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"A classic. ... Addresses every conceivable disaster scenario. Don’t leave home without it” —Outside
Revised to reflect the latest in survival knowledge and technology, and covering new topics such as urban survival and terrorism, the multimillion-copy worldwide bestseller SAS Survival Handbook by John "Lofty" Wiseman is the definitive resource for all campers, hikers, and outdoor adventurers. From basic campcraft and navigation to fear management and strategies for coping with any type of disaster, this complete course includes:
Being prepared: Understanding basic survival skills, like reading the weather, and preparation essentials, such as a pocket survival kit.
Making camp: Finding the best location, constructing the appropriate shelter, organizing camp, staying warm, and creating tools.
Food: What to eat, what to avoid, where to find it, and how to prepare it.
First aid: A comprehensive course in emergency/wilderness medicine, including how to maximize survival in any climate or when injured.
Disaster survival: How to react in the face of natural disasters and hostile situations—and how to survive if all services and supplies are cut off.
Self-defense: Arming yourself with basic hand-to-hand combat techniques.
Security: Protecting your family and property from intrusion, break-ins, and theft.
Climate & terrain: Overcoming any location, from the tropics to the poles, from the desert to the mountains and sea.
Nando Parrado was unconscious for three days before he woke to discover that the plane carrying his rugby team, as well as their family members and supporters, to an exhibition game in Chile had crashed somewhere deep in the Andes. He soon learned that many were dead or dying—among them his own mother and sister. Those who remained were stranded on a lifeless glacier at nearly 12,000 feet above sea level, with no supplies and no means of summoning help. They struggled to endure freezing temperatures, deadly avalanches, and then the devastating news that the search for them had been called off.
As time passed and Nando’s thoughts turned increasingly to his father, who he knew must be consumed with grief, Nando resolved that he must get home or die trying. He would challenge the Andes, even though he was certain the effort would kill him, telling himself that even if he failed he would die that much closer to his father. It was a desperate decision, but it was also his only chance. So Nando, an ordinary young man with no disposition for leadership or heroism, led an expedition up the treacherous slopes of a snow-capped mountain and across forty-five miles of frozen wilderness in an attempt to find help.
Thirty years after the disaster Nando tells his story with remarkable candor and depth of feeling. Miracle in the Andes—a first person account of the crash and its aftermath—is more than a riveting tale of true-life adventure: it is a revealing look at life at the edge of death and a meditation on the limitless redemptive power of love.
From the Hardcover edition.
Free solo climbing is a high-stakes sport: if you fall, you die. Expert free soloist Alex Honnold isn't afraid to push the limit; one of the most famous adventure athletes in the world, he has pioneered new routes, won awards, and shattered records. Alone on the Wall recounts the seven most astonishing achievements of Honnold's extraordinary life and career, brimming with lessons on living fearlessly, taking risks, and maintaining focus even in the face of extreme danger.
A dramatic, inspiring memoir by legendary rock climber Tommy Caldwell, the first person to free climb the Dawn Wall of Yosemite’s El Capitan
“The rarest of adventure reads: it thrills with colorful details of courage and perseverance but it enriches readers with an absolutely captivating glimpse into how a simple yet unwavering resolve can turn adversity into reward.” —The Denver Post
A finalist for the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature
On January 14, 2015, Tommy Caldwell, along with his partner, Kevin Jorgeson, summited what is widely regarded as the hardest climb in history—Yosemite’s nearly vertical 3,000-foot Dawn Wall, after nineteen days on the route. Caldwell’s odds-defying feat—the subject of the documentary film The Dawn Wall to be released nationwide in September—was the culmination of an entire lifetime of pushing himself to his limits as an athlete.
This engrossing memoir chronicles the journey of a boy with a fanatical mountain-guide father who was determined to instill toughness in his son to a teen whose obsessive nature drove him to the top of the sport-climbing circuit. Caldwell’s affinity for adventure then led him to the vertigo-inducing and little understood world of big wall free climbing. But his evolution as a climber was not without challenges; in his early twenties, he was held hostage by militants in a harrowing ordeal in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan. Soon after, he lost his left index finger in an accident. Later his wife, and main climbing partner, left him. Caldwell emerged from these hardships with a renewed sense of purpose and determination. He set his sights on free climbing El Capitan’s biggest, steepest, blankest face—the Dawn Wall. This epic assault took more than seven years, during which time Caldwell redefined the sport, found love again, and became a father.
The Push is an arresting story of focus, drive, motivation, endurance, and transformation, a book that will appeal to anyone seeking to overcome fear and doubt, cultivate perseverance, turn failure into growth, and find connection with family and with the natural world.
Spirits were high when the Fairchild F-227 took off from Mendoza, Argentina, and headed for Santiago, Chile. On board were forty-five people, including an amateur rugby team from Uruguay and their friends and family. The skies were clear that Friday, October 13, 1972, and at 3:30 p.m., the Fairchild’s pilot reported their altitude at 15,000 feet. But one minute later, the Santiago control tower lost all contact with the aircraft. For eight days, Chileans, Uruguayans, and Argentinians searched for it, but snowfall in the Andes had been heavy, and the odds of locating any wreckage were slim.
