In 1982, following the relaxation of access restrictions to Tibet, six climbers set off for the Himalaya to explore the little-known Shishapangma massif in Tibet. Dealing with a chaotic build-up and bureaucratic obstacles so huge they verged on comical, the mountaineers gained access to Shishapangma's unclimbed South-West Face where Doug Scott, Alex MacIntyre and Roger Baxter-Jones made one of the most audacious and stylish Himalayan climbs ever. First published in 1984 as The Shishapangma Expedition, Shishapangma won the first ever Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature. Told through a series of diary-style entries from all the climbers involved, Shishapangma reveals the difficult nature of Himalayan decision-making, mountaineering tactics and climbing relationships. Tense and candid, the six writers see every event differently, reacting in different ways and pulling no punches in their opinions of the other mountaineers - quite literally at one point. Nonetheless, the climbers, at the peak of their considerable powers and experience, completed an extremely committing enterprise. The example set by their fine climb survives and several new routes (all done in alpine style) have now been added to this magnificent face. For well-trained climbers, such ascents are fast and efficient, but the consequences of error, misjudgement or bad luck can be terminal and, sadly, soon afterwards two of the participants were struck down in mountaineering accidents - MacIntyre hit by stonefall on Annapurna's South Face and Baxter-Jones being caught by an ice avalanche on the Aiguille du Triolet. In addition their support climber, Nick Prescott, died in a Chamonix hospital from an altitude-induced ailment. Shishapangma is a gripping first-hand account of the intense reality of high-altitiude alpinism.

The Next Horizon, the second volume in Chris Bonington's autobiography after I Chose to Climb, picks up his story from 1962 and relates his subsequent adventures as a mountaineer, photographer, journalist and expedition leader alongside eminent climbers including Doug Scott and Don Whillans, throughout an extraordinary decade of adversity, thrill and discovery. The book opens with a journey to Chile to climb the Central Tower of Paine. Bonington then recounts his ascents across the globe; from the Old Man of Hoy in Scotland, the Eiger in Switzerland, to Sangay in Ecuador to name but a few. He concludes in the summer of 1972 with preparations for his ambitious autumn Everest expedition. This revealing narrative of Chris Bonington's experiences provides an insight into the charismatic generation of climbing personalities with whom he travelled, as well as his development into the celebrity we know today.

No Place to Fall is Victor Saunders' follow up to his Boardman Tasker Prize winning debut book Elusive Summits. Covering three expeditions in Nepal, the Karakoram and the Kumaon, each shares the exhilaration of attempting new alpine-style routes on terrifyingly committing mountains. In 1989 Victor Saunders and Steve Sustad completed a difficult route on the West Face of Makalu II, only to be brought to a storm-bound halt above 7,000 metres while descending. Without food or bivouac gear, they endured a tortuous descent after a night in the open. Two years later the pair were with a small team in the Hunza valley exploring elusive access to a giant hidden pillar on the unvisited South-East Face of Ultar, one of the highest and most shapely of the world's unclimbed peaks. In 1992 Victor Saunders was part of a joint Indian-British team climbing various peaks in the Panch Chuli range. A happy and successful expedition narrowly avoided ending in tragedy when Stephen Venables broke both legs in a fall on the descent from Panch Chuli V and Chris Bonington survived another fall going to his aid. The dramatic evacuation of Venables, in which the author took a major part, forms an exciting climax to a story of cutting-edge, alpine-style climbing in the world's highest mountains. No Place to Fall offers enviable mountain exploration, enriched by sharing the lives of the mountain peoples along the way. Victor Saunders casts a perceptive, if bemused, eye over his fellow climbers and reflects on the calculation of risk that drives them back year after year to chance their lives in high places.

