The Everest series really has a special place in my heart. I read it when I was seven. It was the first series I ever really loved and was obsessed with, and I remember reading it over and over and over again, to the point where I still remember the plot. Even more importantly, I think, this series one of the things that made me love the mountains in winter, despite the cold and the blowing snow and the effort it takes to climb them, or in my chosen sport, to get down safely. I think about these books, sometimes, when I'm skiing and on the top of a mountain looking down at the valleys below me, awestruck at how the top of the world might look. It made me want to at least reach Everest Base Camp; to stand on top of two of the Seven Summits. Even though I can barely get through a hike without fainting, it's something I want to do. Does it hold up, fifteen years later? Honestly, yeah, it does. Looking back on this I think, "How could anyone take a thirteen-year-old kid up Everest?" (It's been done, though!) But Gordon Korman doesn't sacrifice the dangers of climbing, or complex things like corporate greed, or financial hardship, or how the fear of disappointment can be the scariest thing of all, just because it's a book for kids. Some parts are, now, a bit out of the reach of my suspension of disbelief--but then again, in 1996, Beck Weathers survived being left for dead in the Death Zone, so anything's possible, I guess. I'm really looking forwards to rereading the rest of the series.