Ten weeks later, a Chilean peasant in a remote valley noticed two haggard men desperately gesticulating to him from across a river. He threw them a pen and paper, and the note they tossed back read: “I come from a plane that fell in the mountains . . .”
Sixteen of the original forty-five passengers on the F-227 survived its horrific crash. In the remote glacial wilderness, they camped in the plane’s fuselage, where they faced freezing temperatures, life-threatening injuries, an avalanche, and imminent starvation. As their meager food supplies ran out, and after they heard on a patched-together radio that the search parties had been called off, it seemed like all hope was lost. To save their own lives, these men and women not only had to keep their faith, they had to make an impossible decision: Should they eat the flesh of their dead friends?
A remarkable story of endurance and determination, friendship and the human spirit, Alive is the dramatic bestselling account of one of the most harrowing quests for survival in modern times.
When eleven climbers died on K2 in 2008, two Sherpas survived. Their astonishing tale became the stuff of mountaineering legend. This white-knuckle adventure follows the Sherpas from their remote villages in Nepal to the peak of the world’s most dangerous mountain, recounting one of the most dramatic disasters in alpine history from a fascinating new perspective.
Winner of the NCTE George Orwell Award and an official selection of the American Alpine Club Book Club.
For eighteen years Ed Viesturs pursued climbing’s holy grail: to stand atop the world’s fourteen 8,000-meter peaks, without the aid of bottled oxygen. But No Shortcuts to the Top is as much about the man who would become the first American to achieve that goal as it is about his stunning quest. As Viesturs recounts the stories of his most harrowing climbs, he reveals a man torn between the flat, safe world he and his loved ones share and the majestic and deadly places where only he can go.
A preternaturally cautious climber who once turned back 300 feet from the top of Everest but who would not shrink from a peak (Annapurna) known to claim the life of one climber for every two who reached its summit, Viesturs lives by an unyielding motto, “Reaching the summit is optional. Getting down is mandatory.” It is with this philosophy that he vividly describes fatal errors in judgment made by his fellow climbers as well as a few of his own close calls and gallant rescues. And, for the first time, he details his own pivotal and heroic role in the 1996 Everest disaster made famous in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air.
In addition to the raw excitement of Viesturs’s odyssey, No Shortcuts to the Top is leavened with many funny moments revealing the camaraderie between climbers. It is more than the first full account of one of the staggering accomplishments of our time; it is a portrait of a brave and devoted family man and his beliefs that shaped this most perilous and magnificent pursuit.
In May 1996 three expeditions attempted to climb Mount Everest on the Southeast Ridge route pioneered by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. Crowded conditions slowed their progress. Late in the day twenty-three men and women-including expedition leaders Scott Fischer and Rob Hall-were caught in a ferocious blizzard. Disoriented and out of oxygen, climbers struggled to find their way down the mountain as darkness approached. Alone and climbing blind, Anatoli Boukreev brought climbers back from the edge of certain death. This new edition includes a transcript of the Mountain Madness expedition debriefing recorded five days after the tragedy, as well as G. Weston DeWalt's response to Into Thin Air author Jon Krakauer.
Annapurna I is the name given to the 8,100-meter mountain that ranks among the most forbidding in the Himalayan chain. Dangerous not just for its extreme height but for a long and treacherous approach, its summit proved unreachable until 1950, when a group of French mountaineers made a mad dash for its peak. They became the first men to accomplish the feat, doing so without oxygen tanks or any of the modern equipment that contemporary climbers use. The adventure nearly cost them their lives.
Maurice Herzog dictated this firsthand account of the remarkable trek from a hospital bed as he recovered from injuries sustained during the climb. An instant bestseller, it remains one of the most famous mountaineering books of all time, and an enduring testament to the power of the human spirit.
Providing critical instruction for anyone planning to travel over glacier country—from the Cascades to the Rockies to Denali—this book will guide and entertain readers through glacier anatomy, equipment, route finding, and rescue techniques.
Yet Eiger Dreams is more about people than about rock and ice—people with that odd, sometimes maniacal obsession with mountain summits that sets them apart from other men and women. Here we meet Adrian the Romanian, determined to be the first of his countrymen to solo Denali; John Gill, climber not of great mountains but of house-sized boulders so difficult to surmount that even demanding alpine climbs seem easy; and many more compelling and colorful characters. In the most intimate piece, “The Devils Thumb,” Krakauer recounts his own near-fatal, ultimately triumphant struggle with solo-madness as he scales Alaska's Devils Thumb. Eiger Dreams is stirring, vivid writing about one of the most compelling and dangerous of all human pursuits.
K2, The Savage Mountain captures this sensational tale with an unmatched power that has earned this book its place as one of the classics of mountaineering literature.
