Download or read book Tomaz Humar written by Bernadette McDonald and published by Random House. This book was released on 2010-01-26 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In August, 2005, Tomaž Humar was trapped on a narrow ledge at 5900 metres on the formidable Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat. He had been attempting a new route, directly up the middle of the highest mountain face in the world - solo. After six days he was out of food, almost out of fuel and frequently buried by avalanches. Three helicopters were poised for a brief break in the weather to pluck him off the mountain. Because of the audacity of the climb, the fame of the climber, the high risk associated with the rescue, and the hourly reports posted on his base-camp website, the world was watching. Would this be the most spectacular rescue in climbing history? Or a tragic - and very public - death in the mountains? Years before, as communism was collapsing and the Balkans slid into chaos, Humar was unceremoniously conscripted into a dirty war that he despised, where he observed brutal and inhumane atrocities that disgusted him. Finally he did the unthinkable: he left and finally arrived home in what had become a new country - Slovenia. He returned to climbing, and within very few years, he was among the best in the world. Reinhold Messner, among others, called him the most remarkable mountain climber of his generation. His routes are seldom repeated; most consider them to be suicidal; yet he often climbs them solo. As this book was being written, he achieved the first-ever solo ascent of the east summit of Annapurna. Tomaž Humar has cooperated with Bernadette McDonald, the distinguished former director of the Banff Festival and author of several books on mountaineering, to tell his utterly remarkable story.
Download or read book Alpine Warriors written by Bernadette McDonald and published by Rocky Mountain Books Ltd. This book was released on 2015-09-21 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From internationally renowned mountain historian Bernadette McDonald comes a highly readable, intense and exciting look at the explosion of Slovenian alpinism in the context of that country’s turbulent political history. After the Second World War a period of relative calm began in Josip Broz Tito’s Yugoslavia. During the next thirty years citizens could travel freely if they had the money. Most did not, but alpinists did. Through elaborate training régimes and state-supported expeditions abroad, Yugoslavian alpinists began making impressive climbs in the Himalaya as early as 1960. By the ’70s, they were ascending the 8000ers. These teams were dominated by Slovenian climbers, since their region includes the Julian Alps, a fiercely steep range of limestone peaks that provided the ideal training ground. After Tito died in 1980, however, the calm ended. Inter-ethnic conflict and economic decline ripped Yugoslavia apart. But Serbian strongman Slobodan Miloševic misread the courage and character of several Yugoslavian states, including Slovenia, and by 1991 Slovenia was independent. The new country continued its support for climbers, and success bred success. By 1995, all of the 8000ers had been climbed by Slovenian teams. And in the next ten years, some of the most dramatic and futuristic climbs were made by these ferocious alpinists. Apart from a few superstars, most of these amazing athletes remain unknown in the West.
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 1997 American Alpine Journal written by and published by The Mountaineers Books. This book was released on with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Brotherhood of the Rope written by Bernadette McDonald and published by The Mountaineers Books. This book was released on 2007 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The biography of Charles Houston, M.D., famed for leading the heroic K2 expedition of 1953 and his pioneering research in high-altitude medicine. · Drawn from extensive interviews with Houston and full access to his letters and personal journals· Historic photos from Houston's Himalayan expeditions, Peace Corps leadership in India, pioneering high-altitude medicine research, and more · Foreword by Bill Moyers, introduction by Tom Hornbein
Download or read book Climbing written by Clyde Soles and published by The Mountaineers Books. This book was released on 2003 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Howing how to plan, organize, and lead adventure expeditions, this guide is anew entry in the Mountaineers Outdoor Expert Series. 60 photos.
