Julie Summers is a biographer, historian and author of over a dozen works of non-fiction. She is Sandy Irvine's great-niece and the family spokesperson. In 2000 she published her biography, Fearless on Everest: The Quest for Sandy Irvine. She lives in Oxford.

Jochen Hemmleb is the author of more than a dozen books about mountaineering history, including the award-winning Ghosts of Everest. Jochen was co-instigator and member of the "Mallory & Irvine Research Expedition" in 1999, which found the body of George Mallory, and took part in three more search expeditions for Sandy Irvine. He lives in Lana, northern Italy.

"Reanimated by recent physical evidence of Irvine's death, Summers, granddaughter of Irvine's beloved sister, Evelyn, and Hemmleb, whose own 1999 Everest expedition found Mallory's body on the mountain, lay out in utterly captivating detail the successes and failures that had preceded the 1924 expedition...everyone will be riveted by the personalities, the constraints of their era, and the courage and ingenuity they ultimately brought to it, whether or not they succeeded." --Booklist (starred)

"gripping...The authors vividly describe the world of early Everest expeditions long before commercialization, when climbers were as much explorers and documentarians as athletes...Recommended for those with an interest in exploration history, as well as those drawn to enduring historical mysteries." --Library Journal

"An arresting story....An expert update on mountaineering's never-ending saga." --Kirkus Reviews

"The authors lay out all the evidence in meticulous detail, which adds up to a fascinating history of Everest exploration itself...Everest obsessives will be thrilled." --Publishers Weekly