“The definitive guide to mountains and climbing . . .”—Conrad Anker
For nearly 60 years it’s been revered as the “bible” of mountaineering–and now it’s even better than ever
• The best-selling instructional text for new and intermediate climbers for more than half a century
• New edition—fully updated techniques and all-new illustrations
• Researched and written by a team of expert climbers
Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills is the text beloved by generations of new climbers—the standard for climbing education around the world where it has been translated into 12 languages. For the all-new 9th Edition, committees comprosed of active climbers and climbing educators reviewed every chapter of instruction, and discussed updates with staff from the American Alpine Club (AAC), the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE), and the Access Fund. They also worked with professional members of the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA), to review their work and ensure that the updated textbook includes the most current best practices for both alpine and rock climbing instruction.
From gear selection to belay and repel techniques, from glacier travel to rope work, to safety, safety, and more safety—there is no more comprehensive and thoroughly vetted training manual for climbing than the standard set by Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills, 9th Edition.
Significant updates to this edition include:
• New alignment with AAC’s nationwide universal belay standard
• Expanded and more detailed avalanche safety info, including how to better understand avalanches, evaluate hazards, travel safely in avy terrain, and locate and rescue a fellow climber in an avalanche
• Newly revamped chapters on clothing and camping
• All-new illustrations reflecting the latest gear and techniques—created by artist John McMullen, former art director of Climbing magazine
• Review of and contributions to multiple sections by AMGA-certified guides
• Fresh approach to the Ten Essentials—now making the iconic list easier to recall
“I can tell you that some force within me rejected death at the last moment and then guided me, blind and stumbling—quite literally a dead man walking—into camp and the shaky start of my return to life.”
In 1996 Beck Weathers and a climbing team pushed toward the summit of Mount Everest. Then a storm exploded on the mountain, ripping the team to shreds, forcing brave men to scratch and crawl for their lives. Rescuers who reached Weathers saw that he was dying, and left him. Twelve hours later, the inexplicable occurred. Weathers appeared, blinded, gloveless, and caked with ice—walking down the mountain. In this powerful memoir, now featuring a new Preface, Weathers describes not only his escape from hypothermia and the murderous storm that killed eight climbers, but the journey of his life. This is the story of a man’s route to a dangerous sport and a fateful expedition, as well as the road of recovery he has traveled since; of survival in the face of certain death, the reclaiming of a family and a life; and of the most extraordinary adventure of all: finding the courage to say yes when life offers us a second chance.
Praise for Left for Dead
“Riveting . . . [a] remarkable survival story . . . Left for Dead takes a long, critical look at climbing: Weathers is particularly candid about how the demanding sport altered and strained his relationships.”—USA Today
“Ultimately, this engrossing tale depicts the difficulty of a man’s struggle to reform his life.”—Publishers Weekly
From the Trade Paperback edition.
• In full color with 52 practical training exercises designed to advance technique
• Detailed anatomical illustrations explain climbing physiology
A dynamic package of training material from a pair of expert coaches, The Self-Coached Climber offers comprehensive instruction, from the basics of gripping holds to specific guidelines for developing a customized improvement plan. Hague and Hunter base their methods on the four fundamental components of all human movement—balance, force, time, and space—and explain how to apply these principles to achieve efficient results.
The Self-Coached Climber was named a finalist in the Mountain Exposition Category at the 2007 Banff Mountain Festival. For more information go to: http://www.banffmountainfestivals.ca/festivals/2007/book/finalists.asp
On May 15, 2006, a young British climber named David Sharp lay dying near the top of Mount Everest while forty other climbers walked past him on their way to the summit. A week later, Lincoln Hall, a seasoned Australian climber, was left for dead near the same spot. Hall's death was reported around the world, but the next day he was found alive after spending the night on the upper mountain with no food and no shelter.
If David Sharp's death was shocking, it was hardly singular: despite unusually good weather, ten others died attempting to reach the summit that year. In this meticulous inquiry into what went wrong, Nick Heil tells the full story of the deadliest year on Everest since the infamous season of 1996. He introduces Russell Brice, the commercial operator who has done more than anyone to provide access to the summit via the mountain's north side—and who some believe was partly accountable for Sharp's death. As more climbers attempt the summit each year, Heil shows how increasingly risky expeditions and unscrupulous outfitters threaten to turn Everest into a deadly circus.
Written by an experienced climber and outdoor writer, Dark Summit is both a riveting account of a notorious climbing season and a troubling investigation into whether the pursuit of the ultimate mountaineering prize has spiraled out of control.
A Day to Die For reveals the full, startling facts that led to the tragedy. Graham Ratcliffe, the first British climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest twice, was a first-hand witness, having spent the night on Everest's South Col at 26,000 ft, sheltering from the deadly storm. For years, he has shouldered a burden of guilt, feeling that he and his teammates could have saved lives that fateful night. His quest for answers has led to discoveries so important to an understanding of the disaster that he now questions why these facts were not made public sooner.
