In one of mountaineering`s great-st adventure stories, Thomas Hombein tells of his and Willi Unsoeld`s dramatic first ascent of Everest`s West Ridge -- a route that had been dismissed as hopeless by all previous expeditions. Part of the first successful American expedition, Hombein and Unsoeld ascended beyond the point of no return to make the summit, and were then forced to bivouac at 28,000 feet without food, shelter, or oxygen in what is one of mountaineering`s most compelling survival stories.