Amanda Padoan

Everest has cost Nobukazu Kuriki eight years and nine fingers, but the 34-year-old mountaineer from Hokkaido, Japan is at it again for his seventh attempt, climbing the taut line between tenacity and obsession.

Even at 83, Lino Lacedelli looked as if he were supplying all of Cortina with firewood. Thousands of spliced logs lined his shed, and a visitor might find him wielding an axe, chopping more.