Download or read book Climb Against the Odds written by Mary Papenfuss and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2003-04 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Climb Against the Odds" documents the inspiring story of a group of women who joined The Breast Cancer Fund to raise awareness and money for the fight against breast cancer by endeavoring to climb some of the world's most daunting peaks, putting their post-cancer bodies and their indomitable spirits through a journey that changed them all. 100 photos.
Download or read book On the Ridge Between Life and Death written by David Roberts and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2006-12-01 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What compels mountain climbers to take the risks that they do? Is it the thrill in the physical accomplishment, in managing to defy the odds, or both -- and why do they continue to do what they do in the face of such great danger? In On the Ridge Between Life and Death, David Roberts confronts these questions head-on as he recounts the exhilarating highs and desperate lows of his climbing career. By the time he was twenty-two, Roberts had already been involved in three fatal mountain climbing accidents and had escaped death himself by the sheerest of luck. And yet, as he acknowledges, few things have brought him more joy than climbing. In a famous essay on the subject written more than twenty years ago, Roberts judged climbing to be "worth the risk." He continues to climb to this day, and several of his challenging routes in Alaska have never been climbed since. But in reassessing the emotional costs to himself and to loved ones, he reaches a different conclusion, one that is sure to cause controversy not only in climbing circles, but among adventurers of all kinds. Candid and unflinching, On the Ridge Between Life and Death is a compelling examination of the risks we take in order to feel more alive.
Download or read book Never Quit Climbing Overcoming Life s Seemingly Insurmountable Mountains written by Gary Sinclair and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2018-12-29 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We all face problems, difficulties and challenges, don't we? They often seem like huge mountains and their magnitude drains our hope, faith, joy and strength to live. Our relationships get broken, bodies face cancer, loved ones die, good jobs vanish, finances get depleted, children stray and dreams are shattered. And yet mountains get climbed every day. Some people conquer, defeat their pain and overcome. How? By learning how to climb their mountain not run away or give up. Gary Sinclair is a climber of both mountains of granite and ones that he and his wife Jackie have faced over the years. In fact, one of their toughest personal challenges took them on a climbing journey that brought out the beauty and strength that their lessons in the mountains had taught them years before. In Never Quit Climbing you'll learn how you can tackle even the most formidable peaks you and your family are facing or will encounter someday. Ever chapter is practical, with thought-provoking questions and practical steps to help you up your mountain. You'll be encouraged by their story of faith, wisdom, hope and community that brought them through one of the hardest periods of their married life. You'll be encouraged how not to quit, what cautions to take, what equipment to bring along and even how to come down from your mountain after you've reached the top! Your mountain may be very different than Gary's but you'll find principles, concepts and practical help that will give you strength and direction to either get started or keep going. Gary is also a motivational speaker, coach and leadership trainer who continues to hike and climb every chance he and his wife get. He has two grown children and six grandsons who all live in the Midwest.
Download or read book The Push written by Tommy Caldwell and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-05-16 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Bestseller A dramatic, inspiring memoir by legendary rock climber Tommy Caldwell, the first person to free climb the Dawn Wall of Yosemite’s El Capitan “The rarest of adventure reads: it thrills with colorful details of courage and perseverance but it enriches readers with an absolutely captivating glimpse into how a simple yet unwavering resolve can turn adversity into reward.” —The Denver Post A finalist for the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature On January 14, 2015, Tommy Caldwell, along with his partner, Kevin Jorgeson, summited what is widely regarded as the hardest climb in history—Yosemite’s nearly vertical 3,000-foot Dawn Wall, after nineteen days on the route. Caldwell’s odds-defying feat—the subject of the documentary film The Dawn Wall to be released nationwide in September—was the culmination of an entire lifetime of pushing himself to his limits as an athlete. This engrossing memoir chronicles the journey of a boy with a fanatical mountain-guide father who was determined to instill toughness in his son to a teen whose obsessive nature drove him to the top of the sport-climbing circuit. Caldwell’s affinity for adventure then led him to the vertigo-inducing and little understood world of big wall free climbing. But his evolution as a climber was not without challenges; in his early twenties, he was held hostage by militants in a harrowing ordeal in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan. Soon after, he lost his left index finger in an accident. Later his wife, and main climbing partner, left him. Caldwell emerged from these hardships with a renewed sense of purpose and determination. He set his sights on free climbing El Capitan’s biggest, steepest, blankest face—the Dawn Wall. This epic assault took more than seven years, during which time Caldwell redefined the sport, found love again, and became a father. The Push is an arresting story of focus, drive, motivation, endurance, and transformation, a book that will appeal to anyone seeking to overcome fear and doubt, cultivate perseverance, turn failure into growth, and find connection with family and with the natural world.
