Reddit reviews Ultimate High: My Everest Odyssey

When I told my Mom about this guy Kropp, her only reaction was, "How did he get all that time off work?"

http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-High-My-Everest-Odyssey/dp/156331830X

This is probably hard to beat - ride your bike from Sweden to Mt Everest and climb it without oxygen:

http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-High-My-Everest-Odyssey/dp/156331830X

There is a story told by the late great Göran Kropp about a mouse that defeats the trap. Tragically the record of him telling the story aloud seems lost, I heard it at this talk in 1999. It may be in his book. You'll have to deal with my version though, just imagine I have a comical Swedish accent.

So, I have just finished riding my bike all the way from my house in Sweden to the Nepal Plateau, and Mount Everest is in sight. I am staying in a freezing one-room cabin there, waiting for the rest of my climbing party to arrive. The cabin is stocked with some basic rations and supplies. It's terrible food but I'm used to it, and the cabin is a far sight better than my tent.

On my first night there, I'm woken up by scurrying sounds near the pantry. I clumsily grab my flashlight and turn it on. Mice scatter away from the food as I jump up shouting at them. They've gotten into some crackers, which I move into my pack for safety and go back to sleep. I'll deal with the mice tomorrow.

The next evening after dinner I get to constructing my mouse trap. There's an empty oil drum outside that I heave into the cabin. I take a metal rod, impale a small bit of cheese on it and center it over the barrel. Mouse tries to get cheese, mouse falls off of rod into barrel and is trapped, I kill mouse. Easy. I go to bed.

I am again woken in the night by the sound of scurrying mice, but this time it is the sound of their feet on metal, not wood. I grab my flashlight, hop up and run to the oil drum. One mouse on the floor scurrys away before I can get there. There are another two mice trapped in the drum and they've eaten the fallen piece of cheese. I crush both of them with my climbing boots. Two down, one to go. Our mouse friend who has escaped will fare no better. I throw out the bodies, get another piece of cheese, reset the trap and go back to bed.

Later that night I hear the telltale scurrying. I smile knowing I've caught him. But this seems very regular. skitter-skitter-skitter, thump. skitter-skitter-skitter, thump. skitter-skitter-skitter, thump, scurrying on wood? I lunge for my flashlight as I jump out of bed just in time to see the little vermin dash accross the floor and into a small hole in the floorboards. I check the trap, and the cheese is gone. This mouse thinks he can take my cheese and just hop back out of the barrel? This mouse has woken me up too many times and stolen too much food. I will NOT figure this out tomorrow. I must end this tonight.

But this is no ordinary mouse. This is a super mouse, with abilities far beyond those of normal mice. How can I kill a super mouse? I know I could fill up the barrel with water so the mouse couldn't jump out, but I don't have that much water on hand. And would that even work? This is a super mouse I'm dealing with after all. Do I have any other liquid I could use? I look around and notice the can of lighter fluid in a corner. I smile to myself. This will do nicely. I grab the can and pour some into the barrel so that it just covers the bottom of the barrel. No. No mistakes this time. I upend the whole can until there's a solid inch and a half deep pool of gas at the bottom of the drum. I get a healthy portion of cheese and bait the trap. Supermouse deserves it. I go back to sleep for the third time this night.

skitter-skitter-skitter, splash. skitter-skitter-skitter, splash. I leap out of bed, grabbing the matches, and in one swift motion, I strike one and fling it into the barrel. "SUUUUUPPAARRRRR MOOUUUUUSSSSSSSEEEEEE!!!!" I scream as a pillar of fire erupts from the oil drum. I let out a maniacal laugh as the fire warms my face. With a gleam in my eye I revel in my moment of triumph. No mouse, super or not can best the great Göran Kropp! I take a few deep, calming breaths as I reflect on my victory. As I stand next to the fire and smell the burning fur, I feel a tinge of regret that super mouse had to die. I lay down and go back to sleep as the barrel still burns, thinking of what else super mouse might have gone on to do if we had not crossed paths. The next morning, I bury what is left of super mouse in the snow. Rest in Peace, super mouse.

Göran Kropp is one of my heroes.
I recommend everyone here to read his book! Göran kropp 8000+ is the swedish title.
English title is 'Ultimate High: My Everest Odyssey'.

amazon link

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