Sport Climbing

A deeply moving story of the beauty and brutality of life, and death, on the world's most unpredictable and perilous mountain. Sitting just lower than Everest at 8,611 meters above sea level on the China-Pakistan border, the Savage Mountain claims the lives of even the most experienced climbers. Alongside severe altitude, the weather is notoriously volatile and the climb relentlessly steep. A staggering one in four attempts result in death on the mountain.

Through the seventies and into the mid-eighties, a cohort of young climbers challenged the siege mentality of their seniors on high mountains in the Greater Ranges with fast moving, lightweight expeditions run on a shoestring. Brian Hall was one of them and, in High Risk, he describes their daring adventures and the counterculture they lived within, their rivalries and relationships, and the terrible price many of them paid.

In recent years, there has been a huge influx of interest in climbing. Climbing gyms are popping up all over the place, and new climbers are taking to the outdoors, but there aren’t enough old timers to pass on all of the necessary knowledge that comes with taking on such a sport. There is more to climbing than just going up a rock. Once you join the sport, you become part of a community, a family, and there are certain unwritten rules that should be adhered to.

I Chose to Climb, first published in 1966, was Chris Bonington's first book. He was recognised then, as now, as one of the outstanding members of a brilliant generation of mountaineers. Here he describes his climbing beginnings as a teenager as well as successful ascents all over the world: the first ascent of the Central Pillar of Freney, the first British ascent of the North Face of the Eiger in 1962, Annapurna II in 1960 and in an unhappy expedition in 1961, Nuptse, the third peak of Everest.

Unabridged selections from George Mallory's collected writings on his mountaineering - and his motivations. Famously impelled to climb Mount Everest simply because it was there, Mallory made three attempts to be the first to reach its summit, and perished on the third. His writing reveals the emotional life of the mountaineer. With eloquence, Mallory captures the struggles and the rewards involved, the climber's sense of triumph, and experiences of staggering beauty.

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.

Walking Toward Peace shares the intimate stories of veterans who, post-deployment, have wrestled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Through a process called "ecotherapy", spending time in nature to promote healing and mental health, they have found new tools to deal with issues that have resulted from combat experiences: survivor's guilt, nightmares, lack of trust, depression, hypervigilance, thoughts of suicide, and lack of purpose.

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 28 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.

On the night of April 9, 1997, Warren Macdonald, a fit and experienced bushwalker, set out to climb Mount Bowen on Hinchinbrook Island, an unspoiled tropical paradise off the Australian coast. These would be his last steps as a fully intact human being: a freak rock fall pinned him for two days alone under a one-ton boulder, resulting in a double leg amputation. A Test of Will is a story both tragic and inspiring, conveying the horror of what happened and the extraordinary spirit that helped Macdonald survive a seemingly impossible ordeal.

Are you interested in rock climbing, but don’t know where to get started? Or do you want to just learn more about the sport? It can be overwhelming trying to get your head wrapped around the different equipment, types of climbing, and techniques used. But the thing about the sport is you’ll improve dramatically once you've familiarized yourself with these basic concepts.

Nando Parrado was unconscious for three days before he woke to discover that the plane carrying his rugby team to Chile had crashed deep in the Andes, killing many of his teammates, his mother, and his sister. Stranded with the few remaining survivors on a lifeless glacier and thinking constantly of his father’s grief, Parrado resolved that he could not simply wait to die.

An intimate account of Alex Honnold's unprecedented, almost unimaginable feat: a 3,000-foot vertical climb up El Capitan in Yosemite, without a rope. One slip, one false move, one missed toehold and you're dead. On June 3rd 2017 veteran adventure journalist and professional climber 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.

In the summer of 2012, a team of six climbers set out to attempt the first ascent of one of the great unclimbed lines of the Himalaya - the giant Mazeno Ridge on Nanga Parbat, the world's ninth highest mountain. At 10 kilometers in length, the Mazeno is the longest route to the summit of an 8,000-meter peak. Ten expeditions had tried and failed to climb this enormous ridge.

Welchen Reiz bieten Herausforderungen? Was bedeutet es, Grenzen zu überwinden? In seinem Vortrag "Passion for Limits" erklärt Reinhold Messner den inneren Antrieb des Menschen anhand von einigen ausgewählten Extremerfahrungen. Beispiele wie seine Bezwingung des Mount Everest ohne Sauerstoffmaske oder der Alleinbesteigung des Nanga Parbat dienen zu Erläuterung seiner Motivation.

Once considered a fringe activity, climbing without a rope has entered the mainstream consciousness, largely because of the Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo featuring professional climber Alex Honnold. Yet climbers have been free soloing all along—motivated by reasons as varied as the climbers themselves. All and Nothing delves into the cultural history of free soloing, ranging across the storied climbing cultures of the Alps, Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada, Joshua Tree, Yosemite, the Gunks, Eldorado Canyon, and several other locales.

In 2014, Mount Everest was closed to all climbers after a devastating avalanche claimed the lives of 16 Nepali mountain workers ferrying loads up through the Khumbu Icefall on the mountain's southern approach through Nepal. Almost a year to the day later, in late April 2015, the mountain was once more rocked to its core after a large earthquake struck Nepal, sending shock waves rippling across the Himalayas.

Joe Simpson, with just his partner Simon Yates, tackled the unclimbed west face of the remote 21,000 foot Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in June of 1995. But before they reached the summit, disaster struck. A few days later, Simon staggered into base camp, exhausted and frostbitten, to tell their non-climbing companion that Joe was dead.

His cheeks are as tender as raw meat on a butcher's block. And those are just the cheeks of his face. As he slumps in the saddle, watching the road disappear into the distance, he aches in parts of his body that he's only just discovering he has. When Mark travels to Ecuador to go hiking and climbing, he discovers a land of dramatic volcanoes rising through the clouds and wide-open horizons rich in history.

In No Easy Way, his third volume of climbing memoirs following Vertical Pleasure and On Thin Ice, Fowler recounts a series of expeditions to stunning mountains in China, India, Nepal, and Tibet. Alongside partners including Paul Ramsden, Dave Turnbull, Andy Cave and Victor Saunders, he attempts striking, technically challenging unclimbed lines on Shiva, Gave Ding and Mugu Chuli - with a number of ascents winning prestigious Piolets d’Or, the Oscars of the mountaineering world.

In From the Death Zone to the Boardroom, speed ski mountaineer Benedikt Boehm tells gripping and inspirational stories about his fears, pain, suffering and facing death during his expeditions to some of the world's highest mountains. Throughout, his coauthor and professor of leadership and management, Stefan Gröschl, integrates scholarly ideas and works beyond traditional business boundaries providing you with unusual insights and thought-provoking alternatives for managing your business.