History is dotted with high-profile disasters that both horrify and capture the attention of the public, but very rarely is our view of them revised to such devastating effect.
In June 1992, best friends Jim Davidson and Mike Price stood atop Washington’s Mount Rainier, celebrating what they hoped would be the first of many milestones in their lives as passionate mountaineers. Then their triumph turned tragic when a cave-in plunged them deep inside a glacial crevasse—the pitch-black, ice-walled hell of every climber’s nightmares.
An avid adventurer since youth, Davidson was a seasoned climber at the time of the Rainier ascent. But the harrowing free fall left him challenged by nature’s grandeur at its most unforgiving. Trapped on a narrow frozen shelf, deep below daylight, he desperately battled crumbling ice, snow that threatened to bury him alive, and crippling fear of the inescapable chasm below—all the while struggling to save his fatally injured friend. Finally, alone, with little equipment and rapidly dwindling hope, he confronted a fateful choice: the certainty of a slow, lonely death or the near impossibility of an agonizing climb for life. A story of heart-stopping adventure, heartfelt friendship, fleeting mortality, and implacable nature, The Ledge chronicles the elation and grief, dizzying heights and punishing depths, of a journey to hard-won wisdom.
“Plunges readers into a dark, icy chasm from which escape seems impossible. Then it reveals the strength it takes to look up, and to start climbing.”—Jim Sheeler, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of the National Book Award finalist Final Salute
“How [Davidson] rescued himself is the core of The Ledge, and its most gripping part. The physical effort and will involved are astonishing.”—The Plain Dealer
“A moving portrait of friendship and loss.”—The Wall Street Journal
From the Trade Paperback edition.
As a high school student, Ed Viesturs read and was captivated by the French climber Maurice Herzog's famous and grisly account of the first ascent of Annapurna in 1950. When he began his own campaign to climb the world's 14 highest peaks in the late 1980s, Viesturs looked forward with trepidation to undertaking Annapurna himself. Two failures to summit in 2000 and 2002 made Annapurna his nemesis. His successful 2005 ascent was the triumphant capstone of his climbing quest.
In The Will to Climb Viesturs and co-author David Roberts bring the extraordinary challenges of Annapurna to vivid life through edge-of-your-seat accounts of the greatest climbs in the mountain’s history, and of his own failed attempts and eventual success. In the process Viesturs ponders what Annapurna reveals about some of our most fundamental moral and spiritual questions--questions, he believes, that we need to answer to lead our lives well.
CLICK HERE to download a portion of the chapter on "Scenarios & Solutions" from Climbing Self-Rescue featuring 5 different scenarios
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* Climbing self-rescue procedures for teams of two -- the most common climbing party size
* Techniques equally effective on rock, snow, and ice
* Utilizes gear climbers already carry in their rack
* Includes 40 one-page rescue scenarios and solutions for climbing accident analysis
The rope is stuck, or too short. A crucial piece of gear is MIA. You've wandered off route into dicey terrain. An injury leaves you or your partner in need of help. Climb long enough and finding yourself in a jam far from help is inevitable. In Climbing: Self Rescue, two long-time climbing instructors and guides teach how to improvise your own solutions, calling for outside help only when necessary.
Because few climbers carry fancy (and expensive) search and rescue gear, all skills taught in this book use the items typically found on a climbing rack: rope, carabiners, slings, and cord. Text, illustrations, and photos explain knots, belaying and hauling systems, rappelling, ascension, passing knots, how to safely assist and rig an injured climber, and more. Roughly half of the book is devoted to real-life climbing scenarios and solutions ranging from moderate to severe. Because real-life situations rarely unfold as they do in practice, Climbing Self-Rescue teaches how to analyze and improvise your way out of a crisis.
Steve House built his reputation on ascents throughout the Alps, Canada, Alaska, the Karakoram and the Himalaya that have expanded possibilities of style, speed, and difficulty. In 2005 Steve and alpinist Vince Anderson pioneered a direct new route on the Rupal Face of 26,600-foot Nanga Parbat, which had never before been climbed in alpine style. It was the third ascent of the face and the achievement earned Steveand Vince the first Piolet d"or (Golden Ice Axe) awarded to North Americans.
Steve is an accomplished and spellbinding storyteller in the tradition of Maurice Herzog and Lionel Terray. Beyond the Mountain is a gripping read destined to be a mountain classic. And it
Dickinson, an adventure filmmaker, was part of an expedition challenging the treacherous North Face of Everest, on the Tibetan side. Of the nearly 700 people who have scaled Everest since the first ascent in 1953, barely 230 have managed to ascend via the colder and technically more difficult route up the North Face. In addition to climbing through the storm, which would test him beyond his imagining, Dickinson also filmed the ascent. He and his team watched in awe as violent clouds gathered over the mountain and swept them all up in a frightening white force. Dickinson was a relative novice who had never climbed at this crushing altitude, and the storm preyed on his mind, throwing into question his entire mission. Despite this uncertainty and the treacherous conditions, Dickinson and his partner Alan Hinkes continued their climb, compelled to reach the summit.
