Over the Edge

A true story of kidnap and escape of 4 climbers in the mountains of Central
Asia

Before dawn on August 12, 2000, four of America’s best young rock climbers –
the oldest of them only 25 – were asleep in their portaledges high on the
Yellow Wall in the Pamir-Alai mountain range of Kyrgyzstan. At daybreak, they
would be kidnapped at gunpoint by fanatical militants of the Islamic Movement
of Uzbekistan, which operates out of secret bases in Tajikistan and
Afghanistan and is linked to Al Qaeda. The kidnappers, themselves barely out
of their teens, intended to use their hostages as human shields and for ransom
money as they moved across Kyrgyzstan. They hid the climbers by day and
marched them by night through freezing, treacherous mountain terrain, with
little food, no clean water, and the constant threat of execution.

The four climbers — Tommy Caldwell, Beth Rodden, Jason ‹Singer› Smith, and
John Dickey – would see a fellow hostage, a Kyrgyz soldier, executed before
their eyes. And in a remarkable life-and-death crucible over six terrifying
days, they would be forced to choose between saving their own lives and
committing an act none of them thought they ever could.

In Over the Edge, the climbers reveal the complete story of their nightmarish
ordeal to journalist and climber Greg Child. With riveting details, Child re-
creates the entire hour-by-hour drama, from the first ricocheting bullets to
the climatic decision that gains them their freedom. Set in a region rife with
narcotics and terrorism, this is a compelling story about loyalty and the will
to survive. What continues to make it relevant today, 15 years after the
events took place, is the geopolitical context – the incident happened,
eerily, on the eve of 9-/11; the fact that at least two of the four climbers
continue to be prominent in the sport; and the details incorporated into the
story around the media hype and controversy regarding the climbers and their
story.

Not available in over ten years, this new edition is the first time in
paperback and has a new afterword by the author.