Of the twenty-six British climbers who, on three expedtions (1921-24), walked 400 miles off the map to find and assault the highest mountain on Earth, twenty had seen the worst of the fighting. Six had been severely wounded, two others nearly died of disease at the Front, one was hospitalized twice with shell shock. Three as army surgeons dealt for the duration with the agonies of the dying. Two lost brothers, killed in action. All had endured the slaughter, the coughing of the guns, the bones and barbed wire, the white faces of the dead.In a monumental work of history and adventure, ten years in the writing, Wade Davis asks not whether George Mallory was the first to reach the summit of Everest, but rather why he kept on climbing on that fateful day. His answer lies in a single phrase uttered by one of the survivors as they retreated from the mountain: "The price of life is death." Mallory walked on because for him, as for all of his generation, death was but "a frail barrier that men crossed, smiling and gallant, every day." As climbers they accepted a degree of risk unimaginable before the war. They were not cavalier, but death was no stranger. They had seen so much of it that it had no hold on them. What mattered was how one lived, the moments of being alive.For all of them Everest had become an exalted radiance, a sentinel in the sky, a symbol of hope in a world gone mad.

    There were no witnesses, very few leads and no solid suspects. As days turned into weeks and the crime remained unsolved, the small-town neighborhood was filled with sadness, questions, and a growing sense of fear. One month after the murders, Tim Kreider's son Alec was committed to a mental health hospital. One of Alec's best friends had been one of the murder victims, and Tim feared that the loss had pushed his long-troubled son over the edge. Tim didn't realize that his world was about to come crashing down around him. Refuse to Drown is the true story of a father's despair and the type of perseverance that can lead to hope and healing.

    Seventy-nine days, a thousand miles, two countries, two mountain ranges, and three pairs of shoes later, they reached the Atlantic Ocean.More than two million pilgrims have walked the Way of Saint James, a long-distance hiking trail familiar to most Americans by its Spanish name, the Camino de Santiago. Each pilgrim has their own reason for undertaking the journey. For the Jusinos, it was about taking a break from the relentless pace of modern life and getting away from all their electronic devices. And how hard could it be, Beth reasoned, to walk twelve to fifteen miles a day, especially with the promise of real beds and local wine every night? Simple.It turned out to be harder than she thought. Beth is not an athlete, not into extreme adventures, and, she insists, not a risk-taker. She didn't speak a word of French when she set out, and her Spanish was atrocious. But she can tell a story. In Walking to the End of the World, she shares, with wry humor and infectious enthusiasm, the joys and travails of undertaking such a journey. She evocatively describes the terrain and the route’s history, her fellow pilgrims, and the villages passed, and the unexpected challenges and charms of the experience.Beth’s story is also about the assurance that an outdoor-based, boundary-stretching adventure is accessible to even the most unlikely of us. In her story, readers will feel that they, too, can get off their comfortable couches and do something unexpected and even spectacular.Walking to the End of the World is a warm-hearted and engaging story about an average couple going on an adventure together, tracing ancient paths first created in the tenth and eleventh centuries, paths that continue to inspire and reveal surprises to us today in the twenty-first.

    "Snow Sense" addresses the critical terrain, snowpack and weather variables that make it possible for a slope to avalanche along with the human factors that allow most accidents to happen. If you don't want to become an avalanche victim, read this book. "Snow Sense" is the best-selling avalanche safety book available. Intended for skiers, snowmachiners, snowboarders, climbers and others who work and play in avalanche country.

    Climbers regard it as the ultimate achievement in mountaineering, with good reason. Four times as deadly as Everest, K2 has claimed the lives of seventy-seven climbers since 1954. In August 2008 eleven climbers died in a single thirty-six-hour period on K2–the worst single-event tragedy in the mountain's history and the second-worst in the long chronicle of mountaineering in the Himalaya and Karakoram ranges. Yet summiting K2 remains a cherished goal for climbers from all over the globe. Before he faced the challenge of K2 himself, Ed Viesturs, one of the world's premier high-altitude mountaineers, thought of it as "the holy grail of mountaineering."In K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain, Viesturs explores the remarkable history of the mountain and of those who have attempted to conquer it. At the same time he probes K2's most memorable sagas in an attempt to illustrate the lessons learned by confronting the fundamental questions raised by mountaineering–questions of risk, ambition, loyalty to one's teammates, self-sacrifice, and the price of glory. Viesturs knows the mountain firsthand. He and renowned alpinist Scott Fischer climbed it in 1992 and were nearly killed in an avalanche that sent them sliding to almost certain death. Fortunately, Ed managed to get into a self-arrest position with his ice ax and stop both his fall and Scott' s.Focusing on seven of the mountain's most dramatic campaigns, from his own troubled ascent to the 2008 tragedy, Viesturs and Roberts crafts an edge-of-your-seat narrative that climbers and armchair travelers alike will find unforgettably compelling. With photographs from Viesturs's personal collection and from historical sources, this is the definitive account of the world's ultimate mountain, and of the lessons that can be gleaned from struggling toward its elusive summit.

    In this engrossing narrative of the Far North, enriched by her own adventurous sojourns in the Arctic, Andrea Pitzer brings Barents' three harrowing expeditions to vivid life--while giving us fascinating insights into one of history's most intrepid navigators.