Dickinson's first-person narrative--the only account of the killer storm written by a climber who was on the North Face--places the reader amid the swirl of the catastrophe, while providing rare insight into the very essence of mountaineering. The Other Side of Everest is a portrait of personal triumph set against the most disastrous storm to ever befall the world mountaineering community. Anyone who has ever pushed beyond familiar limits of physical and psychological endurance will cherish this book.
From the Hardcover edition.
Grand Prize Winner, Banff Mountain Book Festival
"Forever on the Mountain grips even non-climbers with its harrowing scenes of thorny relationships tested by extraordinary circumstances." —Washington Post
In 1967, seven young men, members of a twelve-man expedition led by twenty-four-year-old Joe Wilcox, were stranded at 20,000 feet on Alaska’s Mount McKinley in a vicious Arctic storm. Ten days passed while the storm raged, yet no rescue was mounted. All seven perished in what remains the most tragic expedition in American climbing history.
Revisiting the event in the tradition of Norman Maclean’s Young Men and Fire, James M. Tabor uncovers elements of controversy, finger-pointing, and cover-up that make this disaster unlike any other.
The U.S. Army Guide to Military Mountaineering details techniques soldiers and leaders must know to cope with mountainous terrain. These techniques are the foundation upon which the mountaineer must build. They must be applied to the various situations encountered to include river crossings, glaciers, snow-covered mountains, ice climbing, rock climbing, and urban vertical environments. The degree to which this training is applied must be varied to conform to known enemy doctrine, tactics, and actions. This guide also discusses basic and advanced techniques to include acclimatization, illness and injury, equipment, anchors, evacuation, movement on glaciers, and training.
Designed for quick use by climbers on site, this book shows how to properly place and configure natural anchors, passive chocks, mechanical chocks, fixed gear, knots, belay anchors, toprope anchors and rappel anchors. This field guide is up to date with the essential knowledge every climber can depend on.
* 41 principal routes and their variations, with aerial photos and route overlays
* Extensive material on Rainier's unique weather, terrain, high altitude and glacier training opportunities, and more
* Features sidebars on mountain history, Rainier personalities, and dramatic rescues
One of author Mike Gauthier's primary duties as Lead Climbing Ranger for Mount Rainier National Park was advising climbing parties about what to expect on the mountain. Name any route on Rainier, and he can describe its rewards and specific challenges (he's summited Rainier more than 170 times during all seasons and under intense conditions). Whether you choose the classic Liberty Ridge route, the drama of Success Cleaver, or the rarely attempted Mowich Face, Gauthier provides all the details you'll need for a successful and enjoyable climb.
This edition presents the information on logistics, regulations, and permits. It includes expanded material on understanding and surmounting Rainier's famed glaciers; tips on selecting a guide service; excellent mountaineering training sites around Rainier for those bound for the world's highest peaks; and bonus routes on adjacent Little Tahoma, Washington's third highest peak.
In The Mountain, veteran world-class climber and bestselling author Ed Viesturs—the only American to have climbed all fourteen of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks—trains his sights on Mount Everest in richly detailed accounts of expeditions that are by turns personal, harrowing, deadly, and inspiring.
The highest mountain on earth, Everest remains the ultimate goal for serious high-altitude climbers. Viesturs has gone on eleven expeditions to Everest, spending more than two years of his life on the mountain and reaching the summit seven times. No climber today is better poised to survey Everest’s various ascents—both personal and historic. Viesturs sheds light on the fate of Mallory and Irvine, whose 1924 disappearance just 800 feet from the summit remains one of mountaineering’s greatest mysteries, as well as the multiply tragic last days of Rob Hall and Scott Fischer in 1996, the stuff of which Into Thin Air was made.
Informed by the experience of one who has truly been there, The Mountain affords a rare glimpse into that place on earth where Heraclitus’s maxim—“Character is destiny”—is proved time and again.
Bonner Paddock summited 19,341 foot-high Mount Kilimanjaro, the world’s tallest freestanding mountain. Four years later, he earned the elite triathlete title, Kona Ironman. Thousands have done each individually. Bonner is the first person with cerebral palsy to do both.
Diagnosed in his youth, Bonner swore he wouldn’t let this neurological disorder limit him, and for twenty-nine years he guarded the truth about his health. But the sudden death of a friend’s young son who also suffered from CP forced Bonner to reevaluate his life. No longer would he be content striving for normal. Instead he would live life to its fullest, pursuing one breathtaking experience at a time—while raising money for special needs children along the way—and never turn down a challenge for fear of his physical limitations.
