Book picks similar to
Mount McKinley: The Conquest of Denali by Bradford Washburn
mountaineering
climbing
climbing-adventure
nature-outdoor-travel
Tigers of the Snow: How One Fateful Climb Made The Sherpas Mountaineering Legends
Jonathan Neale - 2002
By 1953 Sherpa Tenzing Norgay stood on the summit of Everest, and the coolies had become the "Tigers of the Snow."Jonathan Neale's absorbing new book is both a compelling history of the oft-forgotten heroes of mountaineering and a gripping account of the expedition that transformed the Sherpas into climbing legends. In 1934 a German-led team set off to climb the Himalayan peak of Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest mountain on earth. After a disastrous assault in 1895, no attempt had been made to conquer the mountain for thirty-nine years. The new Nazi government was determined to prove German physical superiority to the rest of the world. A heavily funded expedition was under pressure to deliver results. Like all climbers of the time, they did not really understand what altitude did to the human body. When a hurricane hit the leading party just short of the summit, the strongest German climbers headed down and left the weaker Germans and the Sherpas to die on the ridge. What happened in the next few days of death and fear changed forever how the Sherpa climbers thought of themselves. From that point on, they knew they were the decent and responsible people of the mountain.Jonathan Neale interviewed many old Sherpa men and women, including Ang Tsering, the last man off Nanga Parbat alive in 1934. Impeccably researched and superbly written, Tigers of the Snow is the compelling narrative of a climb gone wrong, set against the mountaineering history of the early twentieth century, the haunting background of German politics in the 1930s, and the hardship and passion of life in the Sherpa valleys.
Michener's South Pacific
Stephen J. May - 2011
Michener was an obscure textbook editor working in New York. Within three years, he was a naval officer stationed in the South Pacific. By the end of the decade, he was an accomplished author, well on the way to worldwide fame. Michener’s first novel, Tales of the South Pacific, won the Pulitzer Prize. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein used it as the basis for the Broadway musical South Pacific, which also won the Pulitzer. How this all came to be is the subject of Stephen May’s Michener’s South Pacific.An award-winning biographer of Michener, May was a featured interviewee on the fiftieth-anniversary DVD release of the film version of the musical. During taping, he realized there was much he didn’t know about how Michener’s experiences in the South Pacific shaped the man and led to his early work.May delves deeply into this formative and turbulent period in Michener’s life and career, using letters, journal entries, and naval records to examine how a reserved, middle-aged lieutenant known as "Prof" to his fellow officers became one of the most successful writers of the twentieth century.
Aftershock: One Man's Quest and the Quake on Everest
Jules Mountain - 2017
The odds of surviving his type of cancer were one in five; the odds of dying on Everest are one in sixty.But just as he reaches Base Camp in April 2015, the giant earthquake in Nepal sets off an avalanche that will kill 21 . Jules is within touching distance of his life's ambition and is now faced with an agonising choice about his next move.Aftershock is a heart-stopping eyewitness account of the deadliest day in history on the world's most iconic mountain. It is also an exploration of the choices we make in life, and throws up difficult questions about how logic and compassion can be affected by altitude and extreme stress.
Lost with Directions: Ambling Around America
Rob Erwin - 2016
Aside from the bipolar hillbillies, unfriendly wild animals, run-ins with the law, a mental breakdown, a bad first date, and a near-death experience . . . things actually went pretty well. Taking plenty of detours along the way, Rob’s contagious and hilarious sense of wanderlust carries him on a whirlwind road trip from the Smoky Mountains in the East, to Yellowstone, the Tetons, and Colorado’s snow-covered peaks in the West. In a refreshing style that brings these incredible wild places to life like no travel guide ever could, on seemingly every page we’re reminded of the one universal truth of travel . . . the best parts of any journey are the adventures we least expect.
