Kropp, Goran; Lagercrantz, David

Ultimate High: My Solo Ascent of Everest [SIGNED BY KROPP AND JON KRAKAUER]

New York: Discovery Books, 1999.

First Edition. Hardcover. Fine in a Fine dust jacket. First printing, 227 pp, indexed, illustrated with color photos. Signed on the title page (with a very brief inscription) by Kropp, and also by Jon Krakauer, whose description of Kropp from Into Thin Air is quoted on the dust jacket. Laid in are the publisher's promotional materials, a photocopied review of the book from the New York Times, and a brochure from the 1999 Banff Mountain Book Festival, where Kropp was the featured speaker. Kropp cycled 7000 miles from Sweden to Katmandu before climbing Everest solo, without oxygen or Sherpa support. He was on the mountain as the disasters of the 1996 climbing season unfolded, and part of the book shares his perspective on those events. Early chapters provide a compelling account of the bicycle journey. Kropp was killed in a climbing accident in 2002, and signed copies of his book are quite scarce.