Download or read book Keep Climbing written by Sean Swarner and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2007-04-06 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 29,035-foot giant known as Mount Everest tortures its challengers with life-threatening conditions such as 100 mph winds, the dramatic loss of oxygen, snowstorms, and deadly avalanches. Climbers of Everest are faced with incredible dangers, but for Sean Swarner the obstacles he overcame prior to his summiting make his story even more compelling. Sean isn't just a cancer survivor; he is truly a medical marvel. He is the only person in the world ever to have been diagnosed with both Hodgkin's disease and Askin's sarcoma. He was diagnosed in the fourth and final stage of Hodgkin's disease at the age of thirteen, when doctors expected him to live for no more than three months. He overcame his illness only to be stricken a second time when a deadly golf ball-sized tumor attacked his right lung. After removal of the Askin's tumor, Sean was expected to live for less than two weeks. A decade later and with only partial use of his lungs, Sean became famous for being the first cancer survivor to climb Mount Everest. Sean's successful summiting of Mount Everest was driven not only by his desire to reach the highest peak in the world but also by his determination to use his accomplishment as a way to bring hope to others facing seemingly insurmountable odds. By showing those affected by cancer how he has conquered some of the most difficult obstacles life could offer, Sean inspires others with the will to live. Living proof that cancer patients can and do recover, his story will encourage those touched by cancer to dream big and never give up. Despite life's setbacks, Sean believes those dreams are always in reach. Sean's story is not just about illness, heartache, and pain; it's about something greater. It's about hope. It's about helping others and never quitting. It's about personal battles with the elements and coming out on top of the world . . . literally.
Download or read book The Impossible Climb written by Mark Synnott and published by Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2019-04-04 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you loved watching Free Solo, you'll be enthralled by Mark Synnott's deeply reported, insider perspective on Alex Honnold's impossible climb. One slip, one false move, one missed toehold and you're dead. On June 3rd 2017 Mark Synnott was in Yosemite to witness something that only a handful of people knew was about to occur: the most famous climber in the world, Alex Honnold, was going to attempt to summit one of the world's most challenging ascents, a route called Freerider on the notorious rock formation El Capitan. It is a climb extraordinarily dangerous and difficult, and yet Honnold was going to do it 'free solo'. Meaning no help. No climbing partner. No equipment. No rope. Where a single small mistake would mean certain death. Indeed, to summit El Cap free solo was a feat likened to Neil Armstrong first walking on the moon. In The Impossible Climb, Mark Synnott uses his own career as a professional climber to paint an insider portrait of the elite climbing community, exploring what motivates them, the paradoxical drive to keep the sport pure and at the same time to fund climbs, and the role that awareness of mortality plays in the endeavour. We watch through Mark's eyes as Alex plots, trains and attempts his heart-stopping free-solo ascent. Ultimately this is a story not only about climbing but about what makes us human, how we respond to fear and our drive to transcend the inevitability of death.
Download or read book The World Beneath Their Feet written by Scott Ellsworth and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2020-02-18 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2020 National Outdoor Book Award for Best History/Biography A saga of survival, technological innovation, and breathtaking human physical achievement -- all set against the backdrop of a world headed toward war -- that became one of the most compelling international dramas of the 20th century. As tension steadily rose between European powers in the 1930s, a different kind of battle was already raging across the Himalayas. Teams of mountaineers from Great Britain, Nazi Germany, and the United States were all competing to be the first to climb the world's highest peaks, including Mount Everest and K2. Unlike climbers today, they had few photographs or maps, no properly working oxygen systems, and they wore leather boots and cotton parkas. Amazingly, and against all odds, they soon went farther and higher than anyone could have imagined. And as they did, their story caught the world's attention. The climbers were mobbed at train stations, and were featured in movies and plays. James Hilton created the mythical land of Shangri-La in Lost Horizon, while an English eccentric named Maurice Wilson set out for Tibet in order to climb Mount Everest alone. And in the darkened corridors of the Third Reich, officials soon discovered the propaganda value of planting a Nazi flag on top of the world's highest mountains Set in London, New York, Germany, and in India, China, and Tibet, The World Beneath Their Feet is a story not only of climbing and mountain climbers, but also of passion and ambition, courage and folly, tradition and innovation, tragedy and triumph. Scott Ellsworth tells a rollicking, real-life adventure story that moves seamlessly from the streets of Manhattan to the footlights of the West End, deadly avalanches on Nanga Parbat, rioting in the Kashmir, and the wild mountain dreams of a New Zealand beekeeper named Edmund Hillary and a young Sherpa runaway called Tenzing Norgay. Climbing the Himalayas was the Greatest Generation's moonshot-one that was clouded by the onset of war and then, incredibly, fully accomplished. A gritty, fascinating history that promises to enrapture fans of Hampton Sides, Erik Larson, Jon Krakauer, and Laura Hillenbrand, The World Beneath Their Feet brings this forgotten story back to life.