Code Name Camille: A story of trust, love and betrayal
Kathryn Gauci - 2019
Code Name Camille, now a standalone book. 1940: Paris under Nazi occupation. A gripping tale of resistance, suspense and love. When the Germans invade France, twenty-one-year-old Nathalie Fontaine is living a quiet life in rural South-West France. Within months, she heads for Paris and joins the Resistance as a courier helping to organise escape routes. But Paris is fraught with danger. When several escapes are foiled by the Gestapo, the network suspects they are compromised. Nathalie suspects one person, but after a chance encounter with a stranger who provides her with an opportunity to make a little extra money by working as a model for a couturier known to be sympathetic to the Nazi cause, her suspicions are thrown into doubt. Using her work in the fashionable rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, she uncovers information vital to the network, but at the same time steps into a world of treachery and betrayal which threatens to bring them all undone. Time is running out and the Gestapo is closing in. Code Name Camille is a story of courage and resilience that fans of The Nightingale and The Alice Network will love.
Malibu Hills Murder
Deborah Brown - 2018
Yet here he is in SoCal, launching a private investigations firm with two ex-SEAL buddies, settling into a long-term relationship with L.A. county’s hottest assistant district attorney, Avalon Rossi. Figures he’d be the one to flush ZSI’s make-or-break job down the toilet. Now his rich, powerful client’s allegedly unfaithful wife is dead. And the evidence isn’t the only thing with gaping holes in it. Avalon has never seen Zach blow his cool, until the lid blows off this latest can of worms. Her gift for thinking on her feet keeps him out of trouble—for now—though lately she’s wondering if his knee-melting kisses haven’t melted all her good sense. When it turns out one of ZSI’s own is a suspect, it’ll take more than fast talking to keep him from taking the fall. And another victim from landing in the morgue.
Buried in the Sky: The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2's Deadliest Day
Peter Zuckerman - 2012
Everest, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay was at his side. Indeed, for as long as Westerners have been climbing the Himalaya, Sherpas have been the unsung heroes in the background. In August 2008, when eleven climbers lost their lives on K2, the world’s most dangerous peak, two Sherpas survived. They had emerged from poverty and political turmoil to become two of the most skillful mountaineers on earth. Based on unprecedented access and interviews, Buried in the Sky reveals their astonishing story for the first time.Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan explore the intersecting lives of Chhiring Dorje Sherpa and Pasang Lama, following them from their villages high in the Himalaya to the slums of Kathmandu, across the glaciers of Pakistan to K2 Base Camp. When disaster strikes in the Death Zone, Chhiring finds Pasang stranded on an ice wall, without an axe, waiting to die. The rescue that follows has become the stuff of mountaineering legend.At once a gripping, white-knuckled adventure and a rich exploration of Sherpa customs and culture, Buried in the Sky re-creates one of the most dramatic catastrophes in alpine history from a fascinating new perspective.
Epic: Stories of Survival from the World's Highest Peaks
Clint Willis - 1997
This is a volume that is certain to strike a chord with all adventurers - armchair or otherwise
Camp 4: Recollections of a Yosemite Rockclimber
Steve Roper - 1994
It was the perfect place for young nonconformists to drop out, hang loose, and channel their energy into climbing the valley's largely untouched walls and cracks. Many of these "misfits" were the finest rock climbers in the world. Some even shaped the future of the sport. And by the end of the decade, climbers from around the globe were coming to Camp 4 - gathering spot for the creators of the "Golden Age" of Yosemite climbing - to see what all the fuss was about. Climber and author Steve Roper spent most of ten years living in Yosemite Valley with its intriguing inhabitants. Camp 4 is his take on the era's top climbers and the (sometimes whimsical) influences behind their achievements.
Funny Shit in the Woods and Other Stories: The Best of Semi-Rad.com
Brendan Leonard - 2014
Since 2011, more than one million visitors have read and shared Leonard's writing, making Semi-Rad.com stories some of the most viral outdoor content on the internet. Funny Shit in the Woods collects 40 of Semi-Rad's most popular stories in one volume: a single portable archive without the mouse clicks or internet searches-complete with all-new amateurish illustrations hand-drawn by the author, usually while in the front seat of a moving car. If you've ever considered the absurdity of sleeping on the ground in a place where bears live, pooping in a bag on a glacier, or trying to teach someone you love a sport that could scare them to the point of loudly threatening to kill you in front of strangers-or if you find yourself inexplicably drawn to adjust the burning logs in a campfire every two minutes, Funny Shit in the Woods will make you laugh, and might inspire you to get outside a little bit more.