His is a remarkable journey that has taken him across the globe and introduced him to a fascinating cast of characters who have supported his inspiring quest. An athlete, adventurer, and philanthropist, Bonner is today no longer defined by his limits, but by the moments that pushed him past them. Infused with his irresistible charisma, courage, and heart, illustrated with 16 pages of color photos, One More Step shows us that we can all conquer our own challenges and embrace every moment life has to offer.
Rock climbing is one of the most physically challenging sports, testing strength, endurance, flexibility, and stamina. Good climbers have to build and maintain each of these assets. This is the first-ever book to provide climbers of all ages and experience with the knowledge and tools to design and follow a comprehensive, personalized exercise program.
Part One covers the basics of physical conditioning and goal-setting. Part Two takes readers through warm-up and flexibility routines, entry-level strength training, weight loss tips, and fifteen core-conditioning exercises. Part Three details climbing-specific conditioning, with twenty exercises to target specific muscles of the fingers, arms and upper torso to develop power and endurance. An entire chapter focuses on the antagonist muscle groups that help provide balance and stability, and prevent muscle injury. This section also has a chapter devoted to stamina conditioning, increasing the climber's endurance at high altitudes. Part Four shows how to put together a customized training program to suit the climber's needs. The book includes workout sheets for Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced skill levels, tips for children and those over age fifty, secrets of good nutrition and an insider's take on avoiding injuries.
Eric Hörst is a performance coach who has helped thousands of climbers. His published works include Learning to Climb Indoors, Training for Climbing, and How to Climb 5.12. He lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
• Approximately 35 new techniques, safety considerations, and subjects
• National Outdoor Book Award winner in first edition
• First edition of this popular title has sold 50,000 copies
Thousands of rock climbers have learned the sport using Craig Luebben’s seminal and bestselling text, Rock Climbing: Mastering Basic Skills. Now Craig’s friend and fellow climber Topher Donahue brings the content up to current standards and includes technological advances, while preserving Craig’s comprehensive approach. An award-winning climber in his own right, Topher uses his writing and photography skills to simplify the complex world of modern climbing technique and reveals the thought process behind safe and practical climbing methods.
This second edition includes European climbing techniques that offer alternatives to those traditionally taught in North America. Topher has also incorporated new lessons derived from accidents due, in part, to the increased popularity of climbing. Also found in this edition:
• Over 10,000 more words and 125 more photos
• Three never-before-published techniques: Adjustable Hitch, High Friction Tubes, and Bight Method
• Detailed technical updates throughout
• New distinction between “anchor” (a group of placements, pieces, or bolts used at the end of a pitch or for top rope or rappel setup) and “placement” or “piece” (individual cams, nuts, etc., used in groups to make an anchor or used individually as protection on a pitch)
CLICK HERE to download the chapter "The Alpine Environment" from Alpine Climbing
* For climbers who know the basics and are ready to venture at higher altitudes
* Written by longtime guides and climbing instructors certified by the American Mountain Guide Association (AMGA)
* Recommended by the AMGA
* Teaches situational thinking and learning as well as technique
This intermediate-level guide addresses tools, skills, and techniques used in alpine terrain including rock, snow, ice, and glaciers at moderate altitude -- approximately 5000 meters (16,000 feet) and lower. The technical protection systems are covered, of course. But 30 years of alpine climbing experience has convinced the authors that mastery -- and safety -- lie in the far more difficult task of knowing exactly which techniques to use, where and when. Therefore, they teach step-by-step decision-making skills, providing scenarios, checklists, and self-posed questions to inform the decision process.
Alpine Climbing assumes some prior knowledge, primarily in rock climbing skills and techniques. Basic knots, belaying, rappelling, building rock anchors, leading, placing rock protection, and movement skills on rock: variations of these skills that are of particular value in the alpine environment are addressed in this book.
Several sport and traditional areas included have never before been covered in a guidebook. Detailed maps, topos, and photos complement the route descriptions and ratings to provide climbers with a complete package. Rock Climbing Washington is the perfect book to take on your next climbing adventure in the Evergreen State.
—From David Robert's The Mountain of My Fear
In these thrillingly true tales of narrow brushes with death, Cecil Kuhne has amassed a wide range of stories that show the awesome power of the mountains. Spanning five continents, from the frosty tip of Mount McKinley in the dead of the winter, to the unexplored vastness of the Himalayas and beyond, this is a pulse-pounding collection of disaster and survival at the top of the world.
Also featuring:
• Joe Simpson's Touching the Void—An inspiring story of a climber who topples into a icy crevasse and, though crippled, starving and frostbitten, still manages to crawl to rescue.
• Jon Krakauer's Eiger Dreams—Reaching the limits of his own climbing skills, the author makes a crucial decision whether to brave the treacherous higher altitudes or return to base.
• Nando Parrado's Miracle in the Andes—The stunning first-person account of a Peruvian rugby team's airplane crash in the Chilean Andes and their harrowing journey down the mountain for help.