Download or read book Beyond the Summit written by Todd Skinner and published by Century. This book was released on 2003 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Todd Skinner sees climbing mountains as a natural metaphor for business challenges. To climb a mountain you must know how to define your objective, plan the best strategy, prepare your team, and surmount any obstacles on the way to the summit. This book takes the reader through this process in ten stages that apply to both real and metaphorical mountains. Skinner explains how to stay true to your vision no matter what happens, what tools you need to carry, and which preconceptions you need to leave behind. Skinner weaves these lessons into a compelling narrative, featuring the heart-stopping action of climbing the sheer rock face of Trango Tower in the Himalayas.
Download or read book Beating the Odds written by Mary Packard and published by Children's Press(CT). This book was released on 2004 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a child, Wilma Rudolph could barely walk. She grew up to be the fastest woman of her time. After battling cancer, Lance Armstrong came back to win the top race in bicycling. Marla Runyan is almost blind, but that doesn't stop her from winning races. Find out how these remarkable athletes beat the odds. Book jacket.
Download or read book The Last Blue Mountain written by Ralph Barker and published by Vertebrate Publishing. This book was released on 2020-03-05 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'When an accident occurs, something may emerge of lasting value, for the human spirit may rise to its greatest heights. This happened on Haramosh.' The Last Blue Mountain is the heart-rending true story of the 1957 expedition to Mount Haramosh in the Karakoram range in Pakistan. With the summit beyond reach, four young climbers are about to return to camp. Their brief pause to enjoy the view and take photographs is interrupted by an avalanche which sweeps Bernard Jillott and John Emery hundreds of feet down the mountain into a snow basin. Miraculously, they both survive the fall. Rae Culbert and Tony Streather risk their own lives to rescue their friends, only to become stranded alongside them. The group's efforts to return to safety are increasingly desperate, hampered by injury, exhaustion and the loss of vital climbing gear. Against the odds, Jillott and Emery manage to climb out of the snow basin and head for camp, hoping to reach food, water and assistance in time to save themselves and their companions from an icy grave. But another cruel twist of fate awaits them. An acclaimed mountaineering classic in the same genre as Joe Simpson's Touching the Void , Ralph Barker's The Last Blue Mountain is an epic tale of friendship and fortitude in the face of tragedy.
Download or read book Die Trying written by Bo Parfet and published by AMACOM/American Management Association. This book was released on 2009-02-12 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In early 2003, a young Wall Street investment banker named Bo Parfet set out to accomplish something very few had done before—climbing the highest mountain on every continent. He was not a professional climber, but what began as a casual interest would soon become a lifelong passion and in just over four years, Bo would overcome the odds and conquer all of the mountains—Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua, Denali, Vinson Massif, Elbrus, Carstenz Pyramid, Kosciusko, and Everest—with courage, unbridled passion, and determination. Combining the gripping narrative of Into Thin Air with the adrenaline-fueled drama of Vertical Limit, Die Trying is the incredible story of one man's battle against his own limitations. From dodging avalanches to crossing a ladder over a seemingly bottomless crevasse, to making his way through the Khumbu Icefall and burying a dead teammate at 27, 000 feet, we experience all of the author’s exhilarating, often terrifying climbs first-hand. We travel with him during his near-death experiences when falling into a crevasse in New Zealand and nearly-drowning in crocodile-infested rapids during a canoe race in Belize. And we share the terror of his confrontations with corrupt army officials, cannibalistic tribesmen, and local militia groups. Harrowing and uplifting, Die Trying is a riveting memoir that will inspire all of us to defy the odds and fulfill our dreams.