Gettin' Hot
Jerry D. Young - 2012
YOUNG WITH THINGS GETTING HOT IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE... Larry must find a way to keep his cool...and save his life. He finds refuge in an old, remote family property handed down to him from his grandfather and moves out of town to beat the heat and the craziness. As he settles in he meets a local waitress that just so happens to be not only the pretties girl in town, but the girl who steals his heart as well. With the world heating up and society breaking down, can Larry help them both survive to live the kind of life they want to build together? ABOUT AUTHOR JERRY D. YOUNG Author Jerry D. Young has been a fixture in the survival and prepping communities for more than twenty years. The author of more than 100 novels and short stories, Jerry’s writing has been a staple for men and women of all ages and from all walks of life that are interested in prepping, survival, and all-around self-sufficiency. Jerry’s books are written with the goal of educating as well as entertaining and generally enjoyed by all who seek to expand their knowledge of prepping and survival topics while enjoying a good book or short story. As daunting as the end of the world, nuclear fallout, World War III, Civil unrest, economic collapse, solar flares, EMP attacks, and other apocalyptic scenarios may be, society has always been interested in the “What If?” of a Post-Apocalyptic World. Jerry’s stories provide interesting and practical perspectives of heroes and villains navigating Post-Apocalyptic scenarios including everything from Mad Max type of events to more relevant plot lines that seem as if they could have come from the headlines of the modern world. Find more about Jerry D. Young at www.CreativeTexts.com.
Tom's First Weeling: The gathering of the caves
Stephen Matthews - 2018
There would be shame in not going but they had an excuse. Twar did not want an excuse. He wanted to let everyone know about the Normeend who had done so much damaged to the Willow Cave and many caves. As Tom was now the only High Council member, things proved a little difficult. That is until Noree spoke to Heglee, the Farlee of the largest and dominant Cave. After that, things just went from bad to worse.
Lucky Break
Mark Stone - 2019
He's even more happy when that ticket wins the lottery and he can take himself and his Army bud Davey down to Florida so they can live the good life in the paradise that is the Gulf Coast. Drinks, girls, and good times take a backseat to trouble, though, when 'Lucky John' (as the papers dubbed him) finds himself entangled in a murder investigation that might send the luckiest man in the world down the river for a crime he didn't commit. Fans of Travis McGee, Wayne Stinnett, and Randy Wayne White will love Lucky John and his friends' misadventures in the Gulf Coast. Pick up a copy of this edge of your seat, fun-soaked adventure today!
SEAL Team Bravo: Black Ops - Merry Christmas Abu Khalil
Eric Meyer - 2016
It is Christmas time, and US Navy SEAL Lieutenant Kyle Nolan is returning with his unit from Arctic Warfare exercises to spend time with their families. Instead, they find Air Force Boeing C-17 waiting on the tarmac for them to board. The destination is the Middle East, where their orders are to search and recover the payload from a downed aircraft. A Russian Backfire supersonic bomber has crashed and disappeared inside a tiny Sultanate in the mountains of Northern Syria. The aircraft was carrying a nuclear bomb, and ISIS has sent a squad of fanatics to locate the wreck and seize the weapon. Team Bravo comes up against three separate enemies. The soldiers of Hermon, who turn their guns on the SEALs. ISIS, the soldier fanatics, under whom Syria has become a bloody chamber of horrors. Then there is the environment. High, snow-covered mountains, ice-covered glaciers, and hidden crevasses. Battling through the snow across the heights, they are pursued on one side by Islamic fanatics, and on the other, the Sultan's bodyguard. Their strength and skill is tested beyond endurance. Yet when all is lost, they keep fighting. Determined to kill the enemy until the last bullet is fired, and the last drop of blood spilled. Bravo will do what it takes to complete their mission, or die in the attempt. This is a thrilling story of US Navy SEAL Team Bravo, battling to save the region from obliteration. Outnumbered and outgunned, the battle traverses the peaks of Hermon as they fight to survive both enemy gunfire and the hostile terrain. SEAL Team Bravo Black Ops: Merry Christmas Abu Khalil is by the bestselling author of many other Spec Ops stories. These include the popular SEAL Team Bravo titles, the Raider series, as well as Echo Six and the Devil's Guard series.