Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Recommend a book?

Sorry, a little off topic. I just finished reading High Country, by Nevada Barr. Can anybody recommend some other books along the lines of this one. I figured this would be a good group to ask, you all have the answer for everything else. Anything outdoors, hiking, camping, bears, climbing, only way i can finish a book is if its someting im interested in.
Thanks
p.s.- ive also finshed Off The Wall, and Night of the Grizzles.

If you haven't read Ed Viesturs "No Shortcuts to the Top" you should have a look. I chronicles his climbing career with an emphasis on the 14 8k's. Awesome book.

Awesome, sounds like exactly what im looking for. Anybody else have some suggestions.

My wife and I both enjoyed reading Bill Brysons book titled A WALK IN THE WOODS, REDISCOVERING AMERICA ON THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL. It's setting is the great outdoors, and it has hiking, camping, and bears. Great story, lots of laughs. I think you will like it.

I agree with WhitRat above, NO SHORTCUTS TO THE TOP is a very good book, also.


White Tundra

(It's what I drive, not where I live.)

The Last Season by Eric Blehm - the life and death of backcountry ranger Randy Morgenson

Nature Noir: A Park Ranger's Patrol in the Sierra by Jordan Fisher Smith - crazy stuff happens along the American River

I highly recommend.

A Life on the Edge: Memoirs of Everest and Beyond (Jim Whittaker). (ISBN-13: 978-0898867541)

First American to summit Everest.

Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey

he was a ranger, book written before paved roads in Arches Nat Park.

This is a must read book re: too many people loving parks to death.

On the Ridge Between Life and Death: A Climbing Life Reexamined by David Roberts. Lots of Alaska area climbs and a few mates killed in the falls. I could send you a copy...

We'll i must say, im not suprised by the responses im getting, this board kicks @55. Im returning a few books to the library tomorrow, and cant wait to see wich of these i can find there(small library). Thanks for all the info everybody, keep it comin'.

If its a small library, try some classic outdoor literature - any of Jack London's "Klondike Tales". Call of the wild, White Fang, maybe even a collection of his many short stories.

A more recent selection - Chris Bonnington's Quest for Adventure. An examination of what makes persons pursue adventurous activities(climbing, sailing, long distance travel, ballooning, etc).

Several suggestions:

Seven Summits by Dick Bass. Bass is the founder of the Snowbird ski resort near Salt Lake City and the first person to climb all seven continental highpoints. The loan of this book from a friend back about 1994 or 1995 got me to thinking of the "50 molehills" and led me to the Highpointers Club and a lot of interesting travel, hiking and climbing as I've hit 41 of the 50 so far.

Minus 148 Degrees by Art Davidson. The story of the first winter ascent of Mt. McKinley. The title derives from the conditions under which they were pinned down in a snow cave at "Windy Corner" about 17,000' on McKinley. They knew the still air temp and estimated the wind velocity, and were off the bottom of their wind-chill chart, which stopped at -148 degrees.

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. Krakauer's account of the 1996 disaster on Everest has been much discussed and debated but remains a gripping tale from one climber's viewpoint.

Good reading, all...and worth the time.

Not nearly in the same class, and not a book (yet) but you may be amused by perusing the Mt. Ritter and Highpointing sections of my WWW site, also.

Annapurna I read it about 35 years ago. I remember reading about the climbers being in a tent at night on the snowy slopes of Annapurna with avalanches going off all around them. They were nervously joking about it by referring to them by the names of trains going by.
And a bad case of frostbite of the author where surgery was performed on the train on the way home. When the train stopped at various times, fingers and toes were swept out of the train car where the surgery was in progress. He dropped and lost his gloves up high on the mountain while not being able to think well from fatigue and I have remembered that as a lesson of the mistakes one can make in that mental state.

If you're interested in the 'golden years', Snowdonia, Alps, Welsh Rabbits, Mallory's earlier years, collegiate holidays, birth of the Alpine Club ..... you might try Mountain Paths by H.E.G. Tyndale. It's a warm, fireside read when you're snowed in.

R

Here are a couple more recommendations:

Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard. It's about the founder of Patagonia. I just read it while in Tibet and really enjoyed it.

Touching My Father's Soul by Tenzing Norgay. I think this is the best book written about the now infamous 1996 season on Everest. Tenzing is the son of the sherpa who accompanied Sir Edmund Hillary on the first ascent of Everest. It not only gives a great perspective on that season on Everest it also has lots of little tidbits about Nepal that I didn't know.

The Climb. Anybody who reads Into Thin Air needs to also read this book. It was written in response to Into This Air. I think gives a more well rounded perspective that is missing if you just read Into Thin Air.

