When most altitude climbers reach their mid-forties, they slow
down-but for Bob Villarreal, these years marked the beginning of
his climbing career rather than the end. At forty, he took a
rock-climbing class, but it wasn't what he was looking for. In a
moment of pure and life-changing serendipity, an article about
climbing the Andes lit a new fire within him, and an obsession was
born.
At that point, Bob retired from business and took up mountain
climbing. He lost his heart to the staggering, raw, and wild beauty
of the High Andes, returning there time and time again to challenge
himself, almost always on his own. In defiance of the basic rules
of wilderness exploration, Bob traveled solo, well aware that
calamity was only one loose rock away and that his survival was
never guaranteed.
One might wonder why anyone - especially someone in middle age
-- would climb alone in the Andes even once, let alone nineteen
times (out of thirty total climbs). It's a question that Villarreal
himself can't adequately answer. Was he in search of adventure,
danger, or deeper meaning in his life-and did he ever find his
elusive purpose on the mountain?
This memoir recalls his perilous adventures on famous Andean
peaks as well as mountains in the remotest parts of the Andes along
the lengthy border between Chile and Argentina.
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