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12 year old Mark learns how to climb on a school field trip.
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The time that the book Within Reach: My Everest Story spans
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Mark sneaks into a more advanced rock gym to further his climbing experience. The rock gym was in conneticut.
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Mark's aunt's music teacher agrees to take Mark on an expedition up Mount Crawford to help him learn how to climb better.
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Sponsors begin aiding Mark in his dream to conquer Everest in Nepal.
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Mark boards the plane to nepal, alongside many climbing experts.
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Mark sees Everest on a plane for the first time.
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Mark goes to lima peru, to hike along the south american mountains. THese are the largest moutains in South America.
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Mark summits his first mountain in South America in Lima, Peru.
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Mark starts working out as to prepare his body for the perilos of Mount Everest.
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Mark trains to climb Everest by hiking up a comparable mountain; 23,000 foot high Aconcagua in Argentina.
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Mark is on his way to Base Camp on the north side of Everest
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Mark reaches Base Camp on Mount Everest and prepares to take on the mountain.
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Mark makes it to advanced base camp with a throbbing headache at 21,000 feet.
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Mark travels back to Base Camp due to his terrible altitude sickness
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Mark decides to journey back up to Camp 1. It is a long and tiring trek. He has broken a rib, and is in tremendous pain.
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After hiking Ama Dablam, they finally managed to summit Mark's highest Himalayan peak.
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Mark has the magic of the third try to conquer the hihgest peak in the world.
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Mark has been hiking for two weeks to reach Base Camp.
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Mark is wondering whether he should go back down and risk exposing himself to sickness, or go to Base Camp without any sleep but in a better enviornment with his mom. It is a hard decision, but eventually he ends up going to Base Camp with his mom for a bit, without sleep.
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The storm begins and everything that lead up to that moment is no longer just uncomfortable; now it's dangerous. There is a very real danger that Mark will be blown off the side of the mountain, as he makes his way from Camp Three to Camp Four. According to Mark, "every step is a triumph"
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Mark's father tells him and his mother that he has cancer. It is a terrible revelation, as they are so distraught. Mark's father didn't choose to tell them sooner, for they were in Nepal and climbing Everest. A few died, and no one summited, so Mark returned home to his father when he told him he had cancer.
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Mark is offered to travel to Africa to help lead a group of climbers up many high mountains in the Atlas Mountain Range.
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Mark sees the highest mountain in Africa for the first time; Mount Kilimanjaro
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Mark heads to Tibet to conquer one of the ten highest mountains in the world; Cho Oyu.
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Mark summits one of his highest peaks; Cho Oyu. It may have cost the lives of a few people, but Mark managed to avoid the danger, and conquer one of the highest mountains in the world
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Elizabeth Hawley, the supposed "most important figure in the media" finds Mark and his team in their hotel in Kathmandu. After interviewing them, they realize that it doesn't matter that Mark is the youngest to summit an eight-thousand meter peak. They are all a team, and Mark just so happens to be younger
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Mark learns that the cancer that was supposed to have been cleared has spread to his father's brain. It will prove to be fatal
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Mark is introduced by his teacher to the city officials who award him a plaque proclaiming his extraordinary deeds
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Mark's father has died due to his cancer, and Mark is forced to move on. He finds joy in his career in becoming a doctor, and ends up living a normal life, occasionally going back to Nepal to climb some mountains. Yet, even after death, his father still inspires him, for he too was climbing Everst right alongside Mark, in his own body.