Michael Kodas

Back in 1953 when Mount Everest was scaled for the first time by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, they were hailed as heroes around the globe. But 55 years later, hundreds of people have reached the summit of the tallest mountain in the world, and more are trying every year. In 2004, Michael Kodas attempted to climb Mt. Everest and sent daily dispatches via satellite to the Hartford Courant Newspaper in Connecticut. But instead of summiting, he came back with stories of sabotage, theft, prostitution, drug use and death threats. And he wrote about it in a new book called High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed.