I owe a great deal to all the people who appear by name in these pages, in many instances for their forbearance. I owe my special thanks to John Anstey, Editor of the Daily Telegraph Magazine, who showed confidence in my ability to produce photographs and to write. He started me on a new stage of my life as adventure journalist; to George Greenfield, my Literary Agent, who has done a great deal more than negotiate contracts, and has been my adviser and friend over the two most important expeditions in my life so far; to Livia Gollancz for her editorial advice and her patience in waiting for a book which was finished literally in the last hours before flying out to Kathmandu, en route for Everest; to Betty Prentice, who typed the manuscript, corrected the spelling and improved my grammar; to my mother, who thought of the title and lastly, and most of all, to Wendy for her love and her courage through these years and, on a more immediate level, for her selection and layout of the pictures.
C.B.