatening the lives of those in disagreement with him, not to mention throwing in some domestic abuse, as he assaults his wife in front of everybody. The Base Camps on Everest would appear to be very unpleasant places, no better than the Wild West of the 1880s; and Mr Kodas does a good job of demystifying Kathmandu as well, a place I had long held in my mind as full of peace, harmony, and followers of the Dalai Lama, and which instead appears to be little better than a grimy little border town on the frontier. I do not read books very fast, but I zipped through this one; someone else commented that they had a hard time remembering who was who, but if you keep in mind what storyline you are following - aside from the very interesting side stories, of which there are many - it isn't hard; and this is a heckuva good read. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thought Provoking & Sad *by B***A on December 9, 2012* I may be on the fringe of popular opinion here but I find it difficult to feel sorry for Dr. Antezana and his fate. I think his guide Gustavo has serious psychological issues and needs to be be dealt with legally, but seriously......Dr. Antezana made some very poor choices. He was suspicious, distrustful of Gustavo and unhappy with his level of support but ignored all of his intuition and climbed anyway. As an athlete (but not an extreme one) I understand how you can be driven toward an objective and blind to ominous feelings and in that regard, I'm empathetic. Nonetheless, the victim must accept the responsibility for being foolish. Climbing Everest is not a walk in the park! I feel badly for the people who felt guilty because they didn't say something to encourage Dr. Antezana not to climb; thinking they could have avoided his fate. To me, no one could have avoided his fate but himself. He was not an 18 year old giving into peer pressure, he was a 69 year old, intelligent, successful man who made a deadly choice to climb Everest. All the other examples of poor behavior and bad choices in this book just means there were more foolish people with money and time on their hands who like to participate in extreme sports (snowboarding down Everest, really?). And for each of them, there was someone to sell them the experience based on what they could afford. What is truly sad is that this pathetic side of humankind overshadows the effort serious climbers take to prepare and train for this phenomenal endeavor; the climbers who give up on the dream to help another in distress and/or risk their life for another. This author gave us the darkside. This book is not a positive story of human triumph over adversity; it's a painful and sad story of some ugly human ambition and risk taking, which will continue so long as people push the limits of physical abilities to try to tempt fate. Some folks will "jump on the bandwagon" of the latest extreme craze and end up dead because they will not be prepared and will foolishly put their trust in the untrustworthy just so they can say they did it! Good book, sad book. ### ⭐⭐⭐ Don't Do High Crimes if You Don't Have the Time! *by J***Y on February 3, 2012* The substance of this book is utterly riveting. The writing, however, is less compelling. Reading High Crimes, I often felt like a mountaineer on a journey to the top of Everest: it seemed endless, and half the time I couldn't figure out where I was going. One problem with the book permeates: Kodas is massively impressed that he actually went to Everest, and assumes his reader will be too. I was not. I was hungry for the story and resented having to scrabble through his pontifications about absolutely everyone who has ever set foot in the Himalayas. In short, Kodas, not the story, bored me. I think you can tell a lot about a book and its author by reading the acknowledgments. Kodas spends four pages thanking everyone he knows or has met in his entire life, including his wife, Carolyn, twice. I'm not trying to be unkind, but no one cares. What we care about is what the hell is going on on Everest. Has society gone mad, or is there another explanation for the insanity at the core of the tale? In his conclusions, with which the book is redolent, I believe Kodas misses the mark. Everest is a social hinterland. We have not explored the profound and obvious psychological toll it takes. We know a lot about the body and how it reacts to a dearth of oxygen, but what changes are wrought on the mind, spirit, soul and personality as a result? In service to the title, this issue was totally bypassed. Since I read this book, I have read a great deal about Everest. I am grateful to Kodas for opening me to the adventure, but unless you are a veteran, this book, like the mountain it describes, is not for the faint-hearted. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.us/products/12475625-high-crimes-the-fate-of-everest-in-an-age-greed](https://www.desertcart.us/products/12475625-high-crimes-the-fate-of-everest-in-an-age-greed) --- *Product available on Desertcart United States of America* *Store origin: US* *Last updated: 2026-07-19*