EVEREST: IT'S NOT ABOUT THE SUMMIT

10th Anniversary Edition

Ten years after I first published my Everest story, I’ve gone back to it.

• Reserve one of the First 50

50 SIGNED & NUMBERED PRE-RELEASE COPIES
Signed by me • Individually numbered 1/50–50/50 • New anniversary paperback

TEN YEARS. BLOODY HELL.On 10 November 2016, I published Everest: It’s Not About The Summit.
It was self-published, because publishers had shown very little interest in it and, being me, I decided that was probably a good enough reason to do it myself.I genuinely had no idea whether anybody would read it.Ten years later, thousands of copies have somehow found their way into people’s hands, the book has collected more than 1,700 Amazon reviews, and it’s still selling.More importantly, I’m not the same bloke who wrote it.So for the tenth anniversary, I went back to Everest.Not to rewrite the original story or make younger Ellis sound cleverer than he was. That would require industrial quantities of editing.I wanted to add the part I simply couldn’t have written in 2016:
What happened afterwards. What Everest meant with another decade of life behind me. And whether I still believe the summit was never really the point.

WHAT’S NEW IN THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

A NEW FOREWORD BY TONY McMURRAY — Tony’s own Everest story became intertwined with mine during the devastating 2015 Nepal earthquake. Ten years later, he opens this new edition

HENRY — An entirely new chapter remembering Henry Todd, one of the great characters of my Everest years and a man whose influence on my story went far beyond the mountain.

TEN YEARS LATER — The chapter I couldn’t possibly have written in 2016: what happened when Everest stopped being the centre of my life, what followed, what went badly wrong, and what another decade has taught me.

THE FIRST 50 COPIESThese aren’t special because they’re made of rare Himalayan paper, bound by monks, or blessed at Base Camp.They’re special because they’re the first 50 copies of the 10th Anniversary Edition to leave my hands.Each one will be:
- Signed by me
- Individually numbered 1/50 to 50/50
- Personally dedicated if you want one
- Sent out before the general Amazon release
And yes, I’ll be writing the dedication myself.This is where I should probably warn you that my handwriting has never progressed much beyond that of a reasonably enthusiastic nine-year-old.I climbed on Everest.
I wrote a book.
I still can’t write my own name neatly.
Some things are beyond us.Once these 50 signed and numbered copies are gone, the book will still be available on Amazon — but the little pre-release run won’t be repeated.50 copies. Signed, numbered, slightly wonky handwriting included at no extra cost.

A FEW THINGS YOU SHOULD PROBABLY KNOW

This is a book about Everest. 🗻Which sounds terribly impressive until you remember I didn’t actually reach the summit.Twice.So what you’re really buying is 300-and-something pages of one bloke from Hartlepool spending an unreasonable amount of time, money and emotional energy trying to stand somewhere very cold.There are avalanches.There is an earthquake.There is fear, failure, obsession, family, grief, friendship and the occasional moment where I appear to know what I’m doing.There are also quite a few moments where I very clearly do not.I have now had ten years to reflect on all of this.Which means I’m older, possibly wiser, definitely greyer, and still capable of making a mountain out of absolutely everything.If you like your adventure stories heroic, polished and full of flawless decision-making, this may not be the book for you.If you prefer them human, occasionally ridiculous and painfully honest...Welcome aboard.

WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR

This book is probably for you if:- You’ve ever chased something for years and wondered whether it was worth it- Life has ever taken your carefully organised plan, screwed it up and thrown it down a mountain- You’ve failed at something important and later realised the failure wasn’t actually the end of the story- You’re old enough to know that confidence is often just pretending you know what you’re doing- You’ve reached the stage of life where “What now?” has become a surprisingly regular question- Or you simply enjoy watching somebody else make expensive, questionable decisions at very high altitudeYou do not need to be a climber.
You do not need to know your crampons from your carabiners.
You don’t even need to particularly like mountains.You just need to have lived long enough to know that things rarely go exactly to plan.That’s really what this book is about.

GET ONE OF THE FIRST 50

Everest: It’s Not About The Summit
10th Anniversary Edition

Signed & numbered pre-release paperback
Limited to 50 pre-release copies
£14 + £3 shipping.🚚 Shipping late October 2026
General Amazon release: Early November 2026

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ABOUT THE IDIOT WHO WROTE IT

I’m Ellis J Stewart.I spent the best part of twenty years dreaming about climbing Everest, finally got there, and then managed to choose two of the most catastrophic seasons in the mountain’s history to have a go.
I wrote a book about it.Ten years later I’m still writing, still talking about Everest, and now apparently spending an unhealthy amount of time on YouTube complaining about getting older, technology and garden hoses.
I’m 53, still ridiculously proud of this little book, and probably more proud of this anniversary version than I expected to be.Thank you for supporting it.
Ejs xxx
Oct 1st 2026

© Ellis James Stewart
All rights reserved