Climbing and mountaineering Books

Book SynopsisClimbing- Philosophy for Everyonepresents a collection of intellectually stimulating new essays that address the philosophical issues relating to risk, ethics, and other aspects of climbing that are of interest to everyone from novice climbers to seasoned mountaineers. Represents the first collection of essays to exclusively address the many philosophical aspects of climbing Includes essays that challenge commonly accepted views of climbing and climbing ethics Written accessibly, this book will appeal to everyone from novice climbers to seasoned mountaineers Includes a foreword written by Hans Florine Shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature, 2010 Trade Review“This book has enabled me to better understand the passion for exploring rocky heights. …There is a common twine that goes the whole length in Climbing, namely the love each of these authors and the editor have for climbing. If practices flourish primarily because of the dedication and commitment of the communities involved with them, one thing is clear, climbing is a very healthy practice in spite of and thanks to its beautifully inspiring risks, and Climbing is a great contribution to the climbing and philosophical communities.” (Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, 28 February 2012) "This nonetheless should not serve as a negative commentary on what proves to be a most thoughtful and engaging collection of articles that serve to intellectualize what is thought by many to be a purely adrenaline-fueled endeavor . . If you think, however, that there is no reason for anyone else to climb or that climbing is silly or pointless or just plain crazy, this book just might make you think again." (Aethlon, 1 January 2011) "The book is a pretty in-depth look at various issues, centring around risk, ethics and other issues. It also includes essays that challenge commonly accepted views of climbing and climbing ethics." (The Philosopher's Eye, 2010) "Read carefully within the four themed sections; the essays provoke an intellectual frisson rarely elicited by modern climbing literature." (Climbing.com, 2010) "[Climbing - Philosophy for Everyone: Because It's There] proves to be a most thoughtful and engaging collection of articles that serve to intellectualize what is thought by many to be a purely adrenaline-fueled endeavor." (aethlon, January 2011"If you're interested in why we climb and take risks for what many consider a frivolous activity, then add this book to your holiday gift list. It will provide lots of entertaining reading and spark interesting conversations around the nightly campfire." (About.com, 11 December 2010) "The authors are both climbers and academics (almost all in philosophy), so the essays ring with rigor and authenticity..... the essays provoke an intellectual frisson rarely elicited by modern climbing literature." (Climbing Magazine, October 2010) "This has to be the best book I have read on the subject of climbing. Most of the essays are written by seasoned climbers and ... are varied and interesting. Many of the questions put forth are of the moral and ethical reasons for climbing, and they also address many other aspects of the climbing game. The novice climber can definitely benefit from reading this book also as it explores several topics that are not easily found in a text about climbing. I believe that this book will enable all who read it to consider deeply what it is that they are doing while they are climbing and as a result be able to be better climbers not only to the climbing community but will understand their inner motivations about their own climbing." (OregonLive.com, August 2010) Table of ContentsForeword ixHans Florine Acknowledgments xiiiStephen E. Schmid Philosophizing into the Void: An Introduction to Climbing – Philosophy for Everyone 1Stephen E. Schmid Part I Tying In: Why Risk Climbing 11 1 Climbing and the Stoic Conception of Freedom 13Kevin Krein 2 Risk and Reward: Is Climbing Worth It? 24Paul Charlton 3 Why Climb? 37Joe Fitschen 4 Jokers on the Mountain: In Defense of Gratuitous Risk 49Heidi Howkins Lockwood Part II Quest for the Summit: Cultivating the Climber 65 5 High Aspirations: Climbing and Self-Cultivation 67Brian Treanor 6 More than Meets the “I”: Values of Dangerous Sport 81Pam R. Sailors 7 Mountaineering and the Value of Self-Sufficiency 93Philip A. Ebert and Simon Robertson 8 It Ain’t Fast Food: An Authentic Climbing Experience 106Ben Levey 9 Zen and the Art of Climbing 117Eric Swan Part III Cutting the Rope: Climbing Ethics 131 10 Freedom and Individualism on the Rocks 133Dane Scott 11 Hold Manufacturing: Why You May Be Wrong About What’s Right 145William Ramsey 12 The Ethics of Free Soloing 158Marcus Agnafors 13 Making Mountains Out of Heaps: Environmental Protection One Stone at a Time 169Dale Murray Part IV Mixed Climbing: Philosophy on Varied Terrain 181 14 From Route Finding to Redpointing: Climbing Culture as a Gift Economy 183Debora Halbert 15 Are You Experienced? What You Don’t Know About Your Climbing Experience 195Stephen M. Downes 16 What is a Climbing Grade Anyway? 206Richard G. Graziano 17 The Beauty of a Climb 218Gunnar Karlsen Climbing Glossary 230 Notes on Contributors 237

