In 1976, John Roskelley joined an expedition to climb Nanda Devi, the third highest mountain in the Indian Himalayas. This is the story of that ascent, led by top mountaineer Willi Unsoeld, whose young, inexperienced daughter, named for the peak, perished there. It is the story also of Ad Carter, part of the team that first summited Nanda Devi forty years earlier; and of Lou Reichert and Jim States, two of the three members to actually reach the summit. But mostly this book is about Roskelley himself, who led the summit party of three and who outspokenly criticized an expedition that allowed unqualified climbers to participate in the technically difficult ascent.

Originally published in 1987, Nanda Devi: The Tragic Expedition established Roskelley's reputation for being not only a forthright and uncompromising climbing critic, but also a wise and authoritative mountaineer dedicated to grueling preparedness.