Download or read book Keeper of the Mountains written by Bernadette McDonald and published by Rocky Mountain Books Ltd. This book was released on 2012-10-15 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginning in 1946, Elizabeth Hawley worked for Fortune magazine as a researcher. Shortly thereafter, she left both her job and the United States itself to travel the world, and thus began her lifelong attraction to the exotic and remote sovereign state of Nepal. In the years that followed, she began reporting on the political and cultural events taking place in her adopted homeland for the likes of Reuters and Time Inc., letting the world in on the strange community of mountaineers, pilgrims and politicians who were descending on Kathmandu, whether in search of adventure, enlightenment or prestige. Despite the fact that Elizabeth Hawley has never climbed a mountain or visited the hallowed grounds of Everest base camp, she has become the most important record keeper and inspirational authority figure regarding the expeditions, stories, feats, scandals and disasters in the Nepal Himalaya. Now 90 years of age, she has commanded the respect of such legendary personalities as Edmund Hillary, Reinhold Messner, Chris Bonington, Tomaž Humar and Ed Viesturs. With production under way on a film examining her life and legacy, it is likely that Hawley will continue to hold a special place in the hearts and minds of all visitors looking to experience the legend and grandeur of the world’s most celebrated mountain landscape.
Download or read book I ll Call You in Kathmandu written by Bernadette McDonald and published by The Mountaineers Books. This book was released on 2005 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A biography of Elizabeth Hawley, an American woman on her own in Nepal for more than four decades, celebrated as the official chronicler of Himalayan expedition climbing.
Download or read book Voices from the Summit written by Bernadette McDonald and published by National Geographic Society. This book was released on 2000 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a collection of articles about climbing that was published to celebrate 25 years of the Banff Mountain Film Festival.
Download or read book Art of Freedom written by Bernadette McDonald and published by Vertebrate Publishing. This book was released on 2017-07-31 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Voytek Kurtyka is one of the greatest alpinists of all time. Born in 1947, he was one of the leading lights of the Polish golden age of mountaineering that redefined Himalayan climbing in the 1970s and 1980s. His visionary approach to climbing resulted in many renowned ascents, such as the complete Broad Peak traverse, the 'night-naked' speed climbs of Cho Oyu and Shishapangma and, above all, the alpine-style first ascent of the West Face of Gasherbrum IV. Dubbed the 'climb of the century', his route on GIV with the Austrian Robert Schauer is – as of 2017 – unrepeated. His most frequent climbing partners were alpine legends of their time: Polish Himalayan giant Jerzy Kukuczka, Swiss mountain guide Erhard Loretan and British alpinist Alex MacIntyre. After repeated requests to accept the Piolets d'Or Lifetime Achievement Award (the Oscars of the climbing world), Kurtyka finally accepted the honour in the spring of 2016. A fiercely private individual, he has declined countless invitations for interviews, lectures and festival appearances, but he has agreed to collaborate with internationally renowned and award-winning author Bernadette McDonald on this long-awaited biography. Art of Freedom is a profound and moving profile of one of the international climbing world's most respected, complex and reclusive mountaineers.
Download or read book Rock Paper Fire written by Marni Jackson and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of the best poems and short stories written about various, sometimes risky wilderness experiences and adventures around the world, written for The Banff Centre's Mountain and Wilderness Writing program.
Download or read book Snow in the Kingdom written by Ed Webster and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 796 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Ed Webster's 5 years on and off of Everest.
Download or read book 1998 American Alpine Journal written by and published by The Mountaineers Books. This book was released on with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Annapurna South Face written by Sir Chris Bonington, C.B.E. and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 2001-05-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1970, Chris Bonington and his now-legendary team of mountaineers were the first climbers to tackle a big wall at extreme altitude. Their target was the south face of Nepal's Annapurna: 12,000 feet of steep rock and ice leading to a 26, 454-ft. summit. As serious armchair climbers will tell you, Annapurna South Face is better than all but a handful of equally gripping classics. One could also argue that all that has happened in the big mountains in the past 30 years has come out of this expedition and out of this book. Bonington and his team—most of whom subsequently died in the mountains—represented a kind of "greatest generation" of modern mountaineers. They pioneered a new, bolder approach to high altitude climbing, and this book is about how they hit the big time.
