Mountaineer Pete Takeda Brings Shocking Cold War Story to New York

March 20, 2007

Mountaineer Pete Takeda Brings Shocking
Cold War Story to New York in Award-Winning Novel

Santa Rosa, CA — World-class alpine climber, journalist and celebrated Marmot Athlete, Pete Takeda, unearths the terrifying legacy of the Cold War’s most daring CIA operation in his award-winning new book, An Eye at The Top of The World, a true story involving Cold War intrigue in the remotest part of the Himalayas, and a deadly poison potentially unleashed upon millions of people.

In the mid-1960s, with the goal of gathering intelligence on China, the CIA undertook secret climbing expeditions to Uttarakhand, India to put a nuclear-powered spy device on top of Nanda Devi — one of the most remote and forbidden peaks in the Himalaya which some have also called “the most beautiful mountain in the world.”

This highly sensitive device – powered by dangerous plutonium – was abandoned in the face of an oncoming storm at a head-spinning altitude of over 24,000 feet. Incredibly, the device was avalanched and never recovered and now nearly four pounds of plutonium are locked in the glacier beneath the mountain threatening to poison the Ganges, one of the largest rivers in the world, which flows into all of Northern India.

Takeda begins his week-long tour of New York on Monday, April 2 at the Explorer’s Club (members only), with a multi-media presentation and first-person account of his 2005 expedition to climb 22,000 foot Nanda Kot – a journey Takeda and four other climbers took – to retrace the footsteps of the 1965 failed CIA expedition, revealing a potentially explosive story to New York audiences for the first time.

This award-winning new book, An Eye at The Top of The World, is a true story of Cold War history, environmental mystery, and outdoor adventure which will appeal to history buffs, mountain climbers, and James Bond fans alike.

About Pete Takeda
Pete Takeda is a Senior Contributing Editor to Rock & Ice Magazine and contributor to Outside, Sports Afield and Backpacker. As an internationally recognized rock, ice and alpine climber and sponsored athlete with Marmot. Takeda’s climbing exploits have been covered in Sports Illustrated, Men’s Health, Outside and Sports Afield.

About Marmot
Born from working mountain guides and instructors around the world, Marmot crafts professional quality outdoor gear for climbing, skiing and mountaineering. Inspired by an alpinist spirit of adventure to search and achieve in a harsh world, Marmot products are simple, appropriate, dependable and good looking. They work, and work hard. Count on it. Marmot For Lifeâ„¢

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