Facebook X YouTube Instagram Pinterest NetGalley
Google Books previews are unavailable because you have chosen to turn off third party cookies for enhanced content. Visit our cookies page to review your cookie settings.

One Man's Climb: A Journey of Trauma, Tragedy and Triumph on K2 (Paperback)

Colour Books Military > Biographies > Military Biographies P&S History > Explorers & Adventurers > K2

By Adrian Hayes, Foreword by Sir Ranulph Fiennes
Imprint: Pen & Sword History
Pages: 234
Illustrations: 25 colour illustrations
ISBN: 9781526751652
Published: 30th May 2019
Last Released: 6th December 2019

in_stock

£9.09 was £12.99

You save £3.90 (30%)


National publicity!

'British explorer Adrain Hayes recalls last moments with Kiwis who died on K2', via NZ Herald

'Gripping new book shares on man's extraordinary attempt to conquer the world's second tallest mountain', via Mail Online

You'll be £9.09 closer to your next £10.00 credit when you purchase One Man's Climb: A Journey of Trauma, Tragedy and Triumph on K2. What's this?
+£4.50 UK Delivery or free UK delivery if order is over £40
(click here for international delivery rates)

Order within the next 5 hours, 34 minutes to get your order processed the next working day!

Need a currency converter? Check XE.com for live rates

Other formats available Price
One Man's Climb: A Journey of… Hardback Add to Basket £13.99
One Man's Climb: A Journey of… ePub (10.0 MB) Add to Basket £4.99


A deeply moving story of the beauty and brutality of life, and death, on the world’s most unpredictable and perilous mountain.

Sitting just lower than Everest at 8,611 metres above sea level on the China–Pakistan border, the Savage Mountain claims the lives of even the most experienced climbers. Alongside severe altitude, the weather is notoriously volatile and the climb relentlessly steep. A staggering one in four attempts result in death on the mountain.

In One Man’s Climb, Adrian Hayes details an intensely personal account of his attempts to climb K2 – first in 2013 and again in 2014. Absorbing and self-reflective, his journey is as much a story of climbing a mountain as it is a testament to the human spirit’s ability to endure.

Interview with Adrian Hayes conducted by Rob Kemp as featured by

Outdoor Fitness, September 2019

Featured in

New York Daily March 2019

For those of us who regard a trudge up Table Mountain as an achievement, this is a fascinating account of a truly heroic endeavour, and is well worth the read.

Read the full review here

The Books Page

British explorer Adrian Hayes recalls last moments with Kiwis who died on K2

Read the article here

New Zealand Herald, March 2019

Article 'One Man's Climb' as featured by

Hampshire Life, March 2019 – words by Rebecca Fletcher

As featured in

Daily Mail

Included in 'Media Mash' feature

Adventure Travel, January 2019

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Well written, inspiring and enjoyable.
I’m not much of a reader – never have been, but every now and then I get drawn to a book and feel compelled to read it. This was one of them. I am not a mountaineer, although always fancied myself as a bit of a Lara Croft in my imagination. However, this was one book I could not put down once begun and, believe me, that is a huge testimonial from someone who is bordering on attention deficit – oh look a squirrel! Anyway, I felt like I was on the journey of a lifetime with Adrian Hayes, to his attempted summit of K2 in 2013 and then his success of 2014 and I followed the roller coaster of emotions with him, chapter by chapter. Adrian is clearly one of life’s achievers, ultra-focussed and born to stretch the boundaries of life and use his experiences to inspire others. Tears rolled down my cheeks at the initial blessing from the Lama, and I roared with laughter many other times with his brutal honesty at the trials and tribulations of mountaineering life. One thing is for sure, Adrian is a first-class writer as once I began this book, despite some technicality in places for a non-mountaineering person, I was totally engaged until I finished it and, as with all good books, I was disappointed when it came to an end. Its brutal honesty and scenery painting, left me in no doubt of the perils of such a feat and conversely the sheer magnitude of the achievement in pushing through the physical, mental and emotional boundaries most of us mere mortals could never even imagine. The tragedy and reality of losing friends on the perilous and ruthless majesty of K2, to leaving your cherished children behind not knowing if you will ever see them again, left me wondering if any fictional novel could take me on quite the same journey as he did. I highly recommend this book. Well written, inspiring and enjoyable.

Amazon Customer

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Five star adventure!

There are those who seek to achieve great things and seek another kind of life. Adrian is one of these individuals. In his beautifully written book he takes us on an emotional journey to face all the challenges of climbing K2. An amazing story and a ' must read.'

Amazon Customer

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thought provoking and brilliant.

It's a thought provoking book about one man's physical and spiritual journey of climbing a mountain. It's inspiring, heart-warming and funny. And it shows what matters really in life when one looks down from the peak of one of the 8000ers.

Amazon Customer

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Stunned

Deeply touching and absorbing adventure story! Thought provoking, inspiring and amusing at times! Loved the author's life lessons, jokes and humour.

Amazon Customer

Interview article conducted by Hilary Porter as featured by

He [Adrian] is quite rightly proud of his incredible achievement which makes for extraordinary reading and cannot be underestimated.

Hampshire Living, December 2018

As interviewed by

Talk Radio Europe, 2/11/18 with Bill Padley

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, when writing in this volume’s Forward, opines that ‘One Man’s Climb is a remarkably honest and transparent account of the challenges; both externally and internally, that anyone who dares to take it on experiences’. It is an accurate summation of the volume, from one who has, indeed, experienced many of the ‘challenges’ described within it... Readers with an interest in mountain climbing may also find it informative, while psychologists and those in similar professions may find its descriptions of human reactions in and to unusual conditions, worthy of their attention.

Keith Rimmer, NZ Crown Mines

A greatly enlightening and reflective book that is receiving rave reviews to date.

New Milton Advertiser, 9th November 2018

Featured in The Malestrom

One Man’s Climb – Adrian Hayes on His Journey to Summit K2 See the full interview here

The Malestrom

Click here to listen to Adrian's interview

NOTE: set cursor to 38:43

BBC Radio Solent with presenter Nick Girdler
YouTube videos are unavailable because you have chosen to turn off third party cookies for enhanced content. Visit our cookies page to review your cookie settings.
More titles by Adrian Hayes

Other titles in Pen & Sword History...