    Great Smoky Mountains Association's latest book title is more akin to looking directly into a hot, white spotlight. These beautiful mist-shrouded mountains can, and often do, turn deadly. Volume I of "Into the Mist" depicts men and women in extreme situations, struggling to survive against brutal and often deadly adversity. Through the book's 13 chapters, Into the Mist readers will piece together the events leading to a tragic encounter between an elementary school teacher and two black bears in the park's backcountry; share in the heroic response of the park's rangers in the face of brutal weather events, including the March 1993 "Storm of the Century" and their successful efforts to rescue hundreds of stranded visitors and ultimately prevent loss of life and limb; experience a lone hiker's final moments as he succumbs to bitter cold without benefit of a shelter as wind-driven snow piles ever higher on the trail; learn how the body of a murdered Jane Doe discovered in a park stream leads to a cross-country hunt for her killer; and much more. A bonus appendix lists Great Smoky Mountains National Park's leading causes of death and most dangerous places.

    Famous paddlers have been so enchanted with the canoe that one swore God made Canada as the perfect country in which to paddle it. Drawing on MacGregor's own decades spent whenever possible with a paddle in his hand, this is a story of high adventure on white water and the sweetest peace in nature's quietest corners, from the author best able (and most eager) to tell it.

    Bobbi French is just an ordinary person seeking an extraordinary life. For her, that means taking the boldest leap of faith in her life: moving to France to fulfill a lifelong dream. All she has to do is give up her successful medical career in Canada, sell her house, pare down her possessions to only what would fit in a carry-on suitcase, and buy a one-way ticket to Semur-en-Auxois. She also has to ignore the common opinion that she's lost her mind, walking away from it all for a fantasy. Finding Me in France is a chronicle of the delights and deprecations of making a dream come true. Landing in a small village in Burgundy with only her expectations of adventure to guide her, she details the unaccountable stumbling blocks and the unforeseen joys of her often awkward, frequently perplexing, always entertaining journey of discovery. Illustrated with inspiring photographs, a funny and perceptive account of her experience of a lifetime.

    In this collection of his finest essays and reporting, Krakauer writes of mountains from the memorable perspective of one who has himself struggled with solo madness to scale Alaska's notorious Devils Thumb. In Pakistan, the fearsome K2 kills thirteen of the world's most experienced mountain climbers in one horrific summer. In Valdez, Alaska, two men scale a frozen waterfall over a four-hundred-foot drop. In France, a hip international crowd of rock climbers, bungee jumpers, and paragliders figure out new ways to risk their lives on the towering peaks of Mont Blanc. Why do they do it? How do they do it? In this extraordinary book, Krakauer presents an unusual fraternity of daredevils, athletes, and misfits stretching the limits of the possible.From the paranoid confines of a snowbound tent, to the thunderous, suffocating terror of a white-out on Mount McKinley, Eiger Dreams spins tales of driven lives, sudden deaths, and incredible victories. This is a stirring, vivid book about one of the most compelling and dangerous of all human pursuits.

    But not if you're Rob Greenfield. Then it sounds like a pretty amazing way to bring your message to as many people as possible, and to have a great time doing it. Dude Making a Difference is Rob's first-person account of his incredible adventure in radical sustainability. Join him as he pedals from coast to coast in three and a half months while:Creating only 2 pounds of trash Using just 160 gallons of water Eating 284 pounds of food from grocery store dumpstersThis one-of-a-kind travelogue will inspire you to reexamine your relationship with the earth's resources. Rob's captivating stories of life on the low-impact road are rounded out by practical guides to help you reduce your personal ecological footprint and plan your own larger-than-life adventures. Author's proceeds from the sale of Dude Making a Difference will be donated to 1% for the Planet.Rob Greenfield is an adventurer and environmental activist whose creative campaigns educate and inspire. He's crossed the US twice on a bamboo bicycle, gone a year without showering, and dived into over one thousand dumpsters, all to wake people up to the impact of their daily actions and  to instigate social change.

    Gruchow turns a naturalist's eye on a wilderness of wolves, moose, and loons as he visits national parks and other scenic spots. Drawing on the works of Thoreau and Wendell Berry, he explores the relationship of person to place.

    You get to hit the reset button on your life. Dancing in the Fountain takes its title from one blazing hot night when the author and her husband found themselves sitting on the edge of a big stone fountain. Dabbling their feet in the cool water, pretty soon they were wading, then dancing in the fountain. It's technically legal to do this on hot nights in Seville, but an old man passing by growled, "Hey you two, is that any way to behave? You wouldn't do that back where you come from." And that's the whole point. Living overseas, you get to try things you'd never do back home.

    Miles From Nowhere is an adventure not to be missed!Along the way, these near-neophyte cyclists encountered warm-hearted strangers eager to share food and shelter, bicycle-hating drivers who shoved them off the road, various wild animals (including a roof ape and an attack camel), sacred cows, rock-throwing Egyptians, overprotective Thai policeman, motherly New Zealanders, meteorological disasters, bodily indignities, and great personal joys. The stress of traveling together constantly for two years tested and ultimately strengthened the young couple's relationship.Author Barbara Savage died from head injuries suffered in a cycling accident while she was training for a triathlon competition. This book stands as a tribute to her physical courage, spiritual strength, and loving, good-humored encounter with the world.

    What is Cersei’s true fear? What do trout or golden roses symbolize? Is the show a feminist success or a male playground? This book answers all these and more, revealing the enigmas and surprises hidden deep within the series. Martin’s interviews, homages, and past works hint at the pattern he’s chosen, while the classic pattern of the hero’s and heroine’s journey indicate the path of each protagonist and their ultimate destinies. From the Norse myth of ice covering all the world and the winter of wolves, to the War of the Roses that inspired much of the plot, the Game of Thrones is revealed secret by secret…including how it may be won.