Rope Boy is the story of Dennis Gray, a young lad from Leeds who gets his first taste of rock at age eleven, and goes on to become a prominent figure in the UK climbing scene for decades to come. Gray's climbing career began with the 'Bradford Lads', climbing in Yorkshire, Scotland and Wales, exploring classic crags such as Clogwyn Du'r Arddu, tentatively venturing into an exciting new game, and inspired by the pioneering Arthur Dolphin. Just as the scene was rapidly developing in the 1950s, so was Gray's desire to climb, and he was soon climbing with the Rock and Ice legends Joe Brown, Don Whillans and Nat Allen, among others, making first ascents such as North Crag Eliminate on Castle Rock in the Lake District and Grond on Dinas Cromlech in Wales. Larger objectives beckoned, and Gray embarked upon multiple expeditions to the Alps as well as to the Himalaya, the Andes, and America, making numerous first ascents along the way including the north ridge of Alpamayo in Peru's Cordillera Blanca, and Mukar Beh in the Kulu valley of India. Rope Boy relays times of frustration, adventure and success, and the hilarious and dauntless friends with whom Gray shared his experiences. Dennis Gray's transformation from rope boy to expedition leader is an inspiring and encouraging tale of one boy's journey into adulthood via a world of rock, snow and ice.

Rock Climbing Wyoming describes 11 major climbing areas in the state of Wyoming. It offers approximately 550 climbing routes for beginners and experts alike. Maps, color topos, and stunning action photos accompany clearly written descriptions of the routes to make this an indispensable resource for the best climbing in "Wonderful Wyoming".

Bob Shepton is an ordained minister in the Church of England in his late 70s, but spends most of his time sailing into the Arctic and making first ascents of inaccessible mountains. No tea parties for this vicar. Opening with the disastrous fire that destroyed his yacht whilst he was ice-bound in Greenland, the book travels back to his childhood growing up on the rubber plantation his father managed in Malaysia, moving back to England after his father was shot by the Japanese during the war, boarding school, the Royal Marines, and the church. We then follow Bob as he sails around the world with a group of schoolboys, is dismasted off the Falklands, trapped in ice, and climbs mountains accessible only from iceberg-strewn water and with only sketchy maps available. Bob Shepton, winner of the 2013 Yachtsman of the Year Award, is an old-school adventurer, and this compelling book is in the spirit of sailing mountaineer HW Tilman, explorer Ranulph Fiennes, climber Chris Bonington and yachtsman Robin Knox-Johnston, all of whom have been either friends of Bob's or an inspiration for his own exploits. Derring do in a dog collar! Ranulph Fiennes: 'A wonderful true tale of adventure.' Bear Grylls: 'You are going to enjoy this...as a Commando, Bob is clearly made of the right stuff!'

Utah is a magnificent landscape of startling diversity and beauty, manifested for climbers in more cliff miles of exposed rock than any other state. Fragile sandstone towers pierce the sky amid endless miles of vertical cliffs sometimes more than a half mile high; wondrous canyon walls of cobblestone and limestone overhang at dizzying angles; and granite domes and slabs recline on sunny mountain slopes. Rock Climbing Utah is the only guide available that covers all the major climbing areas in the state. Traditional and sport climbers from the beginner to expert will find a superb sampling of hundreds of routes in the 25 areas covered--including 300 new routes that were not in the first edition. This fully revised and expanded guidebook offers first-hand information for climbers, including area overviews and climbing histories, route betas and topos, color maps and photos, equipment recommendations, approach and descent information, and listings for shops, gyms, and guide services. Stunning action photos round out the package to make Rock Climbing Utah an essential source for visitng and local climbers alike.

