Kim Stanley Robinson’s Escape From Kathmandu is a light-hearted fantasy tribute to the world of extreme mountain climbing follows the adventures of two American expatriates living in Nepal.

Living in the city of Kathmandu in the Kingdom of Nepal are dozens of American and British expatriates who are in love with the Himalayas. George Fergusson is one of them–he works as a trek guide for Take You Higher, Ltd., leading groups of tourists into the back country and occasionally assisting on serious climbs. George Freds Fredericks is another–a tall, easy-going American who converted to Buddhism while in college. He visited Nepal one year and never went home.

The adventures started when George and Freds got together over the capture of a Yeti–an abominable snowman–by a scientific expedition. The thought of such a wild and mysterious creature in captivity–in prison–was too much for them to bear. And in freeing the Yeti, a great partnership was born. George and Freds will go on to greater heights as they explore the mysteries of Nepal, from Shangri-La to Kathmandu’s governmental bureaucracy.