This is a collection of some short mountaineering stories excerpted from longer books.  I had read some previously as they are very well known, for example, the Shackleton bit is excerpted from Alfred Lansing's incredible book "Endurance".  But there are some that I was not familiar with and so this is a good collection of mountaineering stories.  I especially enjoyed "Savage Arena" and "Thin Air: Encounters In The Himalayas".