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Book SynopsisThe stories we tell, published or otherwise, condition our mountain experiences in practice and reinforce cultural memory and representation. Yet, as this book and the authors within it set out to demonstrate, if we look beyond the boundaries of this ‘singular white history’ there is a rich diversity of stories to tell. This volume contributes to a growing body of scholarship that calls for a heterogeneity of voices in mountain memoir genres. For the first time, this diverse scholarship interrogates how mountaineering literary and media culture impact bodies, spaces, and places, in order to nuance how commodification intersects across social categories and is embodied in multi-dimensional ways. In this volume, we explore a burgeoning tradition of mountaineering literature, of cinema and of memoir to appreciate difference, beyond the habitual heroic, white male, adventurer that dominates screens and bookshelves. Through exploring multidimensional axes of social differentiation from gender, race, class, and age to dis/ability and sexuality, the book will demonstrate how commodification is embodied through representation in mountaineering literature, media, film and memoir in mountaineering spaces. Amongst our aims, this book intends to understand how multiple social dimensions overlap and work to produce independent systems of exclusion and inclusion that focus on untraditional ways to be a mountaineer.Table of ContentsList of Figures Notes on Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction Hall and Hall Commodification and the Mountain 1. Fiona Mossman: Scripted Summits: Book History, Mountaineering, and the Experiences of Janet Adam Smith (1905-1999) 2. Martin Hall – Tommy Caldwell’s The Push: Climbing, Edgework and Media Perceptions of Risk 3. David Lombard: Thinking with a Mountain: A Narratological and Rhetorical Analysis of the Haptic Sublime in Jon Krakauer’s Mountaineering Memoirs 4. James N. Maples and Michael J. Bradley: Transforming the Dirtbag Label in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge 5. Sarah Ives: Decolonizing Mountain Writing: Gender, Race, and the Mini-Memoirs of the Digital Age Intersectional perspective of Mountaineering 6. Anandarup Biswas: Bengal’s Encounter With the Himalaya: Mountaineering Beyond Conquest 7. Emma Gleadhill: ‘Upon the whole I expect he took me for an aventurière’: British women Grand Tourists’ accounts of mountains and mountaineering 8. Sarah Lonsdale: ‘The Woman Business’: Dorothy Pilley’s Climbing Days 9. Agnieszka Kaczmarek: Wanda Rutkiewicz and Ewa Matuszewska: Deliberations on the auto/biographical 'Na jednej linie (On One Rope)' 10. Jenny Hall - Julie Tullis: Gender and the emotional labour of climbing the ‘Mountain of Mountains’ Embodying The Mountain 11. Ben Garlick: The Total Mountain: Nan Shepherd and the Virtual Qualities of Landscape 12. Anna Holman: The Representation of Play in Joe Simpson’s Touching the Void and Paratexts 13. Christopher Kocela: Walking Mountains: Zen practice and ecological awareness in Peter Matthiessen’s The Snow Leopard 14. Paul Gilchrist: Fatherhood, emotional (dis)entanglements and adventurous masculinities: Ben Fogle on Everest Conclusion Hall and Hall

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Book SynopsisIn 1923, a reporter asked George Mallory why he wanted to summit Mount Everest. “Because it’s there”. Today the question "why do this?" is included in nearly every mountaineering story or interview. Meanwhile, interest in climbing is steadily on the rise, from commercial mountaineering and climbing walls in university gyms and corporate workplaces to the flood of spectacular climbing imagery in advertising, cinema, and social media. Climbing has become the theater for imagining limits—of the human body and of the planet— and the nature of desire, motivation, and #goals. Covering the degradation of Everest, the banning of climbing on Australia’s Uluru, UNESCO’s decision to name alpinism an Intangible Cultural Heritage, the sudden death of Ueli Steck, and the commercial and critical success of Free Solo, Mountains and Desire chases after what remains of this pursuit – marred by its colonial history, coopted by nationalistic chauvinism, ableism, and the capitalist compulsion to unlimited growth – for both climbers and their fans.Trade Review"In this beautiful book, Margret Grebowicz examines the many meanings of mountaineering, then and now: what these meanings tell us about ourselves, and what they tell us about mountains as well.""A philosophical speed-climb, a topo map of our new Terra Incognita. I finished it grateful for a new sense of clarity.”"A treasure trove of insights exploring and critiquing the idea of climbing – upward pursuit -– in all its forms. Generous, fascinating, and written in sharp and lucid prose, Mountains and Desire illuminates an intoxicating and dangerous obsession through a startling range of material.""A fascinating attempt to answer the eternal question – why are you going up there? – for a new century. It will spur many to think more deeply."“Offers a timely appraisal of our relationship with high places.”