Download or read book The Climb Up to Hell written by Jack Olsen and published by Crime Rant Books. This book was released on 1962 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the heart of the Swiss Alps stand the three majestic peaks of the Bernese Oberland, Europe's most famous mountain range. The highest, at 13,638 feet, is the Jungfrau. Next is the Mönch, at 13,465 feet. But it is the smallest, the Eiger, rising 13,038 feet above sea level, that is by far the deadliest. Called a "living" mountain for its constantly changing conditions-unpredictable weather, disintegrating limestone surfaces, and continuously falling rock and ice-its mile-high north wall is perhaps the most dangerous climb in the world. And that may be just what beckons elite Alpinists to scale the treacherous peak against the odds. In 1957, nearly forty years before the well-known Mount Everest tragedy, two teams of confident climbers set out to summit the north wall of the Eiger Mountain. Not long into their journey, onlookers could tell that the four men were headed for disaster. Soon rescue teams from all over Europe raced toward the Eiger-yet only one of the four climbers survived to face unfounded international accusations. In a story as fascinating as any novel, Jack Olsen creates a riveting account of daring adventure, heroic rescue, and one of the most baffling mysteries in the history of mountain climbing. KIRKUS REVIEW The forbidden, formidable north wall of the Eiger Mountain in the Bernese Alps, while it was first successfully climbed in 1938, has remained a supreme challenge to the most seasoned climber and in 1957 two teams of two Germans and two Italians again made the attempt with devastating results. while Corti, the only survivor, was perhaps talented- all were seemingly uninformed and ill-prepared, certainly for the wind and weather conditions which were to defeat them and make their rescue so difficult. Corti's partner, Longhi, was the first to entertain misgivings and was soon worn out, suffering frostbite as well; the Germans lost their food and were sustained chiefly by an innate, irrational mystique. Rescue crews were quickly organized, but only Corti, who ""looked like a live corpse"", was salvaged; his partner had been left lower down- to die, and the bodies of the other two ropemates were only found months later. In the avalanche of blame, resentment (against the guides as well as Corti) to follow, no true judgement could be reached although Olsen, a Sports Illustrated staff writer, does absolve Corti after a final interview... The folly and the fascination of "vertical Russian roulette", the courage compounded with stupidity, the doubts and recriminations which lingered on long after this disastrous ascent, all intensify the drama of this attempt and revive the furor it occasioned at the time. It will keep its readers on the ropes.
Download or read book The Push written by Tommy Caldwell and published by Michael Joseph. This book was released on 2018-04-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A dramatic, inspiring memoir by legendary rock climber Tommy Caldwell, the first person to free climb the Dawn Wall of Yosemite's El Capitan. On January 14, 2015, Tommy Caldwell, along with his partner, Kevin Jorgeson, summited what is widely regarded as the hardest climb in history Yosemite's nearly vertical 3,000-foot Dawn Wall, after nineteen days on the route. Caldwell's odds-defying feat was the culmination of an entire lifetime of pushing himself to his limits as an athlete. This engrossing memoir chronicles the journey of a boy with a fanatical mountain-guide father who was determined to instill toughness in his son to a teen whose obsessive nature drove him to the top of the sport-climbing circuit. Caldwell's affinity for adventure then led him to the vertigo-inducing and little understood world of big wall free climbing. But his evolution as a climber was not without challenges; in his early twenties, he was held hostage by militants in a harrowing ordeal in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan. Soon after, he lost his left index finger in an accident. Later his wife, and main climbing partner, left him. Caldwell emerged from these hardships with a renewed sense of purpose and determination. He set his sights on free climbing El Capitan's biggest, steepest, blankest face the Dawn Wall.
Download or read book Freedom Climbers written by Bernadette McDonald and published by Mountaineers Books. This book was released on 2013-02-20 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CLICK HERE to download the first chapter from Freedom Climbers (Provide us with a little information and we'll send your download directly to your inbox) "One of the most important mountaineering books to be written for many years." —Boardman-Tasker Prize See this book trailer for Freedom Climbers made by RMB Books, its publisher in Canada, where the cover is slightly different from the Mountaineers Books U.S. edition * Behind the Iron Curtain, Cold War mountaineers found freedom on the world's highest peaks—and paid an awful price to achieve it * Winner of the Boardman-Tasker Prize, Banff Grand Prize, and American Alpine Club Literary Award Freedom Climbers tells the story of Poland's truly remarkable mountaineers who dominated Himalayan climbing during the period between the end of World War II and the start of the new millennium. The emphasis here is on their "golden age" in the 1980s and 1990s when, despite the economic and social baggage of their struggling country, Polish climbers were the first to tackle the world's highest mountains during winter, including the first winter ascents on seven of the world's fourteen 8000-meter peaks: Everest, Manaslu, Dhaulagiri, Cho Oyu, Kanchenjunga, Annapurna, and Lhotse. Such successes, however, came at a serious cost: 80 percent of Poland's finest high-altitude climbers died on the high mountains during the same period they were pursuing these first ascents. Award-winning writer Bernadette McDonald addresses the social, political, and cultural context of this golden age, and the hardships of life under Soviet rule. Polish climbers, she argues, were so tough because their lives at home were so tough—they lost family members to World War II and its aftermath and were so much more poverty-stricken than their Western counterparts that they made much of their own climbing gear. While Freedom Climbers tells the larger story of an era, McDonald shares charismatic personal narratives such as that of Wanda Rutkiewicz, expected to be the first woman to climb all 8000-meter peaks until she disappeared on Kanchenjunga in 1992; Jerzy Kukuczka, who died in a fall while attempting the south face of Lhotse; and numerous other renowned climbers including Voytek Kurtyka, Artur Hajzer, Andrej Zawaka, and Krzysztof Wielicki. This is a fascinating window into a different world, far-removed from modernity yet connected by the strange allure of the mountain landscape, and a story of inspiring passion against all odds. This title is part of our LEGENDS AND LORE series. Click here > to learn more.
