Mr. Ledbetter's Boots

A 95-YEAR-OLD TUSKEGEE AIRMAN intends to become the oldest known person to complete the iconic 40-mile trek to Everest Base Camp. Raymond Ulysses Ledbetter is an impossibility of humanity. After narrowly surviving the crash of his P-51 Mustang into the Austrian Alps during WWII, then-18-year-old Raymond's escape from certain death became a thing of legend and launched his 75-year obsession with mountaineering. Now, in defiance of the laws of aging, his sights are set on fulfilling a life-long dream - experiencing Mt. Everest with his own eyes and via his own two feet. Hiking alongside Raymond through the incomparable Khumbu is North Carolina writer Joe Vogler, a hotshot journalist hoping to make his mark in the world of social-justice broadcast news. Little does Joe know that Raymond's strange, old hiking boots hold a historical secret that will turn the adventure on its head.