Named one of the "Five Adventure Books You Need to Read This Summer" by Backpacker Magazine For readers of Into Thin Air, riveting high-altitude drama and the passion and drive that inspire outsized mountaineering achievements. Master of Thin Air opens with a fall that the author very nearly could not stop down an almost vertical rock ramp leading to a three-thousand-foot drop. The qualities that saved him then on K2 in addition to his mountaineering know-how and sheer good luck drove his sixteen-year journey to summit all of the world's eight-thousanders, the fourteen peaks that exceed 8,000 meters (26,000-plus feet) and take climbers into the death zone. Incredibly, he accomplished that feat without the aid of bottled oxygen for every mountain but one. By preference, he climbed solo or in small teams, without Sherpas. During twenty-three expeditions, he spent a total of three years clinging to the sides of dangerous mountains. He lost more than twenty climbing friends and, in April 2014, witnessed Everest's deadliest avalanche. His book is a riveting, often thrilling account of what it takes to challenge the Earth's highest peaks and survive. It tells of death-defying ascents and even riskier descents, the gut-dropping consequences of the smallest mistakes or even just bad luck, the camaraderie and human drama of expeditions, the exhilaration of altitude. It is also the inspiring story of what motivates a person to achieve an extraordinary dream, a story of passion, resourcefulness, self-motivation, and hope even in the most dire moments. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, is proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. In addition to books on popular team sports, we also publish books for a wide variety of athletes and sports enthusiasts, including books on running, cycling, horseback riding, swimming, tennis, martial arts, golf, camping, hiking, aviation, boating, and so much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin his long, dangerous descent from 29,028 feet, twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly toward the top.  No one had noticed that the sky had begun to fill with clouds. Six hours later and 3,000 feet lower, in 70-knot winds and blinding snow, Krakauer collapsed in his tent, freezing, hallucinating from exhaustion and hypoxia, but safe. The following morning, he learned that six of his fellow climbers hadn't made it back to their camp and were desperately struggling for their lives. When the storm finally passed, five of them would be dead, and the sixth so horribly frostbitten that his right hand would have to be amputated.

Into Thin Air is the definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest by the acclaimed journalist and author of the bestseller Into the Wild. On assignment for Outside Magazine to report on the growing commercialization of the mountain, Krakauer, an accomplished climber, went to the Himalayas as a client of Rob Hall, the most respected high-altitude guide in the world.  A rangy, thirty-five-year-old New Zealander, Hall had summited Everest four times between 1990 and 1995 and had led thirty-nine climbers to the top. Ascending the mountain in close proximity to Hall's team was a guided expedition led by Scott Fischer, a forty-year-old American with legendary strength and drive who had climbed the peak without supplemental oxygen in 1994. But neither Hall nor Fischer survived the rogue storm that struck in May 1996.

Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled so many people -- including himself -- to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense. Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer's eyewitness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement.

Into the Wild is available on audio, read by actor Campbell Scott.

The definitive story of the British adventurers who survived the trenches of World War I and went on to risk their lives climbing Mount Everest.
On June 6, 1924, two men set out from a camp perched at 23,000 feet on an ice ledge just below the lip of Everest's North Col. George Mallory, thirty-seven, was Britain's finest climber. Sandy Irvine was a twenty-two-year-old Oxford scholar with little previous mountaineering experience. Neither of them returned.
Drawing on more than a decade of prodigious research, bestselling author and explorer Wade Davis vividly re-creates the heroic efforts of Mallory and his fellow climbers, setting their significant achievements in sweeping historical context: from Britain's nineteen-century imperial ambitions to the war that shaped Mallory's generation. Theirs was a country broken, and the Everest expeditions emerged as a powerful symbol of national redemption and hope. In Davis's rich exploration, he creates a timeless portrait of these remarkable men and their extraordinary times.

Tackling the unclimbed west face of the remote Siula Grande in the Andes, Joe Simpson and his partner Simon Yates achieved the summit before disaster struck. A few days later, an exhausted Simon staggered into base camp to tell their non-climbing companion that Joe was dead. For three days he wrestled with guilt as they prepared to return home. Then a cry in the night took them out, where they found Joe, badly injured, crawling through the snowstorm. Far from causing Joe's death, Simon had saved his friend's life when he was forced into the appalling decision to cut the rope.

Who says you have to travel far from home to go on a great hike, paddle, or bike ride? Best Outdoor Adventures the Colorado Front Range details the best hikes, paddles, climbs, and mountain biking routes within a few hour's drive of the Denver metro area, perfect for the urban dweller and suburbanite who may be hard-pressed to find great outdoor activities close to home. This guide not only include the best mountain biking, hiking, and paddling, but also rock climbing and zip-lining-- perfect for families!