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Book SynopsisNature sports in general and hiking in particular have become, in our urban andpost-industrial societies, a growing phenomenon practiced by millions of citizens.The motivations and interests of this large group are varied, but they have a commonelement: to disconnect from stressful modern life and reconnect with nature.National parks and other protected areas are the preferred destinations, but theypresent an challenging contrast for land management: conservation versus tourist use. Whileonce considered a romantic practice of escape and discovery, hiking is now a consumerproduct and a tourist experience. It promises experiences of disconnection, quiet andhealth; yet, natural spaces are increasingly scarce and more often than not they arecrowded by other recreationalists.This book presents a multidisciplinary perspective on the latest trends and developmentsin hiking. In particular, the authors work from a European perspective withvarious outdoor recreation models represented and different conservation initiativesexplored in the contexts of Spain, Norway, Poland, Germany and Lebanon. Collectively,the authors attend to hiking as a social phenomenon and economic opportunity,which has the potential to sustainably revitalize rural destinations, if managedproperly.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisIn July 1967, seven young menmembers of Joe Wilcox's twelve-man expeditiondied on Mt. McKinley, North America's highest peak.

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Book SynopsisSmart, instructive, and beautifully designed, every book in the Trailside Guide series contains the essential information readers need to master outdoor activities and have fun in the process.

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Book Synopsis"A fascinating tale…Readers who are into high-altitude adventure stories won’t be disappointed." —Associated PressTrade Review"Jordan's skilled storytelling brings Wolfe to vivid life." -- Library Journal"[A] fascinating tale, taking the reader from Manhattan high society to the slopes of what the climbing community calls the ‘Savage Summit.’…Readers who aren’t familiar with high-altitude mountaineering will have no problem getting into it…Readers who are into high-altitude adventure stories won’t be disappointed. [Jordan]’s done her job, refuting the stereotype that Wolfe was a fat and slow climber who tried to be the first to buy his way atop a Himalayan peak." -- Rob Merrill - ABC News"The Last Man on the Mountain will find its place in the adventure canon of man versus mountains, when wool, hemp, and hobnails ruled, and class and national differences roiled beneath the surface…Jordan has done a great job." -- Peter Porterfield, author of In the Zone and Classic Hikes of the World"Jordan is solid with her generous descriptions of her subject’s good nature…and with her account of finding evidence of Wolfe’s story some 60-plus years after the fact on the mountain he scaled but did not leave." -- Kirkus Reviews

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Book SynopsisNATIONAL BESTSELLER • This gripping and triumphant memoir from the author of The Mountain follows a living legend of extreme mountaineering as he makes his assault on history, one 8,000-meter summit at a time.“From the drama of the peaks, to the struggle of making a living as a professional climber, to the basic how-tos of life at 26,000 feet, No Shortcuts to the Top is fascinating reading.”—Aron Ralston, author of Between a Rock and a Hard Place and subject of the film 127 HoursFor 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

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Book SynopsisThe art of climbing dis-roped and disrobed.Twenty years ago, Dean Fidelman asked a rock climber to take off her shoes and boulder nude, and his famous series Stone Nudes was born. The stunning black-and-white images of athletic figures captured in motion on cliffs in breathtaking wild landscapes have made Fidelman famous within the climbing community.Fidelman followed his nomadic muses around North America and the world, framing them in the picturesque landscapes of Yosemite Valley; Joshua Tree; Moab, Utah; Patagonia; Europe; and coastal Thailand.The sensual photographs uniquely capture the stark beauty of athletes on the stone, their muscular bodies camouflaging with the formations of the rocks they are poised on. This book will appeal to those interested in climbing, lovers of nude photography, as well as anyone who appreciates breathtaking images of improbable physical feats across stunning landscapes.Trade Review"Right now, of course, we miss the rocks and our sport more than ever, because of the coronavirus and ensuing stay-at-home orders and closures of public lands. What better way, then, to pass the time and reconnect with these places that mean so much to us than with Fidelman’s excellent new book? A lot of heart, craft, and mastery went into composing these images—flip through Stone Nudes: Climbing Bare and you’ll see." —CLIMBING MAGAZINE

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Book SynopsisThis guide to hiking Colorado's trails includes the Eastern Plains, the Front Range, the Northern and Central Mountains, the San Luis Valley, the Southern and Southwestern Mountains, and Canyon Country.

