Minus 148 Degrees

Author: Art Davidson
Publisher: Mountaineers Books
ISBN: 1594858659
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 293

Book Description
CLICK HERE to download the first 50 pages from (Provide us with a little information and we'll send your download directly to your inbox) "This finely crafted adventure tale runs on adrenaline but also something else: brutal honesty." —The Wall Street Journal "I couldn't lay it down until it was all finished (12:40 a.m.!)... A fascinating and beautifully-written story." —Bradford Washburn * One of National Geographic Adventure's "The 100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time" * Spring 2013 marks the 100th anniversary of the first ascent of Mount McKinley * New edition includes a revised preface, new prologue, and new afterword describing more recent winter attempts on McKinley In 1967, eight men attempted North America's highest summit: Mount McKinley (now known as Denali) had been climbed before—but never in winter. Plagued by doubts and cold, group tension and a crevasse tragedy, the expedition tackled McKinley in minimal hours of daylight and fierce storms. They were trapped at three different camps above 14,000 feet during a six-day blizzard and faced the ultimate low temperature of -148° F. Minus 148° is Art Davidson's stunning personal narrative, supplemented by diary excerpts from team members George Wichman, John Edwards, Dave Johnston, and Greg Blomberg. Davidson retells the team's fears and frictions—and ultimate triumph—with an honesty that has made this gripping survival story a mountaineering classic for over 40 years. Minus 148° is featured among many "best of" reading lists, including National Geographic Adventure's "The 100 Greatest Adventure Books of all Time." "At twenty-two I came to regard the first expedition to Mt. McKinley in the winter as a journey into an unexplored land. No one had lived on North America's highest ridges in the winter twilight. No one knew how low the temperatures would drop, or how penetrating the cold would be when the wind blew. For thousands of years McKinley's storms had raged by themselves." —Minus 148° This title is part of our LEGENDS AND LORE series. Click here > to learn more.

Minus 148°

Author: Art Davidson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : McKinley, Mount (Alaska)
Languages : en
Pages : 218

Book Description

Denali Climbing Guide

Author: R. J. Secor
Publisher: Stackpole Books
ISBN: 9780811727174
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 156

Book Description
With detailed descriptions of every major climbing route, this book also features expert tips on planning a Denali expedition, and route and area maps. 20 drawings. 50 photos.

Denali's Howl

Author: Andy Hall
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698157125
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 259

Book Description
In the summer of 1967, twelve young men ascended Alaska’s Mount McKinley—known to the locals as Denali. Engulfed by a once-in-alifetime blizzard, only five made it back down. Andy Hall, a journalist and son of the park superintendent at the time, was living in the park when the tragedy occurred and spent years tracking down rescuers, survivors, lost documents, and recordings of radio communications. In Denali’s Howl, Hall reveals the full story of the expedition in a powerful retelling that will mesmerize the climbing community as well as anyone interested in mega-storms and man’s sometimes deadly drive to challenge the forces of nature.

Everest

Author: Thomas F. Hornbein
Publisher: The Mountaineers Books
ISBN: 9780898866162
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 244

Book Description
Details the author and his partner Willi Unsoeld's ascent of Everest's West Ridge in 1963.

The Bond

Author: Simon McCartney
Publisher: Mountaineers Books
ISBN: 1680510916
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 435

Book Description
In 1977, Jack Roberts, a California “Stone Master” and experienced young alpinist, met Simon McCartney, a highly motivated 22-year-old Brit who had cut his teeth climbing in Europe with some of the most respected mountaineers of the time. Over the next three years, the pair enjoyed a magical partnership during which they completed two of the boldest and most audacious climbs in the history of Alaskan alpinism. Then McCartney disappeared from the climbing scene entirely, emerging now, nearly 40 years later, to tell the story. The north face of Mount Huntington is one of the most dangerous walls in the Alaska Range, and Denali’s southwest face is one of the largest and most technically difficult. Roberts and McCartney made the first ascents of both, eschewing any notion of fixed ropes or siege tactics. With success as their only option, they got themselves to the foot of these faces with the bare minimum of gear and simply started climbing. The ascent of Mount Huntington’s north face was made in the summer of 1978; that of Denali’s southwest face, in 1980. These two legendary climbs created a stir at the time, and a flurry of controversy and criticism followed the Denali climb. Years later, some people went so far as to suggest that the Huntington climb was a fake. Jack Roberts passed away in 2012 without telling his side of the story publicly. The Bond, told primarily via McCartney’s first-person narrative and augmented by extracts from the diaries of Roberts and others, shares for the first time the experience of these two challenging climbs—and the strong bond forged between the two climbers. It is, in short, the quintessential climbing story, and the stuff of Legends and Lore.

Alaska

Author: Colby Coombs
Publisher: The Mountaineers Books
ISBN: 1594851433
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Book Description
* Guidebook details 80 climbing routes throughout Alaska * Includes photos, many with route overlays, topo route maps, climbing difficulty and time information, ratings, and more Alaska mountain guides Mike Wood and Colby Coombs have teamed up to write this definitive climbing guidebook targeting the more experienced climber. This is the ultimate guidebook for every climber intending to scale the mountains of one of the nation's last best wild places. Alaska: A Climbing Guide offers climbers a range of routes in the Chugach Range, the Alaska Range, the Fairweather Range, and more. Each of the routes has been climbed, documented, checked, and double-checked by the authors to ensure accuracy and safety. Interesting personal experiences are included as are accounts of first ascents from Fred Beckey, John Krakauer, and David Roberts.

