From the Ocean to the Sky

320 Pages·1979·31.392 MB·English

by  Sir Edmund Hillary

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"For more than five years I had dreamed
of a new adventure," writes Sir Edmund
Hillary, "to travel with a group of friends
from the mouth of the Ganges River up-
stream against the current as far as we could
go ... up into the mountains where the river
had its beginnings." In 1977 the "Ocean to
Sky" expedition turned that dream into real-
ity; this is Hillary's own dramatic record of
thatjourney.
The 1500-mile-long trek provided as
many challenges as the conqueror of Ever-
est and his crew had imagined, from power-
ing jet boats up treacherous rapids to the
ultimate test of climbing Akash Parbat,
above which, according to Hindu tradition, Chun*
the lord Shiva received the celestial stream Mirzapur
of Ganga into the matted locks of his hair. INDIA
Hillary's narrative, supplemented with ex-
cerpts from his crew's journals and many
photographs, captures the excitement and
danger of the expedition.
ButFrom the Ocean to theSkyis farmore
than asimple adventure story. Itis arich and
intimateencounterwiththetigers oftheSun-
derbans, with Hindu holy men and Sikh
pilgrims, with rural Bengali villagers and
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From the Ocean to the Sky

By the same author
HIGH ADVENTURE
NO LATITUDE FOR ERROR
SCHOOL HOUSE IN THE CLOUDS
NOTHING VENTURB, NOTHING WIN
east of Everest (with George Lowe)
the crossing of Antarctica (with Sir Vivian Fuchs)
high in the thin cold air (with Desmond Doig)

FROM THE OCEAN
TO THE SKY
by
EDMUND
HILLARY
THE VIKINC PRESS NEW YORK
Copyright©SirEdmundHillary1979
Allrightsreserved
Publishedin 1979byTheVikingPress
625MadisonAvenue,NewYork,N.Y10022
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGINGINPUBLICATIONDATA
HillaryEdmund,Sin
Fromtheoceantothesky
Includesindex.
1.GangesRiver—Descriptionandtravel.2.Ganges
Valley—Descriptionandtravel.3.HillaryEdmund,Sin
I.Tide.
DS485.G25H54 915.4V044 78-23668
ISBN0-670-33172-4
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
SetinMonotypeBembo