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Book SynopsisA unique and comprehensive guide to the sport of bouldering with 25 selected destinations across the US, from champion competition boulderer Alli Rainey Wendling.

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Book SynopsisOne of Atlas & Boots'' Top 10 Adventure Travel Books of 2021A dramatic account of the deadly earthquake on Everestand a return to reach the summit.On April 25, 2015, Jim Davidson was climbing Mount Everest when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake released avalanches all around him and his team, destroying their only escape route and trapping them at nearly 20,000 feet. It was the largest earthquake in Nepal in eighty-one years and killed about 8,900 people. That day also became the deadliest in the history of Everest, with eighteen people losing their lives on the mountain.After spending two unsettling days stranded on Everest, Davidson''s team was rescued by helicopter. The experience left him shaken, and despite his thirty-three years of climbing and serving as an expedition leader, he wasn't sure that he would ever go back. But in the face of risk and uncertainty, he returned in 2017 and finally achieved his dream of reaching the summit.Suspenseful and engrossing, The Next Everest portrays the experience of living through the biggest disaster to ever hit the mountain. Davidson''s background in geology and environmental science makes him uniquely qualified to explain how this natural disaster unfolded and why the seismic threats lurking beneath Nepal are even greater today. But this story is not about conquering the world's highest peak. Instead, it reveals how embracing change, challenge, and uncertainty prepares anyone to face their next Everest in life.

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Book SynopsisOne morning, when she was very young, Sophie Cairnsâ lungs tried to kill her. Every three months from the age of three to twelve, asthma sent her to hospital, where she slept in an oxygen tent. What makes someone who struggles to breathe seek out the thin air of high-altitude peaks on every continent on earth?

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Book Synopsis“Scott Parazynski’s drive, curiosity, inventiveness, and great humor shine through the pages of The Sky Below and will certainly inspire future generations to pursue their dreams with every fiber in their being.” —John Glenn, NASA astronaut An epic memoir from a man whose life is defined by exploration and innovation, The Sky Below re-creates some of the most unforgettable adventures of our time. From dramatic, high-risk spacewalks to author Scott Parazynski’s death-defying quest to summit Mount Everest—his body ravaged by a career in space—readers will experience the life of an elite athlete, physician, and explorer. This intimate, compelling account offers a rare portrait of space exploration from the inside. A global nomad raised in the shadow of NASA’s Apollo missions, Parazynski never lost sight of his childhood dream to one day don a spacesuit and float outside the airlock. With deep passion, unbridled creativity, resilience, humility, and self-deprecation, Parazynski chases his dream of the ultimate adventure experience, again and again and again. In an era that transitioned from moon shots to the Space Shuttle, space station, and Mars research, Parazynski flies with John Glenn, tests jet packs, trains in Russia to become a cosmonaut, and flies five missions to outer space (including seven spacewalks) in his seventeen-year NASA career. An unparalleled, visceral opportunity to understand what it’s like to train for—and deploy to—a home in zero gravity, The Sky Below also portrays an astronaut’s engagement with the challenges of his life on Earth, including raising a beautiful autistic daughter and finding true love.

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Book SynopsisIn this concise and fully updated guidebook, Gerry Roach shares his firsthand knowledge and experience, offering us a chance to explore some of Colorado's finest mountain trails.

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Book SynopsisIn his reflective autobiography Gerry Roach takes us back to his roots to re-discover a life-long passion for climbing.

