Traces a series of ideological shifts in the status of Mount Everest in Western culture over the past century to the present day, and links these shifts to technologies used in climbs. By highlighting the intersections of technology and cultural ideologies at this site of environmental extremity, Elizabeth Mazzolini shows both how nature is shaped by cultural values and how extreme natural phenomena shape culture.

Elizabeth Mazzolini is an assistant professor of English at the University at Buffalo, SUNY.