Return to the Scene of the Climb

Return to the Scene of the Climb
By James T. Lester

A story of the first American Ascent of Everest and the subsequent search for the Sherpas who made it possible.
Edited by Alison Jean Lester and with forewords by Dr. Pasang Yangjee Sherpa and Tom Hornbein.

A dog-eared, typewritten manuscript about participation in the American Mount Everest Expedition (AMEE) of 1963. Notes detailing a two-month trip across the United States with the first Sherpa group ever to travel there. A seven-chapter manuscript about a return to the Himalayan region in 1998 to look up the Sherpa climbers from 1963 and document, in their own words, how their lives had changed.

These, along with 78 colour photographs from the various trips, are the elements of Return to the Scene of the Climb, the collected observations, of psychologist James T. Lester (1927-2010), whose experience on Everest took him not only all the way to Advance Base Camp but also along more roads, away from Nepal and back again, than anyone could have predicted.

Reviews and Praise

James T. Lester is one of the few persons who saw an expedition to Mount Everest for what it really is, and his craft of telling human stories with honesty and affection makes this book a timeless treasure.
Ankit Babu Adhikari & Pradeep Bashyal authors of SHERPA

Just as John Morris, a non-climber, was there in 1953 to chronicle Hillary and Tenzing and the British triumph on Everest, James Lester accompanied his countrymen in 1963, as Jim Whittaker became the first American to reach the summit of the world. Unlike Morris, a journalist on the trail of a scoop, Lester was there to study the men, seeking psychological insights in their mental and physical struggles. The diaries, notes, and commentary that make up this wonderful book offer both a unique portrait of the heroic climbers of 1963, and an astonishing opening to a time of innocence when reaching the top of Everest somehow seemed perfectly aligned with dreams to reach the surface of the moon.
Wade Davis, author of Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest

This is a wonderful look at one of the most under-appreciated elements of the adventure life: the way that these experiences can change the lives of everyone involved—especially those local peoples who too often stand in the shadows of adventure stories. It stands out as a unique, insightful, and remarkably compassionate contribution to mountain literature.
Geoff Powter, mountaineer, author of Strange and Dangerous Dreams

In this mini-masterpiece, Jim Lester illuminates the fortitude of a driven team of Americans, then returns to the scene of the climb to explore the trajectories of the Sherpas who made their Everest success possible. The two cultures converge – and find they share a common humanity.
Broughton Coburn, conservationist, author of The Vast Unknown