Joe Simpson, with just his partner Simon Yates, tackled the unclimbed West Face of the remote 21,000 foot Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in June 1995. But before they reached the summit, disaster struck. A few days later, Simon staggered into Base Camp, exhausted and frostbitten, 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 with torches, where they found Joe, badly injured, crawling through the snowstorm in a delirium. Far from causing Joe's death, Simon had paradoxically saved his friend's life. What happened, and how they dealt with the psychological traumas that resulted when Simon was forced into the appalling decision to cut the rope, makes not only an epic of survival but a compelling testament of friendship.

Tells the fascinating story of the Red's climbing community through interviews with the people who lived that history and considers how sustainable ecotourism might contribute to the region economically. Rock Climbing in Kentucky's Red River Gorge documents, for the first time, fifty years of oral history from this famous climbing community. Through extensive interviews, Maples reconstructs the growth of rock climbing in the region-including a twice-failed dam project, mysterious first routes, unauthorized sport-route growth on public lands, and a controversial archaeological dig. The book details five decades of collaborations to secure ongoing access to some of the world's most beautiful and technically demanding routes and the challenges along the way. More than a recounting of the past, however, Rock Climbing in Kentucky's Red River Gorge uses the region's extraordinary history to argue that climbing has the potential to be a valuable source of sustainable economic activity in rural areas throughout Appalachia today and in the years to come. The book concludes by offering policy recommendations and lessons learned about building beneficial partnerships among climbers, local communities, and public land managers to encourage community development and ecotourism alongside preservation.

Travel Pocket Size Write-In Notebook For Trail Conditions, Location, Weather, Checklist For Gear, Food, Water, Hiker Gift

Guide to 100 scrambling routes in the north of the English Lake District, covering Wasdale, Ennerdale, Buttermere, Borrowdale, Blencathra and Thirlmere. It presents a comprehensive collection of scrambles on crags and gills, which are linked together to form 25 first-class mountain days. The carefully graded routes range from scrambling grade 1 to climbing grade V Diff, so there is something for beginners as well as veteran mountaineers. Rock climbing equipment is needed for more difficult routes. Each scramble is described with notes about grade, quality, aspect and approach, with colour maps and topos to aid navigation. There is information on safety and equipment, and listings of scrambles by location and grade to allow the reader to assemble their own tailor-made combination of routes. The Lake District is one of the most scenic areas in the world and this guide includes popular routes such as Sharp Edge, Cam Crag Ridge and Sphinx Ridge, dramatic gills like Sandbed and Ill Gills, and 28 classic rock climbs including Corvus, Needle Ridge, Grey Knotts Face and Steeple's East Buttress.

Outwardly, 'Britain's most experienced teenage Alpinist' is a brave young mountaineer. But he's not experienced at all, at least not in the way he really wants to be. Behind his death-defying climbs there lurks a great deal of fear - fear of the opposite sex, fear of failure, fear of not being 'man enough'. He seeks manhood in the mountains, yet he believes he will only truly gain it by losing something. Harrowing escapades in Scotland, the Alps and Alaska are interspersed by excruciating sexual encounters and unsettling hitch-hiking rides. When the mountains fail him, he seeks meaning with a religious cult in Colorado. Eventually he succeeds in his quest, only to find that he's lost more than he bargained for. Virgin on Insanity by Steve Bell is a coming-of-age story of high adventure, youthful insecurity and immature love. The situations might be extreme, but the deeper issues will be familiar to many.