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Book SynopsisFanny Bullock Workman was a complicated and restless woman who defied the rigid Victorian morals she found as restrictive as a corset. With her frizzy brown hair tucked under a helmet, Workman was a force on and off the mountain. Instrumental in breaking the British stranglehold on Himalayan mountain climbing, this American woman climbed more peaks than any of her peers and became the first woman to map the far reaches of the Himalayas and the second to address the Royal Geographic Society of London, whose past members included Charles Darwin, Richard Francis Burton, and David Livingstone. Her books—replete with photographs, illustrations, and descriptions of meteorological conditions, glaciology, and the effect of high altitudes on humans—remained useful decades after their publication. Paving the way for a legion of female climbers, Workman's legacy lives on in scholarship prizes at Wellesley, Smith, Radcliffe, and Bryn Mawr.Author and journalist Cathryn J. Prince brings Fanny Bullock Workman to life, revealing how she navigated the male-dominated world of alpine clubs and adventure societies as nimbly as she navigated the deep crevasses and icy granite walls of the Himalayas. Queen of the Mountaineers is the story of one woman's role in science and exploration, breaking boundaries and charting frontiers for women everywhere.Trade Review"In Queen of the Mountaineers, Cathryn J. Prince transports readers to an era when explorers traversed continents by yak and goatskin boat, when mountains were still unmapped and unmeasured, when climbers braved the elements with rudimentary gear, and when the hard-earned, high-altitude triumphs of those like Fanny Bullock Workman were presented with the caveat the climber was a woman." Carolyn Porter, author of Marcel's Letters"Cathryn J. Prince presents legendary adventurer and climber Fanny Bullock Workman, a fascinating champion for women's rights who resisted expectation and refused to conform to gender roles. Through Fanny's fascinating story, Prince beautifully archives the heights achieved by our foremothers." Ruta Sepetys, author of Between Shades of Gray and Salt to the Sea"This very well researched and written biography brings Fanny's trail-blazing accomplishments to a new generation of climbersboth women and menas well as to armchair mountaineers." Arlene Blum, author of Annapurna: A Woman's Place and Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life"Cathryn J. Prince digs into original journals, manuscripts, and photos to reveal a woman whose ambitions broke boundaries for mountaineers in general and women climbers in particular." Elizabeth Rynecki, author and documentary film director of Chasing Portraits"[This] engaging and rigorously reported account of Fanny Bullock Workman's impressive life invites the reader to follow this brave and restless woman up the world's tallest mountains, both geological and cultural. What a read!" Ben Montgomery, author of Grandma Gatewood's Walk and The Leper Spy" Queen of the Mountaineers will inform scholars and delight mountaineers and armchair travelers with its rich and detailed descriptions of local people, global customs, and the dangers of traveling abroad at the turn of the twentieth century." -- Foreword Reviews

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Book SynopsisOne afternoon in 1987, two renegade climbers in Berkeley, California, hatched an ambitious plan: under the cover of darkness, they would rappel down from a carefully scouted highway on-ramp, gluing artificial handholds onto the load-bearing concrete pillars underneath. Equipped with ingenuity, strong adhesive, and an urban guerilla attitude, Jim Thornburg and Scott Frye created a serviceable climbing wall. But what they were part of was a greater development: the expansion and reimagining of a sport now slated for a highly anticipated Olympic debut in 2020.High Drama explores rock climbing's transformation from a pursuit of select anti-establishment vagabonds to a sport embraced by competitors of all ages, social classes, and backgrounds. Climbing magazine's John Burgman weaves a multi-layered story of traditionalists and opportunists, grassroots organizers and business-minded developers, free-spirited rebels and rigorously coached athletes.Trade Review"A regular contributor to Climbing and Climbing Business Journal, Burgman details the growth of the niche sport of competitive climbing from the early years as an outdoor challenge that appealed to antiestablishment rock climbers to the growth of climbing clubs and the booming business of indoor climbing gyms. His easy-to-read historical account highlights the numerous men and women who led the way in competitions as well as the grassroots movement to grow the sport. Coverage includes the first International Federation of Sport Climbing Championship at Snowbird, Utah, in 1991, the rise of sponsorship deals to fund the sport, courting mainstream media like ESPN, and the evolution of national and international governing organizations. Sport climbing has come a long way from the days when a couple of guys created a climbing wall on a California highway on-ramp. Climbing will make its debut in the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics with a format that will judge sport climbing (based on difficulty), speed climbing, and bouldering. This timely volume is sure to appeal to climbing fans interested in the history of the sport." Booklist

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Book SynopsisCrack climbing is a highly technical form of movement in which climbers position their hands, feet, and even their entire body in cracks to make upward progress on rock. An advocate for the sport's aesthetic lines, physicality, and technical know-how, author Pete Whittaker teaches more than sixty Crack School Masterclasses each year and was featured in the popular climbing film Wide Boyz. This detailed and comprehensive guide teaches step-by-step techniques and tips, including for: Jamming (finger, hand, fist, foot, arm, leg, body) Crack types (chimneys, liebacks, underclings, roof cracks) How to safely lead and place protection Efficient positioning and movement Strength recovery while climbing