Download or read book Mind Over Mountain written by Robby Kojetin and published by Welbeck Balance. This book was released on 2020-03-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mind Over Mountain is a journey from the seat of a wheelchair to the summit of the highest mountain on Earth. A simple mistake at an indoor climbing gym sentenced 28-year-old Robby to a year in a wheelchair, shattering his aspirations of becoming a mountaineer. In the months that followed, Robby faced depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and a complete loss of a sense of his own identity. But from somewhere deep inside him he summoned up the strength to keep going even when all seemed lost, and from there he went on to embark on a journey that would become a remarkable feat of mental and physical strength. This story is more than a biography or an account of a mountaineering expedition - it's a trip into hell and back, an awe-inspiring effort to chase the ultimate dream and rebuild a life worth living for.
Download or read book Dead Lucky written by Lincoln Hall and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2008-05-15 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lincoln Hall's breathtaking account of surviving a night in Everest's "death zone." Lincoln Hall likes to say that on the evening of May 25, 2006, he died on Everest. Indeed, Hall attempted to climb the mountain during a deadly season in which eleven people perished. And he was, in fact, pronounced dead, after collapsing from altitude sickness. Two Sherpas spent hours trying to revive him, but as darkness fell, word came via radio from the expedition's leader that they should descend in order to save themselves. The news of Hall's death traveled rapidly from mountaineering websites to news media around the world, and ultimately to his family back in Australia. Early the next morning, however, an American guide, climbing with two clients and a Sherpa, was startled to find Hall sitting cross-legged on a sharp crest of the summit ridge. In this page-turning account of survival against all odds, Hall chronicles in fascinating detail the days and nights that led up to his fateful night in Mount Everest's "death zone." His story is all the more miraculous given his climbing history. Hall had been part of Australia's first attempt to reach the top of Everest in 1984 but had not done any major climbing for many years, having set aside his passion in order to support his family. While others in the team achieved their dream during this 1984 expedition, Hall was forced to turn back due to illness. Thus, his triumph in reaching the summit at the age of fifty is a story unto itself. So, too, is Hall's description of his family's experience back in Australia, as sudden grief turned to relief and joy in a matter of hours. Rarely has there been such a thrilling narrative of one man's encounter with the world's tallest mountain.
Download or read book Alive in the Death Zone written by Lincoln Hall and published by Random House (Australia). This book was released on 2008 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ALIVE IN THE DEATH ZONE: Mount Everest Survival, Lincoln Hall's story of climbing the world's highest mountain, being left for dead near the summit and his subsequent return to life and safety, is an incredible and exciting adventure that will inspire anyone who reads it. It's a story of survival against all odds using sheer willpower, courage and determination. Early chapters give young readers an insight into why people climb mountains, Lincoln's early interest in them and the influences that led to his passion for climbing and his quest to climb the world's highest peak. It will then focus on the 2006 expedition when Lincoln reached the summit but was left for dead because he suffered cerebral oedema when he began his descent. Miraculously, after spending a perilous night on a knife-edge crest in the Death Zone, he was found the next morning and began the descent, only to be confronted with more dangers before he reached safety. Unbeknown to Lincoln, the world, including his family, had been told he was dead, and the miraculous story of his survival made worldwide headline news. Frostbite claimed Lincoln's fingers and toes and he lost nearly twenty kilograms but his remarkable recovery and rehabilitation enabled him to write the best-selling book DEAD LUCKY.
