Together on Top of the World: The Remarkable Story of the First Couple to Climb the Fabled Seven Summits


Phil Ershler - 2007
    It is the tale of two people who came together to change each other's lives, about things that should never have happened but did, and about the dreams that come true as a result.

Left for Dead: The Untold Story of the Greatest Disaster in Modern Sailing History


Nick Ward - 2007
    Within 48 hours, the deadliest storm in the history of modern sailing had blasted through the Irish Sea. By the time it had passed, it had thrown one of the world's most prestigious races into bedlam and taken the lives of fifteen sailors. Ward's boat, Grimalkin, was capsized again and again, and the skipper lost overboard; after hours of struggle, three of the crew fled the boat for the liferaft. Nick and his crewmate Gerry, both injured, unconscious, and presumed dead, were abandoned on the beleaguered yacht. Gerry died a few hours later, and Nick was left alone to face down a storm that has become legendary among sailors and racing fans alike. "Left for Dead" is Nick Ward's harrowing and inspirational memoir of how he survived that dreadful night. After his dramatic rescue, Ward was overwhelmed by media and decided in 1980 not to speak of the incident again. It wasn't until this book's coauthor, Sinead O'Brien, approached him about the story that he began the personal writings that became this book. Here at last is the untold true story of an accident that has intrigued lovers of the sea for almost thirty years.

Alone in Antarctica: The First Woman To Ski Solo Across The Southern Ice


Felicity Aston - 2013
    She did it, too, with the simple apparatus of cross-country, without the aids used by her prededecessors – two Norwegian men – each of whom employed either parasails or kites.Aston’s journey across the ice at the bottom of the world asked of her the extremes in terms of mental and physical bravery, as she faced the risks of unseen cracks buried in the snow so large they might engulf her and hypothermia due to brutalizing weather. She had to deal, too, with her emotional vulnerability in face of the constant bombardment of hallucinations brought on by the vast sea of whiteness, the lack of stimulation to her senses as she faced what is tantamount to a form of solitary confinement.Like Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, Felicity Aston’s Alone in Antarctica becomes an inspirational saga of one woman’s battle through fear and loneliness as she honestly confronts both the physical challenges of her adventure, as well as her own human vulnerabilities.

Nanda Devi: A Journey to the Last Sanctuary


Hugh Thomson - 2004
    But in 1934 Eric Shipton and Bill Tilman made the first of their great Himalayan expeditions by forcing a way up the river gorge. In 2000, the Sanctuary was entered for one single visit. Hugh Thomson was offered a place on this unique expedition led by Eric Shipton's son, John Shipton and the great Indian mountaineer, Colonel Kumar. This journey forms the basis of the book. Woven through it are all the amazing stories that surround the mountain—a powerful blend of myths and politics.

Crossing the Heart of Africa: An Odyssey of Love and Adventure


Julian Smith - 2010
    In order to prove his mettle to his beloved - and her aristocratic stepfather - he set out on a quest to become the first person to walk across Africa, ''a feat hitherto thought by many explorers to be impossible'' (New York Times, 1900). In 2007 thirty-five-year-old American journalist Julian Smith faced a similar problem with his girlfriend of six years . . . and decided to address it in the same way Grogan had more than a hundred years before: he was going to retrace the Leopard's 4,500-mile journey for love and glory through the lakes, volcanoes, savannas, and crowded modern cities of Africa.Crossing the Heart of Africa is the unforgettable account of twin adventures, as Julian beautifully interweaves his own contemporary journey with Grogan's larger-than-life tale of charging elephants, cannibal attacks, deadly jungles, and romantic triumph.

Beyond Possible: One Soldier, Fourteen Peaks — My Life In The Death Zone


Nimsdai Purja - 2020
    He reveals how leadership, a willingness to learn, integrity and collaboration are essential qualities behind the world’s greatest mountaineering feats. Nimsdai is the first man ever to summit all 8000m ‘Death Zone’ peaks in less than 7 months, and this book reveals the man behind the climbs – how his early life in Nepal and Special Forces training made him the person to go beyond possible…

Lost on a Mountain in Maine


Donn Fendler - 1978
    After hours of trying to find his way back, a nervous and tired Donn falls down an embankment, making it impossible for him to be found. One sleepless night goes by, followed by a second . . . and before Donn knows it, almost two weeks have passed, leaving him starving, scared, and delirious.With rainstorms, black bears, and his fear of being lost forever, Donn's journey is a physically, mentally, and emotionally charged story told from the point of view of the boy who lived it.