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Book Synopsis'Well if you have a big life, a lot of stuff happens. Dad had a big life.' - Peter Hillary Edmund Hillary is a towering figure among adventurers. His conquest of Everest and his dedication to the welfare of the Nepalese people is well known. While much has been written about what Sir Edmund Hillary did, 'Ed', the man behind the legend, is less well known in large part because he controlled how his story was told. The years leading up to Everest and the other great adventures are remarkable enough, but it is the drama of Ed's later years that throws light onto the world of the private man: the death of his wife and daughter in an air crash, his remarriage to the widow of an old friend, and, finally, the falling out, after his own death, of family members and those in his inner circle. Ed's image was that of a simple, straightforward man, but in reality he was a complex bundle of paradoxes. He was an individualist who always worked with a team; a young loner who came to be loved by millions; a sometimes distant father who was seen as a surrogate parent by thousands of Nepalese; and a left-leaning thinker who accepted the highest order of chivalry from Queen Elizabeth II. This is the story of the man behind the legend.

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Book Synopsis‘A fascinating account of a man of great humility and remarkable courage.’ – The Daily Record. The Cairngorm mountains in Scotland are a magnet for climbers and walkers. John Allen spent more than thirty years in the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team saving the lost and injured, and in Cairngorm John he shares stories of life and death, alongside discussions of hypothermia, first aid, new technology and rescue dogs. Allen's book is a must-read for anyone who spends time in the great outdoors, whether as a casual hillwalker or as part of a mountain rescue team. This latest edition includes additional photographs and new chapters discussing how mountain rescue has developed in the early years of the twenty-first century.Trade Review‘Indispensable to those who love the hills. The stories it contains are poignant and full of emotion.’ * The Inverness Courier *‘A fascinating account of a man of great humility and remarkable courage.’ * The Daily Record *‘The twisting mix of sadness and wit are blended together with perfection. Kick Ass Day and the true meaning of TLC are the kind of priceless gems that we all need.’ -- Neil Woodhead * Mountain Rescue Magazine *‘Cairngorm John portrays the human side of mountain rescue, clearly demonstrating the emotional roller coaster that's involved, as well as the camaraderie that exists within teams like Cairngorm Mountain Rescue.’ * TGO Magazine *‘Allen’s book is an invaluable source.’ * Climber Magazine *Table of ContentsThree reasons for writing this book Acknowledgement List of illustrations Introduction by Sir Chris Bonington PROLOGUE: The Mountains A LIFE IN MOUNTAIN RESCUE EPILOGUE: The Sea TEN YEARS AFTER 1. Rescue from the ai 2. New technology: Can-Ams and Ski-Doos, Go-Pros, Apps and Drones 3. A new beginnin 4. Safety in the mountain AFTERWORD: Thai Boys MAPS Cairngorm Mountains Northern Corries Cairngorm Plateau Glossary of climbing terms Gaelic pronunciation and meanings Select bibliography About the author

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Book SynopsisEach spring, over eight hundred climbers attempt to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. The conditions are challenging, and without warning can become life-threatening. Some make it to the top of what is considered the world''s most majestic mountain, but others are not so lucky, and in the attempt to reach the elusive summit, many more have tragically lost their lives. Not all are recovered, their bodies left to the mountain. In the spring of 2010, 18,000 feet above sea level, documentaryfilmmaker Dianne Whelan immersed herself in the challenging and captivating world of base camp on Mt. Everest. In this personal and eye-opening exposé, BASE CAMP: 40 DAYS ON EVEREST, Whelan shares gripping stories of Maoist rebels, avalanches and dead bodies surfacing out of a dying glacier. From her perspective at base camp Whelan interviews climbers, doctors and Sherpas all living for months on end in the belly of the mountain as they wait for a weather window to summit the top of the world.Woven into the personal stories of these climbers is the devastating truth of the human impact on the mountain and the eerie and unforeseen effects of climate change. Experts believe there are over 250 bodies buried on the path from base camp to the peak of Mt. Everest. With the glacier melting and moving at over four inches a day, the toll of the human desire to conquer the mountain is slowly and irreversibly surfacing at base camp.

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