Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"This collection of essays provides an evocative look into the somewhat exclusive climbing world. Stevenson’s prose is lively, and his references to other prominent climbers and climber-authors may serve as a jumping-off point for further research in the field."
-- Lucy Hereford * Pacific Northwest Quarterly (PNQ) *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Warnings against Myself
1. Speaking in Code: Conversations and Reflections on Climbing, Language, and the Religion of the French
2. The Purposes of Ascent: Episodes and Conversations on Adventure, Climbing, and What It All Might Mean; An Account of Twenty Years in the West
3. Climber as Writer: From the Armchair to the Tetons Last Dance of the Wu Li Master: A Distanced Appreciation of Terrance “Mugs” Stump Virga
4. Untethered in Yosemite: A Report from Paradise in the Last Summer of the Millennium
5. Short Walks with McInerney: Three Classic Pilgrimages
6. Superstitious: Mont Blanc, French Alps
7. Struck: Longs Peak, Rocky Mountains
8. In the Bugs: In the Canadian Rockies
9. Axe of Contrition
10. Byron Glacier, June 24, 2009
11. Eros on the Heights
12. The Tower and the Riddle
13. Lives of the Volcano Poets
14. Here Comes Ol’ Flattop
15. A Short Cultural History of the Ice Axe in the Twentieth Century
16. Three Dreams of Mountains, Late Fall 2004
17. Whillans, Haston, and Me: A Distanced Appreciation with a Couple Trip Reports, Contextualized
18. In the Very Big Ice House: Travels on the Harding Icefield
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