The essential guide to one of the world's most popular climbing destinations—
with detailed color topos, stunning action photos, and maps
Best Climbs Joshua Tree National Park
is part of a series of new climbing guides from Falcon, appealing specifically to nonlocal climbers and locals with minimal time on their hands, all of whom seek visually appealing, to-the-point guides that filter out the very best climbs in some of America's most popular climbing destinations, with an emphasis on moderate routes ranging from 5.6 to 5.10. With over 8,000 routes to choose from, selecting a climb at Joshua Tree can be a daunting task for the traveling climber or for a climber new to the area. Best Climbs Joshua Tree National Park includes over 250 of the very best sport and trad routes at this world-renowned climbing area.
- 250+ favorite routes, many of moderate difficulty
- Trivia and route history sidebars
- Stunning action photos
- 15+ color topo maps with detailed directions to parking areas (GPS coordinates included)
Gregory Crouch is one such pilgrim. In seven expeditions to this windswept edge of the Southern Hemisphere, he has braved weather, gravity, fear, and doubt to try himself in the alpine crucible of Patagonia. Crouch has had several notable successes, including the first winter ascent of the legendary Cerro Torre's West Face, to go along with his many spectacular failures. In language both stirring and lyrical, he evokes the perils of every handhold, perils that illustrate the crucial balance between physical danger and mental agility that allows for the most important part of any climb, which is not reaching the summit, but getting down alive.
Crouch reveals the flip side of cutting-edge alpinism: the stunning variety of menial labor one must often perform to afford the next expedition. From building sewer systems during a bitter Colorado winter to washing the plastic balls in McDonalds' playgrounds, Crouch's dedication to the alpine craft has seen him through as many low moments as high summits. He recounts, too, the riotous celebrations of successful climbs, the numbing boredom of forced encampments, and the quiet pride that comes from knowing that one has performed well and bravely, even in failure. Included are more than two dozen color photographs that capture the many moods of this land, from the sublime beauty of the mountains at sunrise to the unrelenting fury of its storms.
Enduring Patagonia is a breathtaking odyssey through one of the worldís last wild places, a land that requires great sacrifice but offers great rewards to those who dare to challenge it.
On 8 June 1924, George Leigh Mallory and Andrew 'Sandy' Irvine were last seen climbing towards the summit of Everest. The clouds closed around them and they were lost to history, leaving the world to wonder whether or not they actually reached the summit - some 29 years before Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay.
On 1 May 1999, Conrad Anker, one of the world's foremost mountaineers, made the momentous discovery - Mallory's body, lying frozen into the scree at 27,000 feet on Everest's north face. Recounting this day, the authors go on to assess the clues provided by the body, its position, and the possibility that Mallory had successfully climbed the Second Step, a 90-foot sheer cliff that is the single hardest obstacle on the north face.
A remarkable story of a charming and immensely able man, told by an equally talented modern climber.
**Please note we have a few edits and updates for THE HIGH SIERRA: Peaks, Passes, Trails, 3rd Ed. Please download the edits HERE so your copy reflects the appropriate changes and additions. Thank you.**
"The Sierra climbing bible" - The Los Angeles Times
"The best field guide to the region." - Men's Journal
"The guide to the Sierra Nevada high country." - Climbing magazine
* More than 100 new routes, route variations, and winter ascents in this edition compared to the previous
* User friendly organization
* Author has made more than 350 ascents in the Sierra
High Sierra is the most popular guidebook to this magnificent mountain range, and has long been the definitive source of climbing and hiking information for this wonderland. This comprehensive and exhaustive guidebook includes route descriptions, historical information, and GPS-enabled driving directions. This edition rearranged the information to keep roads and trails, and passes and peaks together, making the book easier to use.
'1001 Climbing Tips had me laughing out loud in places, which I never thought possible for this genre of book. A tremendous resource that should be an essential addition to every climber's loo-library' - Ian Parnell, Climb magazine
Imagine an alien came down to Earth, stuck a probe into a climber's brain - one who'd been climbing for over thirty years - and then transmogrified the contents into a big book of climbing tips. Well, 1001 Climbing Tips by Andy Kirkpatrick is just such a book.
This is no regular instruction manual - it's much more useful than that. This is a massive collection of all those little tips that make a real difference when at the crag, in the mountains, or when you're planning your next big trip. It's for anyone who hangs off stuff, or just hangs around in the mountains. These tips are based on three decades of climbing obsession, as well as nineteen ascents of El Cap, numerous Alpine north faces, trips to the polar ice caps, and many other scary climbs and expeditions.
1001 Climbing Tips covers the following areas:
BASI [1–240]: From how best to rope up and the importance of climbing partnerships, to racking your gear correctly and how to sleep in a harness. This section is designed for both novice and experienced climbers.
SAFETY [241–327]: The name of the game in climbing is staying alive and coming home in one piece. This section covers loose rock, rescue, dealing with heat and what to do if you get caught out.
BIG WALL [328–434]: Knowledge on tackling large multi-pitch climbs, with advanced topics such as pegging, jumaring, hauling and speed climbing. These tips will be an aid both to those new to multi-pitch climbing, as well as more experienced climbers.
