"The Last River" is the breathtaking account of a world-class kayak team's quest to make the first descent through the foam, fury, and unexplored mysteries of the treacherous Tsangpo Gorge in the remote heart of Tibet. This is the story of that ill-fated adventure and a riveting evocation of one of the planet's wildest and most alluring places.
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"The Last River" is the breathtaking account of a world-class kayak team's quest to make the first descent through the foam, fury, and unexplored mysteries of the treacherous Tsangpo Gorge in the remote heart of Tibet. This is the story of that ill-fated adventure and a riveting evocation of one of the planet's wildest and most alluring places.
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Add this copy of The Last River: the Tragic Race for Shangri-La to cart. $9.62, good condition, Sold by Orion Tech rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Arlington, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Broadway Books.
Add this copy of The Last River: the Tragic Race for Shangri-La to cart. $9.63, good condition, Sold by Gulf Coast Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Memphis, TN, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Broadway Books.
Add this copy of The Last River: the Tragic Race for Shangri-La to cart. $9.76, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austell, GA, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Broadway Books.
Add this copy of The Last River: the Tragic Race for Shangri-La to cart. $9.76, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Broadway Books.
Add this copy of The Last River: the Tragic Race for Shangri-La to cart. $10.00, very good condition, Sold by Midtown Scholar Bookstore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Harrisburg, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Broadway Books.
Add this copy of The Last River: the Tragic Race for Shangri-La to cart. $10.31, very good condition, Sold by Redux Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Wyoming, MI, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Broadway Books.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good. Size: 5x0x7; ADVANCED UNCORRECTED PROOF. Paperback. Pages are clean and unmarked. Covers show light edge wear.; 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! Ships same or next business day!
Add this copy of The Last River: the Tragic Race for Shangri-La to cart. $11.54, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Ruby rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Broadway Books.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of The Last River: the Tragic Race for Shangri-La to cart. $12.00, good condition, Sold by Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Frederick, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Broadway Books.
Add this copy of The Last River: the Tragic Race for Shangri-La to cart. $14.50, like new condition, Sold by Michael Patrick McCarty, Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from New Castle, CO, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Broadway Books.
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Like New. Size: 5x0x7; It was the ultimate whitewater adventure on the Mount Everest of rivers, and the biggest challenge of their lives....October 1998 an American whitewater paddling team traveled deep into the Tsangpo Gorge in Tibet to run the Yarlung Tsangpo, known in paddling circles as the Everest of rivers. On Day 12 of that trip, the team's ace paddler, one of four kayakers on the river, launched off an eight-foot waterfall and flipped. He and his overturned kayak spilled into the heart of the thunderous freight training river and were swept downstream, never to be seen again. The Last River: The Tragic Race for Shangri-la is a breathtaking account of this ill-fated expedition, a fascinating exploration of what propelled these kayakers to take on the seething big water and perilous Himalayan terrain of the deepest gorge on the planet. This was the magical Shangri-la of legend, a 140-mile-long canyon framed by 25, 000-foot snowcapped peaks, a place of unimaginable beauty called Pemako in ancient Buddhist texts that was rumored to contain mammoth waterfalls.
Add this copy of The Last River: the Tragic Race for Shangri-La to cart. $9.23, good condition, Sold by Good Books Will Follow rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Blue Springs, MO, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Broadway Books.
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Seller's Description:
The book has been read but is in good condition. It has very minimal damage to the cover including scuff marks but no holes or tears. The dust jacket for hard covers may not be included. The binding has minimal wear. The majority of pages are undamaged with minimal creasing or tearing minimal pencil underlining of text no highlighting of text and no writing in the margins. There are no missing pages. See the seller's listing for full details and a description of any imperfections.
If you have kayakers in your midst, their particular brand of thrill seeking may seem strange and inaccessible to a non-paddler. The Last River brings this mysterious cabal into stark relief, in a band of adventurous characters that form a tight team, at once superhuman in their ambitions, and strikingly pedestrian in their lifestyles. The story weaves together the land and the people so well, that even an avowed terrestrial can imagine and appreciate the draw of the whitewater rush. The tragedy does get infused with cause and meaning more biological and psychological than philosophical in nature, but no less intense for its concrete origin.
jigme
Apr 10, 2007
Hyped to the teeth as a worthy addition to the body of man-against-nature literature, this book has invited comparisons to Jon Krakauer's "Into Thin Air" and Sebastian Junger's "Perfect Storm." And while Balf, a former editor for Outside magazine, writes in a style quite similar to Krakauer's, he never manages to penetrate to the nuanced, deeper meanings inherent in the events demonstrated with such mastery by Krakauer and Junger. This is not to say the book is not interesting or highly entertaining (it is), and it is compelling in the way that most books about tragic events are. The book is rather heavy on detailed information about kayaking, hydrodynamics, and Tibetan geography, but this info is woven effectively into the narrative such that it never becomes tedious. Definitely of interest to paddle sports enthusiasts and those who love adrenaline-fueled adventure stories.