Freedom Climbers

Author: Bernadette McDonald
Publisher: Mountaineers Books
ISBN: 1594857571
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 422

Book Description
CLICK HERE to download the first chapter from Freedom Climbers (Provide us with a little information and we'll send your download directly to your inbox) "One of the most important mountaineering books to be written for many years." —Boardman-Tasker Prize See this book trailer for Freedom Climbers made by RMB Books, its publisher in Canada, where the cover is slightly different from the Mountaineers Books U.S. edition * Behind the Iron Curtain, Cold War mountaineers found freedom on the world's highest peaks—and paid an awful price to achieve it * Winner of the Boardman-Tasker Prize, Banff Grand Prize, and American Alpine Club Literary Award Freedom Climbers tells the story of Poland's truly remarkable mountaineers who dominated Himalayan climbing during the period between the end of World War II and the start of the new millennium. The emphasis here is on their "golden age" in the 1980s and 1990s when, despite the economic and social baggage of their struggling country, Polish climbers were the first to tackle the world's highest mountains during winter, including the first winter ascents on seven of the world's fourteen 8000-meter peaks: Everest, Manaslu, Dhaulagiri, Cho Oyu, Kanchenjunga, Annapurna, and Lhotse. Such successes, however, came at a serious cost: 80 percent of Poland's finest high-altitude climbers died on the high mountains during the same period they were pursuing these first ascents. Award-winning writer Bernadette McDonald addresses the social, political, and cultural context of this golden age, and the hardships of life under Soviet rule. Polish climbers, she argues, were so tough because their lives at home were so tough—they lost family members to World War II and its aftermath and were so much more poverty-stricken than their Western counterparts that they made much of their own climbing gear. While Freedom Climbers tells the larger story of an era, McDonald shares charismatic personal narratives such as that of Wanda Rutkiewicz, expected to be the first woman to climb all 8000-meter peaks until she disappeared on Kanchenjunga in 1992; Jerzy Kukuczka, who died in a fall while attempting the south face of Lhotse; and numerous other renowned climbers including Voytek Kurtyka, Artur Hajzer, Andrej Zawaka, and Krzysztof Wielicki. This is a fascinating window into a different world, far-removed from modernity yet connected by the strange allure of the mountain landscape, and a story of inspiring passion against all odds. This title is part of our LEGENDS AND LORE series. Click here > to learn more.

Fall of Heaven

Author: Reinhold Messner
Publisher: Mountaineers Books
ISBN: 168051086X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Book Description
A classic event in mountaineering history, dramatically retold by a classic mountaineer • Ascending the Matterhorn was the 19th century equivalent of standing on Mars • A great historical story of tension and drama • Author is uniquely qualified to delve into Whymper’s complicated personality As Fall of Heaven begins, we join professional mountain guide Jean-Antoine Carrel as he tries and fails, again and again, to summit the Matterhorn—one of the most famous and iconic peaks in the Alps. Is it the “Devil’s mountain,” as the locals call it? Should he heed the village priest who warned that its summit was not meant to be climbed? Carrel is undeterred, he just needs capable climbers to join him. Enter Edward Whymper, who in 1861 at the age of 21 decided—unbeknownst to Carrel—that he would be the first to climb the Matterhorn. So the storyline is set, except that where Carrel is captivating, Whymper is utterly unsympathetic as an adventurer. He is mean and disdainful of guides, describing them as little more than porters who eat and drink too much. Despite this attitude, Whymper’s quest leads him inexorably into partnership with Carrel. The story follows their many attempts to find a route to the top of the Matterhorn, but then fate pulls them apart just as Whymper finds the line. His successful summit on July 14, 1865, in which Carrel did not take part, shocked the Victorian world with both awe and revulsion as four members of Whymper’s party died in frightening falls. Famed climber and author Reinhold Messner acknowledges that Whymper was the first man to summit the Matterhorn, the last of the great Alpine peaks to be climbed and representing the beginning of an age of alpinism based on difficulty rather than conquest. But rather than leaving a hero’s legacy, Whymper is revealed as the Captain Ahab of alpinism, a team leader who accepted no responsibility for the deaths of his teammates. Fall of Heaven is an exciting tale and an examination of the different types of men who were caught up in the adventuring spirit of the Victorian age, and the ironic fates that can follow success or failure.

Alaska - Not for a Woman!

Author: Mary Carey
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781681793115
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
In 1962 Mary Carey, newly widowed, drove the Alcan Highway alone from Texas to Alaska, where she would make herself a new life. And her life there - whether she was teaching in an eight-pupil pilot school in Talkeetna, flying Mt. McKinley with bush pilot Don Sheldon, or homesteading in the Alaskan wilderness - was one of continuous pioneering. A crackerjack photojournalist -- she obtained exclusive eyewitness coverage of the 1964 earthquake in Kodiak, Seward, and Valdez - Ms. Carey won five first prizes in an Alaskan Press Clubs contest in 1963. She did not re-enter the contest until 1974, at which time the lady walked off with three more first prizes. Previously, in 1955, she won the National True Story Award - a $5,000 prize. Mary Carey was the owner and proprietor of Mary's McKinley View Lodge, which she built on her homestead in 1972. There she baked sixty-four pies each day, welcomed guests, gave lectures to tourists, and somehow found time for rock hunting and writing. Mary died suddenly at the age of 91, on June 18, 2004, at her beloved Mary's McKinley View Lodge. She left a rich legacy and a loving family from a life well-lived.