Reinhold Messner: My Life at the Limit, the newest book by the famed mountaineer, is a conversation between Messner and interviewer Thomas H etlin, an award-winning German journalist. It reveals a more thoughtful and conversational Messner than one finds in his previous books, with the "talk" between Messner and H etlin covering not only the highlights of Messner's climbing career, but also his treks across Tibet, the Gobi, and Antarctica; his five-year-stint as a member of the European Parliament; his encounter with and study of the yeti; his thoughts on traditional male/female roles; and much more. Readers learn about Messner's childhood, his thoughts about eating ice cream with girls (against), politics (mostly liberal), and his technique for killing chickens (sharp scissors).

Messner is known as one of history's greatest Himalayan mountaineers, a man who pushed back the frontiers of the possible for a whole generation of climbers. While the interest in My Life at the Limit is that

Following his vivid account of traveling with one of the last camel caravans on earth in Men of Salt, Michael Benanav now brings us along on a journey with a tribe of forest-dwelling nomads in India. Welcomed into a family of nomadic water buffalo herders, he joins them on their annual spring migration into the Himalayas. More than a glimpse into an endangered culture, this superb adventure explores the relationship between humankind and wild lands, and the dubious effect of environmental conservation on peoples whose lives are inseparably intertwined with the natural world. The migration Benanav embarked upon was plagued with problems, as government officials threatened to ban this nomadic family-and others in the Van Gujjar tribe-from the high alpine meadows where they had summered for centuries. Faced with the possibility that their beloved buffaloes would starve to death, and that their age-old way of life was doomed, the family charted a risky new course, which would culminating in an astonishing mountain rescue. And Benanav was arrested for documenting the story of their plight. Intimate and enthralling, Himalaya Bound paints a sublime picture of a rarely-seen world, revealing the hopes and fears, hardships and joys, of a people who wonder if there is still a place for them on this planet. Laced with stories of tribal cultures from India to Yellowstone, from Jordan to Kenya, Benanav deftly wends through the controversial terrain where Western ways of protecting the environment clash with indigenous understandings of nature. Himalaya Bound celebrates and mourns an ancient way of life, while revealing an unlikely battleground in the fight to save the earth.

At the age of twenty three, Bear Grylls became the youngest Briton to reach the summit of Mount Everest. This is the story of how he overcame severe eather conditions, dehydration and a last minute illness to stand on top of the world's highest mountain only two years after breaking his back.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING AND THE BOARDMAN TASKER AWARD FOR MOUNTAIN LITERATURE In Time on Rock Anna Fleming charts two parallel journeys: learning the craft of traditional rock climbing, and the new developing appreciation of the natural world it brings her. Through the story of her progress from terrified beginner to confident lead climber, she shows us how placing hand and foot on rock becomes a profound new way into the landscape. Anna takes us from the gritstone rocks of the Peak District and Yorkshire to the gabbro pinnacles of the Cuillin, the slate of North Wales and the high plateau of the Cairngorms. Each landscape, and each type of rock, brings its own challenges and unique pleasures. She also shows us how climbing invites us into the history of a place: geologically, of course, but also culturally. This book is Anna's journey of self-discovery, but it is also a guide to losing oneself in the greater majesty of the natural world. With great lyricism she explores how it feels to climb as a woman, the pleasures of the physical demands of climbing, fear and challenge, but more than anything, it is about a joyful connection to the mountains.

