See You Tomorrow

Marco was a purist, an athlete drawn to the bold and dangerous. Jeremy Evans humanizes Marco in a way that makes his disappearance a cautionary, yet inspiring, tale of someone who lived with purpose. But like most great stories with daring protagonists, we wished Marco's life could have ended differently. -Jimmy Chin, Emmy Award winning cinematographer and co-director of Academy Award-winning film Free Solo Marco was a beautiful human who lived life on the edge in Chamonix and in the Himalaya. He danced on that boundary of life and death every day. We will always miss him, but See You Tomorrow reveals another side of Marco we didn't know, the one of a kind, gentle and innocent soul who left us too soon. -Jeremy Jones, professional snowboarder Gripping. Scary. A fascinating glimpse into the world of extreme athletes who risk everything to follow their passion, live by their own rules, and die without regret. Marco lived a high-stakes adventure at extreme altitude that defies comprehension. -Diedre Wolownick, author of The Sharp End of Life and the mother of rock climber Alex Honnold from the Academy Award-winning film Free Solo NetGalley Reviews 5 stars Last updated on 30 Jan 2021 See You Tomorrow by Jeremy Evans is a fascinating look into the life of French snowboarder and mountaineer, Marco Siffredi. While Evans focuses on Siffredi's disappearance as he tried to snowboard down Everest, we also learn a bit about Siffredi's family and what he was like growing up. Marco Siffredi was a child prodigy when it came to snowboarding. He was so good at it that in only six years he went from being a novice to being considered the best in the world. He was fascinated with the impossible and he said If we don't do stuff that is a bit crazy at 20, we're not going to start at 50. Siffredi did the crazy stuff; he decided he wanted to snowboard down Everest. He summited Everest on May 23, 2001 but was unable to snowboard down Horbein Couloir, the steepest descent from the summit, because of snow conditions, so he came down a less dangerous way, becoming the first person to make a complete descent of Mount Everest on a snowboard. So on September 8, 2002, at age 23, he decided to try again. He reached the summit taking three times as long as he had done it previously and even though the sherpas accompanying him tried to talk him out of it, he began to descend Everest on the Horbein Couloir route on his snowboard. Marco Siffredi was never seen again. People disappear on Everest regularly, that is not unusual, but what is unusual with Siffredi are the rumors surrounding his disappearance. The theories range from he fell into a ravine to his sister believing that he made it down and is still alive today. Evans did extensive research on this book, and was granted first ever interviews with Siffredi's family and friends. This is an excellent book and I highly recommend it. Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book prior to publication in exchange for my review. This review is being posted immediately to my GoodReads account and will be posted on Amazon and Barnes and Noble upon the book's publication. -Donna Boyd, Educator at Reading Enrichment/Literacy Group (Homeschooling) 5 stars Last updated on 19 Feb 2021 Thank you to NetGalley and Jeremy Evans for giving me an ARC of this book. It was very interesting because it essentially had three distinct subjects. First there is, of course, the biography of a young , dynamic and highly skilled athlete. Second is the history of Everest and the surrounding area. Third is the history of climbing and other extreme snow sports. I liked that the author didn't just tell us about this young guy who seems to have no impulse control and who is fairly oblivious to danger. All of that is very interesting and kind of fun in an I wish I was that brave kind of way. But the author then adds in the dynamics of he town of Chamonix where he lived and learned to ski, climb, snowboard and guide tourists up the mountain. Then he gives us a history of other men who climbed Everest and also never came back, or died on the mountain and were brought down. It is an interesting intermingling that gives a broader picture of Marco and his life. -Fianna MacGregor, Educator at Whitman Legal 4 stars Last updated on 01 Mar 2021 As an avid hiker, ice climber and mountain trekker I have always been enamoured by tales from the 8000ers . I myself will never be up to the task of climbing one, but I've always enjoyed following the challenges and setbacks of those who do. I often read these stores via Alan Annette (referenced in this book), explorersweb, Outside Magazine or other trekking publications. Where others enjoy true crime I do admit to finding myself fixated with the tales of those challenged or lost on these peaks. My first introduction to these tales were Jon Krakauer's 'Into Thin Air' and the 1998 Everest IMAX film, and since then I've read a wide range and collection of these accounts of mountain (mis)adventures. See You Tomorrow reads like a hybrid between the online articles, and longer books I've encountered on the subject. I mean that in the best way possible. Jeremy Evans writes with the casual nature of someone integrated into the climbing and mountaineering community, who has first hand knowledge and experience he relates back to the story being told. I was in the peak of my high school ski-bum years when Marco Siffredi made the first Everest descent, and then subsequently disappeared the following year but until reading this book I didn't know the genuine nature of his personality, or the complexities of his relationship with Chamonix. Jeremy Evans is finally doing what the community should have done long ago, celebrating this tremendous athlete and heartfelt human for the accomplishments he achieved and life he lived. I also thought intertwining Marco's story with his favourite character The Little Prince was incredibly successful thematically. I wouldn't usually describe a book about someone's tragic disappearance as heartwarming but I appreciated that Jeremy focused more on Marco's life than his death. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in outdoor adventure sports, especially snowboarding (or skiing), mountaineering, trekking or even those with an interest in reading well written biographies. I truly appreciate the opportunity to read this digital ARC provided by NetGalley, I was not compensated for this review. -Katherine Job, Reviewer at Garddwest 4 stars Last updated on 02 May 2021 This is the story of Marco Siffredi a young man from Chamonix France who at the age of 23 passed away on Mount Everest or so they believe. Chamonix is famous for being the birth place of mountaineering and extreme skiing. This is a beautiful place for the tourist and the rich and beautiful but it is also a place that mothers have fear every time the rescue helicopter passes overhead. Marco did not involved with climbing until his teenage years but he seemed to have a natural gift which rubbed those who had been snowboarding their whole life. But Marco was the type of person people could not help be attracted to as he was genuine and just happy go lucky. The story should this when he was preparing for the assent of Everest he was riding his skateboard around and giving children rides. Base on first appearance you would not guess this with his piercings and green or purple hair. This book is a good look at mountaineering along with the extreme snowboarding there is adventure and sadness but this is a good read. -Thomas Kelley, Consumer Reviewer 4 stars Last updated on 03 May 2021 Part adventure story, part historical narrative, this book highlights the story of Marco Siffredi's attempt to be the first to snowboard the Hornbein Couloir on Mt. Everest after successfully snowboarding down Everest the year before. This book is very thorough and includes a lot of history that goes beyond Siffredi's attempts and also delves deeply into his background growing up in Chamonix. It's an interesting psychological profile of the type of person who attempts things that most people wouldn't even contemplate, and the latter chapters of the book do try to unravel the mystery of what might have happened to Siffredi in 2002. Those who have enjoyed other mountaineering books should definitely include this one on their to be read list, but the story itself isn't completely satisfying because the mystery of Siffredi's death is unsolved, and frankly, there's a fair amount of detail that feels more like filler than critical to the tale. I personally found the filler parts interesting in their own right because I am fascinated with Everest and the people who climb it, but those looking for more suspense and exhilaration may not feel the same. Photos showing the Couloir and perhaps a map of Siffredi's possible routes really would have been a plus. -Anita Pomerantz, Consumer Reviewer