Alaska is truly bear country. It is the only one of America’s fifty states to be inhabited by all three of North America’s ursine species: black, polar bear, and brown bear (also known as grizzly). Alaska’s Bears is a handy guidebook to the bears of Alaska, a book that slips easily into a jacket pocket or a day pack, and that provides entertaining armchair reading when you’re not in bear country. Here in one compact edition is a book that can help you understand Alaska’s bears and their natural histories. Learn about their appearances, behaviors, yearly cycles, ecological niches, and relationships with humans. Find full details on how to visit Alaska’s prime bear-viewing and get tips for traveling safely through bear country. Complementing Bill Sherwonit’s text are photographs from longtime Alaskan Tom Walker, a premier wildlife photographer who has spent hundreds of hours in the company of bears.

These timeless, beautifully written essays share encounters and observations on a variety of Alaskan wildlife and include natural history information. In these essays about Alaska’s best-known and most charismatic animals—grizzlies and wolves, moose and Dall sheep, bald eagles and beluga whales—Sherwonit also introduces readers to many of Alaska’s largely overlooked species, from wood frogs to redpolls and shrews to lynx and wolverines. The stories are geographically diverse, stretching across the state, from the Panhandle to the Arctic, and also from Alaska’s urban center, Anchorage, to its most remote backcountry. Sherwonit examines the complicated relationships humans have with other animals and consider different ways of knowing, and relating to, these critters. Animal Stories increases readers’ awareness and questions their own relationships with wild neighbors, wild relatives, and the inherent value that these animals have, irrespective of what they give to us.

Alaska is truly bear country. It is the only one of America’s fifty states to be inhabited by all three of North America’s ursine species: black, polar bear, and brown bear (also known as grizzly). Alaska’s Bears is a handy guidebook to the bears of Alaska, a book that slips easily into a jacket pocket or a day pack, and that provides entertaining armchair reading when you’re not in bear country. Here in one compact edition is a book that can help you understand Alaska’s bears and their natural histories. Learn about their appearances, behaviors, yearly cycles, ecological niches, and relationships with humans. Find full details on how to visit Alaska’s prime bear-viewing and get tips for traveling safely through bear country. Complementing Bill Sherwonit’s text are photographs from longtime Alaskan Tom Walker, a premier wildlife photographer who has spent hundreds of hours in the company of bears.

These timeless, beautifully written essays share encounters and observations on a variety of Alaskan wildlife and include natural history information. They have a wide reach, in a number of ways. Besides essays about Alaska s best-known and most charismatic animals for instance grizzlies and wolves, moose and Dall sheep, bald eagles and beluga whales Sherwonit introduces readers to many of Alaska s largely overlooked species, from wood frogs to redpolls and shrews to lynx and wolverines. The stories are also geographically diverse, with stories that stretch across the state, from the Panhandle to the Arctic, and also from Alaska s urban center, Anchorage, to its most remote backcountry. The essays also examine the complicated relationships humans have with other animals, and consider different ways of knowing, and relating to, these critters. They are intended to be thought-provoking as well as entertaining: to increase readers awareness and get people thinking about their own relationships with wild neighbors, wild relatives, and the inherent value that these animals have, irrespective of what they give to us."

In this revised and updated third edition, Bill Sherwonit brings to life the adventure, heroism, triumph, and tragedy of climbing North America's highest peak, Denali. He offers great insight and tales of daring adventure for both experienced climbers and armchair explorers who wonder why people climb mountains. The book contains stores about some of the best known personalities associated with the mountain --- from Bradford Washburn to Vern Tejas. Sherwonit has added new records and climbing data along with some stories of new faces who have attempted the climb. He also updated the Park Service rules regarding climbing Denali.

Follow along in the footsteps of renowned climbers Fred Beckey, Jim Bridwell, Riccardo Cassin, Art Davidson, Royal Robbins, David Roberts, Bradford Washburn, Jon Waterman, and others as they scale Alaska's great peaks in Alaska Ascents by Bill Sherwonit. This collection of seventeen riveting first-person accounts reveals the stories of mountains, among the most inaccessible and difficult to climb in all of North America, and the remarkable individuals who have climbed them. In their stories, we learn about people who are drawn to scale such alien peaks, and who experience triumph of the spirit and sometimes tragedy and loss. Editor Bill Sherwonit, who lives in Anchorage, is also the author of several books, including To the Top of Denali: Climbing Adventures on North America's Highest Peak, Alaska's Accessible Wilderness: A Traveler's Guide to Alaska's State Parks, and Denali: The Complete Guide. "A riveting anthology . . . Each piece effectively captures the intensity of the undertaking and the emotions and challenges relating to each climb . . . A fine compendium of mountain literature highlights." -Library Journal "A terrific read." -Small Press "Alaska Ascents is packed with tales of -148 degrees F temperatures, 150-mile-per-hour winds, and all those splendid privations associated with making first ascents in the Great Land." -ROCK & ICE "Captivating." -Climbing Magazine "Climbers, would-be climbers, and nonclimbers alike will find this book good reading." -Alaska magazine WINNER: Special Jury Mention, Banff Mountain Festival: "an important book . . . one that climbers around the world will want to own." Fred Beckey, Jim Bridwell, Riccardo Cassin, Art Davidson, Royal Robbins, David Roberts, Bradford Washburn, Jon Waterman, and more have made highly acclaimed ascents in Alaska and have written enthralling accounts of their adventures. This anthology of Alaska climbing stories gives voice to Alaska's great peaks and to the people who have climbed them. Alaska Ascents takes readers to all of Alaska's major mountain systems-the St. Elias, Wrangell, Coast, Chugach, Alaska, and Brooks Ranges-and to many of its grandest peaks-Denali, St. Elias, Fairweather, Foraker, Hunter, Moose's Tooth, Devil's Thumb, and the Kichatna Spires. The storytellers in this collection reveal the challenges of Alaska's mountains, among the most inaccessible and difficult to climb in all of North America. These mountaineers have pushed the limits of what's possible in the sport of climbing, surmounting long, dangerous approaches, incredible cold, severe subarctic snowstorms, huge ice fields, and heavily crevassed glaciers. In their stories, we learn about people who are drawn to scale such alien peaks, and who experience triumph of the spirit and sometimes tragedy and loss.