Mountaineering in the Mont Blanc Range showcases the most beautiful lower grade snow, ice and mixed climbs (F to AD+) in the seemingly inexhaustible Mont Blanc Range. The routes described in this book should be within the capabilities of almost all mountaineers. Reflecting all recent changed topographical conditions due to the steady glacial retreat created by climate change, authors Jean-Louis Laroche and Florence Lelong have selected 36 climbs from across the range, which are easily accessible from well appointed mountain huts, useful telepheriques and mountain railways. The routes described are an ideal introduction to the climbing in this magnificent area. They are on snow or mixed ground and, distributed among the main glacier basins, they will enable you to visit a representative selection of summits along the full length of the range. Among them are some of the finest classics, including: the North Face of the Tete Blanche; the Whymper Route on the Aiguille d'Argentiere; the Cosmiques Ridge of the Aiguille du Midi; the Normal Route, Contamine-Grisolle, and Chere Couloir on the Mont Blanc du Tacul; and of course a choice of routes on Mont Blanc itself. Each route features a detailed and comprehensive route description, a sketch map and a route summary detailing the start point, difficulty, timings, height gain, best time of year and the gear required. Beautifully illustrated with photos that show both the lie of the land and also the haunting beauty of the fabulous peaks of the Mont Blanc Range, this guide clearly indicates alpinism's continued popularity to climbers of all ages.

This book is the second volume of a planned three - volume treatment of the history of mountaineering in Scotland, and covers the period from 1914 to 1971. It was a period when there were many changes in the equipment and practice of climbing in summer and winter, and there was a significant rise in the general difficulty of routes being climbed. Many new clubs were formed, and the number of participants increased dramatically.

Winner of the 2012 Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature 'I was aware that I was cold - beyond cold. I was a lump of meat left for too long in a freezer, a body trapped beneath the ice, sinking down into the dark. I was freezing to death.' In this brilliant sequel to his award-winning debut Psychovertical, mountaineering stand-up Andy Kirkpatrick has achieved his life's ambition to become one of the world's leading climbers. Pushing himself to new extremes, he embarks on his toughest climbs yet - on big walls in the Alps and Patagonia - in the depths of winter. Kirkpatrick has more success, but the savagery and danger of these encounters comes at huge personal cost. Questioning his commitment to his chosen craft, Kirkpatrick is torn between family life and the dangerous path he has chosen. Written with his trademark wit and honesty, Cold Wars is a gripping account of modern adventure.

The early climbing years of Britain's greatest living mountaineer, from his schooldays to his ascent of the Eiger in 1962. I CHOSE TO CLIMB, first published in 1966, was Chris Bonington's first book. He was recognised then, as now, as one of the outstanding members of a brilliant generation of mountaineers, which included such personalities as Hamish MacInnes, Don Whillans and Ian Clough. Here he describes his climbing beginnings as a teenager as well as successful ascents all over the world: the first ascent of the Central Pillar of Freney, the first British ascent of the North Face of the Eiger in 1962, Annapurna II in 1960 and in an unhappy expedition in 1961, Nuptse, the third peak of Everest. The first volume of Chris Bonington's autobiography is written with a warmth and enthusiasm that he has made his own. It tells of his climbing tastes and practice, and of family, friends and partnerships cemented over many years.

It had happened again. On July 12 2012, nine climbers were killed on Mont Maudit, one of the mountains that make up the Mont Blanc range in Chamonix, France. Freelance writer Jon Miller and his wife, Ana, travel on assignment to cover the disaster and write about those who dare to ascend the highest peak in Western Europe. Grieving the recent loss of their son in a freak accident, Jon begins to notice profound changes in Ana soon after they arrive in Chamonix. As he studies the accounts of the early mountaineers, Jon discovers that they encountered supernatural forces, altered states and strange desires while attempting to ascend the peak. Will Jon succumb to those same irresistible forces or can he resist surrendering to the greatest power he has ever encountered? Mountain Lust: The Allure of Mont Blanc contains written accounts by the early climbers, discoverers and writers of the mountain: Jules Michelet, Jacques Balmat, Ed Whympher, John Auldjo, Edmund Clark, Capt. Markham Sherwill, Martin Barry, Paul Verne and have been edited, adapted or altered for the purposes of this book. "The most sensual tale about mountain climbing ever written."- Dundee Press