Olga 6,796 Report post Posted December 15, 2014 Got a hankering to kick back by the fire or squirrel away time from in-laws? We’ve got you covered with a few lively titles. Speedy river descents, stories of human perseverance on remote arctic ice shelves and alpine walls, and historical adventure narratives fill this list with something for everyone. Happy reading. The Calling: Life Rocked by the Mountains — Barry Blanchard Coming of age in the era of punk, Barry Blanchard waged his rebellious tendencies against rock and ice. Along the way he set the bar for technical alpine standards, with angst-filled lines up Robson’s Emperors Face, the North Twin and Mount Fay. The Calling follows Blanchard’s life from his rough upbringing to his rising success as one of North Americas leading alpinists. More Info/Buy Now In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette— Hampton Sides Nearly 30 years before Shackleton’s epic escape from Antarctica, James Gordon Bennett, the owner of The New York Herald, had his sights on gaining great wealth by becoming the first to sail to a mythical island at the North Pole. Now we all know how these polar expeditions play out: The ship sails, becomes ice bound, the hull is breached, the team perseveres. Yet this tale of determined heroism against the odds still captivates the reader. More Info/Buy Now The New American Road Trip Mixtape — Brendan Leonard The Semi-Rad.com author tells his story of heartbreak and the search for purpose while traveling the Western roads of the United States. Amusing and thought-provoking, Leonard strings a series of short stories together using a road trip as his narrative device while looking for answers to some heady questions about love, the American Dream, happiness and success. More Info/Buy Now Astoria — Peter Stark Astoria picks up where Lewis and Clark left off, following entrepreneur John Jacob Astor’s two expeditions to expanding his fur trade business in a new raw land. Stark painstakingly reconstructs the two arms of the expedition, following their hardships and successes as they march west to the mouth of the Columbia River to build the largest colony west of the Mississippi. Though short lived, Astor’s efforts helped blaze the trail for expansion and the eventual establishment of our nation as a Pacific Ring powerhouse. More Info/Buy Now My Life at the Limit (Legends and Lore) — Reinhold Messner Reinhold Messner was the Himalaya’s leading man of the 70’s and 80’s best known for being the first to summit all 8,000m peaks without supplemental oxygen, the first solo ascent of Everest, and his famed first ascent of Nanga Parbt’s Rupal Face (where he lost his brother Günther). My Life at the Limit gives readers a deeper glimpse at the man behind the myths, including his seat at the European Parliament and his claimed encounter with the yeti. More Info/Buy Now Everest Revealed: The Private Diaries and Sketches of Edward Norton, 1922-24 — Christopher Norton The infamous 1924 Everest expedition still sends ripples of consternation through mountaineering’s annals. After all, it’s on this expedition where Mallory and Irvine were swallowed by the mist and with it the secret of their summit fate. Everest Revealed is a collection of expedition leader E.F Norton’s private diaries and sketches, which give a personal view of the 1924 expedition and pre-war Tibet. This title will release January 1, 2015. More Info/Buy Now The Call of the Ice: Climbing 8000-Meter Peaks in Winter — Simone Moro Climbing any 8,000m peak is an ambitious pursuit; doing it in winter might as well be doing it on Mars. But Italian Simone Moro has had more success than any other person, climbing Shishapangma, GII and Makalu all in winter. The Call of the Ice was penned during Moro’s unsuccessful (12th!) bid on Nanga Parbat and pokes at his successes and losses and the ultimate question of why climb in winter with such low odds of success.More Info/Buy Now Kayaking Alone: Nine Hundred Miles from Idaho’s Mountains to the Pacific Ocean— Mike Barenti In 1991, one sockeye salmon returned to spawn Idaho’s Redfish Lake. The story of northwest fishing cannot be told without the impact of dams on the land and its native travelers. As Mike Barenti slid his kayak onto the Middle Fork of the Salmon, he launched into a 2-year journey exploring the rich web of complexity that makes up the river system and puts our salmon at increasingly oppressive odds. Amazon nominated Kayaking Alone as one of their best reads for 2014. More Info/Buy Now The American Alpine Journal — American Alpine Club The AAJ is a collection of notable first ascents and mountain expeditions made around the world during the calendar year. Published yearly with stories ranging from route descriptions to deep expedition reflection, it’s a selection for the serious climber. But we always find ourselves going back to our dogeared journals for inspiration. More Info/Buy Now Training for the New Alpinism: A Manual for the Climber as Athlete — Steve House and Scott Johnston Steve House has inherited the throne as America’s—if not the world’s—foremost alpinist of today. Co-written with Johnston, a National ski team Nordic coach, New Alpinism translates theory into regimented practice, helping anyone up their alpine game. The authors break training into chapters covering strength training, planning, nutrition and mental stamina to achieve your mountain wayward goals. More Info/Buy Now Small Feet, Big Land: Adventure, Home and Family on the Edge of Alaska — Erin McKittrick In 2007, McKittrick and her husband Hig walked, skied, and pack-rafted from Seattle to the far reaches of the Alaskan Aleutian chain…a journey that threaded 4,000 miles of enchanting coastline and a story that was told through her first book, A Long Trek Home. Seven years later, now with two young children in tow, the family lives out of their 450-square foot yurt outside Seldovia, Alaska, where McKittrick reflects on living a purposeful life in the wilds of Alaska. Small Feet was awarded top prize by the National Outdoor Book Awards for 2014. More Info/Buy Now 2013 TITLES: The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon — Kevin Fedarko With hues of Sebastian Junger, The Emerald Mile follows the intersection of an El Niño summer, above average snow melt and three river guides in a wood dory, hell bent on leveraging this cumulative force of nature to send the fastest time down the Colorado River. The Emerald Mile weaves the story of the crew’s adventure with that of the Colorado and its struggle with man to run free. Winner of the 2013 National Outdoor Book Award, Amazon selected the paperback release as one of its best reads of 2014. More Info/Buy Now Buried in the Sky: The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2’s Deadliest Day — Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan Like a belayer tied to the lead, the Sherpa’s role is deeply woven into the rich tapestry of Himalayan mountain lore. August 1, 2008, on K2 tested this bond perhaps like never before. Considered the single worst accident on K2—the second-highest mountain on earth—the 2008 season unraveled as a series of deaths and injuries accumulated on the peak’s high icy walls. All told, eleven climbers died but two Sherpas survived. Buried in the Sky peals back the overlapping story behind Chhiring Dorje Sherpa and Pasang Lama, from their poverty stricken upbringing to the moment Chhiring finds Pasang alone on the wall without equipment, awaiting certain death. With allusions to Pete Shoening and the ’53 K2 expedition, Buried will likely become our modern telling of mountaineering heroism.More Info/Buy Now Πηγη: http://gearjunkie.com/2014-best-adventure-books 4 Quote "...the monarch of mountains: they crowned him long time ago οn a throne of rocks, in a robe of clouds, with a diadem of snow'' (Lord Byron about Mont Blanc) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
