The Last Blue Mountain – The great Karakorum climbing tragedy

The Last Blue Mountain by Ralph Barker is the heart-rending true story of the
1957 expedition to Mount Haramosh in the Karakoram range in Pakistan. With the
summit beyond reach, four young climbers are about to return to camp.

Their brief pause to enjoy the view and take photographs is interrupted by an
avalanche which sweeps Bernard Jillott and John Emery hundreds of feet down
the mountain into a snow basin. Miraculously, they both survive the fall. Rae
Culbert and Tony Streather risk their own lives to rescue their friends, only
to become stranded alongside them.

The group’s efforts to return to safety are increasingly desperate, hampered
by injury, exhaustion and the loss of vital climbing gear. Against the odds,
Jillott and Emery manage to climb out of the snow basin and head for camp,
hoping to reach food, water and assistance in time to save themselves and
their companions from an icy grave. But another cruel twist of fate awaits
them.

An acclaimed mountaineering classic in the same genre as Joe Simpson’s
Touching the Void, The Last Blue Mountain is an epic tale of friendship and
fortitude in the face of tragedy.