This book was worth the read for the excerpt from Sir Edmund Hillary alone! Add in other fascinating essays - a chapter from Peter Matthiessen's poetic <i>The Snow Leopard</i>, a poignant and sad essay about life in a Sherpa village and the 2014 avalanche in the Khumbu Icefall, a rollicking recounting from Mark Twain of an adventure riding in a train cart from Darjeeling, a curious tale about tracks of a possible Yeti - and this collection had some absolute gems. The historic accounts from white men were pretty cringe-worthy (and FYI, Alistair Crowley was a giant asshole), and some of the other essays were a little hard to follow as they talked about different locations without giving much context or background about them. But overall, a lovely read.