A hundred-year mystery lured veteran climber Mark Synnot into an unlikely expedition up Mount Everest during the spring 2019 season, which came to be known as the year Everest broke. What he found was a gripping human story of impassioned characters from around the globe, and a mountain that will consume your soul - and your life - if you let it.

Eleven climbers died on Everest that season, all of them mesmerized by an irresistible magic. The third Pole is a rapidly accelerating ride to the limitless joy and horror of human obsession.