Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer (1997)

1st edition hardcover of this most famous of mountaineering books. Krakauer (an accomplished independent climber), accepted an assignment for Outside magazine to go to Mount Everest in 1996 as a member of a guided team. Disaster struck: Krakauer's team and one other guided group were caught by a storm on their summit day - both head guides died, as did an associate guide, and two clients.  Krakauer, a skilled writer, had a front-row (although far from objective) view to the chaos that unfolded. He went home, wracked by trauma, and almost immediately wrote this book as a form of catharsis. Although it was the most successful mountaineering book of the last fifty years, Krakauer says going to Everest is the biggest regret in his life. Hardcover, 291 pages. A few b&w photos, woodcuts illustrate the chapter breaks, and two endpaper maps show the standard route up Everest.