Download or read book One Day as a Tiger written by John Porter and published by Vertebrate Publishing. This book was released on 2014-09-01 with total page 470 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'The wall was the ambition, the style became the obsession.' In the autumn of 1982, a single stone fell from high on the south face of Annapurna and struck Alex MacIntyre on the head, killing him instantly and robbing the climbing world of one of its greatest talents. Although only twenty-eight years old, Alex was already one of the leading figures of British mountaineering's most successful era. His ascents included hard new routes on Himalayan giants like Dhaulagiri and Changabang and a glittering record of firsts in the Alps and Andes. Yet how Alex climbed was as important as what he climbed. He was a mountaineering prophet, sharing with a handful of contemporaries - including his climbing partner Voytek Kurtyka - the vision of a purer form of alpinism on the world's highest peaks. One Day As A Tiger, John Porter's revelatory and poignant memoir of his friend Alex MacIntyre, shows mountaineering at its extraordinary best and tragic worst - and draws an unforgettable picture of a dazzling, argumentative and exuberant legend.
Download or read book The Alps written by Janez Bizjak and published by Pan Alp. This book was released on 2009 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Alps: A Bird's-Eye View is a major project with completely new aerial photographs of the entire Alpine chain and up to date texts from experts in the world of geology; climate change; geography; Alpine tourism; natural environment and more. This is physically a big hardback book - 512 pages, 28cm wide, 37.5cm tall and weighing 4.95 kilos. The book has been compiled under the patronage of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) and includes a foreword by the Director-General of UNESCO, and introductions by Sir Chris Bonington and the Alpine Convention. The Alps are a single geographical and geological entity, yet they also constitute a culturally and climatically very diverse region. Besides the Mediterranean region, the Alps are the second largest ecosystem in Europe. The Alpine region today is home to 8 million people who speak eight major languages with many dialects and who are divided into eight nations. The Alps: A Bird's-Eye View is a stunning collection of new aerial photographs with 250 colour images (of which 200 are double spread) showing the Alpine region as it has never been seen before in one collection. From the air, professional photographer, mountaineer and pilot, Matevz Lenarcic has captured the diversity of the 1200 km between Monaco and Vienna. He reveals the variety of the region, including the contrasting Verdon gorges in France; the Mont Blanc glaciers; the granite walls of Bregaglia, the baroque ridges of the Dolomites and the light coloured limestone faces of the Julian Alps. Whilst the majority of the book is devoted to stunning photography, there is a significant contribution in text with chapters including the Alps as the birds see them; the myth about avalanches; landscapes of wine; geology; glacier changes; climate and expected changes; water, forests, flora & fauna; protected areas; landscape; population; tourism. The contributing authors are all specialists in their field and have been brought together to showcase the Alpine region in a complete work of photography and text.
Download or read book No Shortcuts to the Top written by Ed Viesturs and published by Crown. This book was released on 2006-10-17 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • This gripping and triumphant memoir from the author of The Mountain follows a living legend of extreme mountaineering as he makes his assault on history, one 8,000-meter summit at a time. “From the drama of the peaks, to the struggle of making a living as a professional climber, to the basic how-tos of life at 26,000 feet, No Shortcuts to the Top is fascinating reading.”—Aron Ralston, author of Between a Rock and a Hard Place and subject of the film 127 Hours For eighteen years Ed Viesturs pursued climbing’s holy grail: to stand atop the world’s fourteen 8,000-meter peaks, without the aid of bottled oxygen. But No Shortcuts to the Top is as much about the man who would become the first American to achieve that goal as it is about his stunning quest. As Viesturs recounts the stories of his most harrowing climbs, he reveals a man torn between the flat, safe world he and his loved ones share and the majestic and deadly places where only he can go. A preternaturally cautious climber who once turned back 300 feet from the top of Everest but who would not shrink from a peak (Annapurna) known to claim the life of one climber for every two who reached its summit, Viesturs lives by an unyielding motto, “Reaching the summit is optional. Getting down is mandatory.” It is with this philosophy that he vividly describes fatal errors in judgment made by his fellow climbers as well as a few of his own close calls and gallant rescues. And, for the first time, he details his own pivotal and heroic role in the 1996 Everest disaster made famous in Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air. In addition to the raw excitement of Viesturs’s odyssey, No Shortcuts to the Top is leavened with many funny moments revealing the camaraderie between climbers. It is more than the first full account of one of the staggering accomplishments of our time; it is a portrait of a brave and devoted family man and his beliefs that shaped this most perilous and magnificent pursuit.