My recommendations:

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. One of the best books about hiking ever.

Escape from Lucania by David Roberts. Heck..for that matter any book by David Roberts.

Touching the Void
This Game of Ghosts
The Beckoning Silence
Dark Shadows Falling all by Joe Simpson. Fantastic author and accomplished mountaineer. His writing will make your palms sweat and your knees shake a bit.

Eiger Dreams by Jon Krakauer...various climbing stories. His description of him solo on the Devils Thumb in Alaska made my heart pound.

True Summit by David Roberts..a good look at the expedition to climb Annapurna both on and off the mountain. Great story.

If your looking for good "outdoors" books..not just climbing related..I'd recommend:

Keep Australia On Your Left by Eric Stiller..about a guy that attempts to kayak around Australia.

Hell or High Water by Peter Heller and
Courting the Diamond Sow by Wick Walker...both of these books about the tragic kayaking expedition on the Tsangpo River in Tibet. Gripping stories of adventure...

Running the Amazon by Joe Kane..great story of a source-to-sea kayaking expedition down the Amazon.

Lost in Mongolia by Colin Angus...story of a guy that paddles a massive river in Mongolia..another impressive adventure.

On Celtic Tides by Chris Duff. Fantastic story of a guy that paddles around Ireland.


Well..those are some of the good ones that are on my bookshelf anyway.. David Roberts and Joe Simpson are definitely the best authors among the bunch though...really great writers.

Regards..
Chris

INTO THE WILD by John Krakauer. The story of Chris McCandless who tragically died in Alaska by starvation. Easy reading book and the movie just came out in select theaters. Excellent sound track by Eddie Vedder as well.

Gary

I can't believe no one has mentioned "Lost in the Minarets" The search for Walter A Starr Jr. This is an easy read and gives background on the early days of the Sierra Club and the mapping of the John Muir Trail. This book also gives insite into the life of Norman Clyde.

An adventure story in general, not mountaineering related:

The Incredible Voyage by Tristan Jones

This is the story of a man who decides to set a new record by sailing an ocean-going vessel on the lowest and highest navigable bodies of water in the world (Dead Sea and Lake Titicaca, in Peru). Since this is a mountaineering forum, here's a sort of related excerpt:

The highest point we reached on this passage was memorable - the Paso Siberia, over 16,000 feet above sea level. The trail snaked and curved its way up a mountainside; then at a tremendous height, way up among the clouds bearing the evaporated water from the Amazonian jungles, it passed along a shoulder, a col, between the first peak and the next. The trail ran for about five miles along the top of this col, on a narrow ledge no wider at any point than twelve feet, the edges marked by small, whitewashed boulders. On either side there was a sheer drop of over a mile! Huanapaco crept along one side of the truck just within range of Chanko's vision, which, because of the fog, was about ten feet. I crept forward on the other side, often on hands and knees, feeling for the edge of the path, slowly waving the truck on through the fog. It was freezing cold, with the clouds flying across that pass at thirty or fourty miles an hour. When the clouds cleared, we looked down through the gaps at a terrifying sight! On each side, a mile or more below, a roaring torrent, white and furious, crashed over rocky cataracts. Every now and then a splash of color down below indicated where a truck, a bus, or a car had gone over. Mountain Indians with impassive faces, on foot or dragging llamas, squeezed their way past the slow-moving truck. Above them rode an ocean-going yacht, with the Union Jack crackling in the wind, 16,500 feet above sea level! The place is so remote and the visibility so bad that an accurate calculation of its height has not yet been made!

Grizzly Years (1990), by Doug Peacock. Up-close field observations of grizzlies, thoughtful commentary, fine writing. Peacock was a Green Beret medic in Vietnam and later the model for Edward Abbey's George Washington Hayduke in "The Monkey Wrench Gang."

Wild Thoughts from Wild Places (1998), one of several collections of essays by David Quammen. Quammen, another Friend of Ed, is a top-notch writer. The back cover of Wild Thoughts calls it "science writing as thrilling adventure," but much of Quammen's work is personal history in the sense that Abbey uses the phrase.

And speaking of Cactus Ed, he wrote plenty of good stuff besides Desert Solitaire. His collections of essays include One Life at a Time, Please, Beyond the Wall, The Journey Home, Down the River, and Abbey's Road.

If you liked Off The Wall, then you will appreciate "Shattered Air" which details one of the stories in the former book about disaster on Half Dome. Good read, especially if you've climbed it. Also, "Death in Yellowstone" is something you may find interesting.

Hate to sound so grim, but these two book have some valuable lessons in them for people spending time in the wilderness...

Cheers.

Rob