Every summit means a lot to Max, for a variety of reasons...

... yet, metaphorically, Max's greatest summit of all has to be his coffee table book: "Steep Dreams: My Journey to the Top of the World".

Written after his return from Everest in May 2006 - in collaboration with his good friend, New York Times bestselling author Richard Buskin - Steep Dreams not only groups all of Max's summits within a single illustrated package; it’s still the only book he's written… to date.

“To be successful in life, a man must have a child, write a book and plant a tree,” a noted philosopher once wrote. With Steep Dreams on bookshelves around the world, it can be safely said that Max has completed all three, and therefore has already had a successful life.

Shortly after the completion of Max's Seven Summits challenge (climbing to the top of every continent) and the accompanying euphoria, he felt a significant post-summit void. Coupled with Gibran‘s famous quote “It is when you reach the mountaintop that the climb begins”, this void compelled Max to share everything he’d experienced and retained in the flesh: the mental and physical obstacles, the unforgettable encounters, the shared passions, the mountain cultures, the mythologies, the technical constraints, the travel logistics… and the sheer madness of those journeys of personal discovery - way beyond Max;s presumed personal limits.

It took close to five years to complete coffee table book: "Steep Dreams"

More than his successes, Max wanted others to know and understand his thoughts, motivations, doubts and setbacks, as well as the amplified sensations felt during the moments of immense, often frigid solitude. Just like the peaks and landscapes witnessed during his three-year odyssey, these feelings were formidable in terms of their majesty, grandeur… and cruelty.

It took close to five years to complete Steep Dreams, way longer than any of the 16 expeditions it contains. And its 496 pages, containing 720 fully-captioned photos, proved to be far more exhausting than he’d ever imagined. Yet, the end-result was well worth the trouble.

Ultimately, "Steep Dreams" revived great personal memories while reflecting on the whole experience from the warmth and comfort of Max's desk. Max hopes you will enjoy reading it as much as he and Richard enjoyed writing it.