 Very few pastimes generate the thrill of "being there" as reading mountaineering books. Novice and veteran mountain climbers share the adventure and mystique that unfolds from every page of these incredible books. Many readers simply are in awe of the heights, and while they wouldn't even consider taking that first step towards the top they appreciate the special psyche and inner drive that motivates people who write about their and others' experiences in the craggy, windswept world above. This website is dedicated to all those who share an interest in, respect for and sense of true wonder invoked by mountains and sky, rock and ice, wind and cold. Mountains speak to those who care to listen. Their silent strength draws us to them. We measure our ever changing mortal lives against their changeless, timeless mass. And when we cannot be in their presence, we can hear the mountain voices through those special works of human kind... mountaineering books. For your convenience
below you will find many of the major book sellers and the links are
set to take you directly to the mountaineering shelves. For
those who love collecting antique or old mountaineering books I will
set up some links soon. Read
on...
AMAZON
BARNES&NOBLE
BOOKS A MILLION
BORDERS BOOKFINDER.COM
eBAY
HALF.COM
POWELL'S BOOKS Website author: You can see my hiking boots in one of the photos above. I was resting as I was taking pictures of one of my sons climbing an icy couloir in the Maroon Bells outside Aspen, CO. Heights creep me out so I kept watch (snoozed) at base camp. My staunch avoidance of precarious precipices arose one summer day back in '63. As a youth of 17 I drove my '47 Ford cross country until my money ran out, fortunately, in Jackson, WY, right in from of the (then) Silver Spur Cafe. Got a job washing dishes for the (then) rate of $0.90/hour (ninety cents per hour). At summer's end three of us soft handed kitchen help went camping at nearby Taggart Lake. We decided to hike our own separate "best way" 2000 feet up to the glacial lake that feeds a frisky stream rushing down into Taggart Lake. I confidently selected a directissima route along the stream and then up alongside the waterfall at the rim of the lake; it was steeper but much easier and faster, I thought. I'll keep it short... I locked up! Tight as a freaking drum. With just a few more vertical feet to climb to the rim of the shelf by the glacial lake, I saw "The Void". The moment (hours?) of stark, paralyzing terror made my head swim; the focal point of my existence, the absolute clarity and universal oneness of my out-of-body consciousness was the perfect knowledge that if I moved so much as a millimeter in any direction I would slip off the wet rocks and plummet 200 feet down onto the boulders at the base of the cascading waterfall. I knew I'd be swallowed up among the house-sized boulders below... and no one would ever find me or any of my parts. I survived. Whether or not the life changing, long term bargains I made with the Great Spirit had anything to do with my escape from that lonely, terrifying lock-up I don't know. I do know that mountaineering is for braver people than I, people who actually enjoy a good panic-induced lock-up once in a while. Good for you! You touch the void; I'll read your book. I became an avowed mountaineering book reader on a trip to Switzerland when, to learn a bit about the local history, I was given a little paperback with the intriguing title, "The White Spider". I fell freely and deliberately in love with mountaineering. I love the incredible highs and exhaustive, limit-stretching physical challenges, the addictive euphoria of finally standing at the top, the interesting people and places, campfires and ice walls, the subtle clanking of the climbing gear hanging from the belt, bloodied and calloused fingers and rope and chalk and... well, I love it as long as it's happening to someone else! I'll take Maj. Dunn's place beneath the big pine tree and read all about it in one of my treasured mountaineering books. Cheers! |
I was served up a Hillary Rodham Clinton
book and several others totally unrelated to climbing or
mountaineering. My next search was for "Edmund Hillary" under
the "author" search window and got 8 returns. Good-by!
Not worth the effort.