ICE [435–481]: Tips on all aspects of ice climbing, including movement, protection, looking after your gear, mental strength and - of course - not falling off.
MIXED [482–503]: With a focus on Scottish and Alpine winter skills, these essential tips focus on how to use your tools on snowed-up rock, leading, gear and footwork on mixed ground.
MOUNTAIN [504–802]: Essential reading for mountaineers, hill walkers and rock climbers, this section has almost 300 tips on living and staying alive in the mountains, be that in the UK, Alps or Greater Ranges.
TRAINING [803–876]: A range of tips on how to overcome fear, improve strength and endurance, as well as diet and nutrition advice for climbers.
STUFF [877–1001]: A mix of esoterica, such as how to rap off a fifi hook, what books to read, how to make your own kit, how to get sponsored, photo and video advice, and how to go to the toilet in tricky spots.
Written by an expert local climber, each guide features:
- 150-200 routes of moderate difficulty, rarely rating above 5.11
- sections that each cover a different climbing area and route history
- detailed color topos
- stunning action photos
- a contemporary, exciting design
Best Climbs Moab covers Wall Street, Arches National Park, The Icecream Parlor in King Creek Canyon, Castleton Tower, and Fisher Towers.
Among the guest contributors for this new edition are top boulderers Paul Robinson, the 2008 ABS national champion, writing on gyms and competitions; and Angie Payne, the first American female to climb V13, who shares a woman's perspective on bouldering. More than 300 new color photos taken at the most popular bouldering locales throughout America and the world clearly demonstrate in dramatic fashion the concepts explained in the always entertaining text.
Includes information on:
The right way to apply climbing, caving, and whitewater skills to technical canyoneering An explanation of technical canyon ratings Simple, effective ways to negotiate hazardous terrain Twelve classic canyons in North America and their ratings ACA-certified instructors, guides, and guide service
Rock climbing is one of the most physically challenging sports, testing strength, endurance, flexibility, and stamina. Good climbers have to build and maintain each of these assets. This revised and updated edition of the classic book, Conditioning for Climbers, provides climbers of all ages and experience with the knowledge and tools to design and follow a comprehensive, personalized exercise program.
That tantalizing swirl of dye confirmed speculations that were to tempt more than 650 cavers over half a century with the thrill of being the first to make human passage of the cave connection. Roger Brucker and Richard Watson tell not only of their own twenty-year effort to complete the link but the stories of many others who worked their way through mud-choked crawlways less than a foot high only to find impenetrable blockages.
Floyd Collins died a grisly death in nearby Sand Cave in 1925, after being trapped there for 15 days. The wide press coverage of the rescue efforts stirred the imagination of the public and his body was on macabre display in a glass-topped coffin in Crystal Cave into the 1940s. Agents of a rival cave owner once even stole his corpse, which was recovered and still is in a coffin in the cave. Modern cavers still have a word with Floyd as they start their downward treks.
Brucker and Watson joined the parade of cavers who propelled themselves by wiggling kneecaps, elbows, and toes through quarter-mile long crawlways, clinging by fingertips and boot toes across mud-slick walls, over bottomless pits, into gurgling streams beneath stone ceilings that descend to water level, down crumbling crevices and up mountainous rockfalls, into wondrous domed halls, and straight ahead into a blackness intensified rather than dispelled by the carbide lamps on their helmets.
Over two decades they explored the passages with others who sought the final connection as vigorously as themselves. Pat Crowther, a young mother of two, joined them and because of her thinness became the member of the crew to go first into places no human had ever gone before. In that role, in July 1972, she wiggled her way through the Tight Spot and found the route that would link the Flint Ridge and Mammoth Cave systems into one cave extending 144.4 miles through the Kentucky limestone.
In a new afterword to this edition the authors summarize the subsequent explorations that have more than doubled the established length of the cave system. Based upon geological evidence, the authors predict that new discoveries will add another 200 miles to the length of the world’ s longest cave, making it over 500 miles long.
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.
* Will Gadd is an ESPN X Games and Ice World Cup winner
* Color photos throughout illustrate the climbing techniques
* Part of The Mountaineers Outdoor Expert series
"Mixed climbing is my favorite discipline. It's the most fun because it has the fewest rules -- sort of like professional wrestling compared to boxing." So says Will Gadd, as profiled in the book Fifty Favorite Climbs. Here the champion ice climber presents the same techniques and veteran wisdom he imparts to those who attend his annual clinics. These include step-by-step instructions for the swing (ice axe), the kick (footwork), and putting it all together (tracking); how to "read" ice to select your line and follow it safely; and drytool techniques for mixed climbing. Training exercises and inspirational stories complete this seminal guide.
Will Gadd won every major ice competition in the world in 1998 and 1999, as well as the 2000 Ice World Cup. A resident of Canmore, Alberta, he has written for Climbing and Rock & Ice, among other publications.
