Book picks similar to
Icefall: The True Story of a Teenager on a Mission to the Top of the World by Alex Staniforth
adventure
climbing
non-fiction
survival
The Wild Side of Alaska
Donna Morang - 2013
However, this is only the beginning of her lifelong dream of hunting and fishing in the Last Frontier of Alaska.She will take you to the Brooks Range, north of the arctic circle, where she and her mate hunt for dall sheep, come face-to-face with a grizzly bear that wants to eat them, and an angry moose trying to trample her hunting partner.Return to the Brooks Range to live with Donna, her mate, and one-year-old daughter in a cabin deep in the wilderness while mining for the elusive gold. Live an authentic life in the Bush of Alaska (The Bush is a term Alaskans use to describe regions of the state not connected to civilization) where she bakes her own bread, has no electricity, no running water, and wolves try to eat her baby.Fish along side her in the famous Katmai and Resurrection Bay, or do some crazy dip-net fishing for salmon at Chitna, Alaska. Catch a few grayling, salmon, or northern pike,and float the Delta river where she almost lost her life.Fly in small airplanes over the Brooks Range to view forest fires waiting to trap them in the wilderness, or hold on tight as they cruise over the majestic Prince William Sound to land on Hinchinbrook Island, and hunt for Alaskan brown bear.Return to the new life-style in the wild and wooly north after the discovery of oil, and the not-so-civilized changes to the Last Great Frontier of Alaska. As author David VanDyke says, "The Wild Side of Alaska will pull you in and keep you laughing, crying and gasping at the amazing true story of one of the last real American frontier women. You won't want to miss this down-to-earth tale of woman versus wilderness.
In the Zone
Peter Potterfield - 1996
Veteran journalist with 25 years of climbing experience, author Potterfield is a master craftsman who has himself been in the zone. These stories, the result of extensive interviews, reveal that the keys to averting tragedy lie in the head and heart as much as in technical proficiency and physical strength.There is the story of Colby Coombs' disastrous experience on Alaska's Mount Foraker, which ranks with Joe Simpson's Touching the Void as one of the greatest survival stories of the genre. On K2, experienced climber Scott Fischer (who lost his life in the 1996 Everest tragedy) and partner Ed Viesturs battle for the summit in the face of numerous setbacks, severe injuries, and harrowing weather conditions. Peter Potterfield recounts his own riveting tale of hope and desperation after a climbing fall that left him trapped and badly injured on a narrow ledge in Washington's North Cascades.
The Last Great Mountain: The First Ascent of Kangchenjunga
Mick Conefrey - 2020
It was an astonishing achievement for a British team led by Everest veteran Charles Evans. Drawing on interviews, diaries and unpublished accounts, Mick Conefrey begins his story in 1905 with the first, disastrous attempt on the mountain by a team led by Aleister Crowley, explores the three dramatic German expeditions of the the late 1920s and brings it all to a climax 50 years later with the first ascent by Joe Brown and George Band. The Last Great Mountain is the final instalment of Mick Conefrey's acclaimed high altitude trilogy.
A Drop in the Ocean
Jasna Tuta - 2018
But this isn’t one of them. Totally free of hyperbole and exaggeration, A Drop in the Ocean is an honest and genuine account of what it is really like to cross a very big ocean, on a very small sailboat, for the very first time...When you raise the sails and head into the unknown, you take on the most fascinating challenge of your life. But you also embark upon a voyage of an entirely different nature. As the initial fear of the unknown slowly gives way to the daily rhythm of life at sea, something entirely unexpected happens. This book is one woman’s attempt to describe the nature and effect of this subtle transformation.
Praise for A Drop in The Ocean
A Drop in the Ocean is a book for anyone curious to read an honest account of how challenging, inspiring, and ultimately rewarding it can be to venture across the open water with only your vessel, experience, and wits to guide you. Along with describing the realities of exhaustion, seasickness, and bruises, Jasna also interweaves moments of magic and this why her book is so important. A Drop in the Ocean doesn’t romanticize an ocean crossing but shows both its difficulty and also its enchantment. These are the pleasures of ocean sailing that can only be experienced firsthand or read about in books like Jasna’s. The beauty of the ocean is not just found when the wind and waves are perfect and in the right direction, but in what the sea forces you to do when they are not. Jasna’s personal realizations and her final sense of achievement are a straightforward, honest, and accurate portrayal of a first time ocean voyage. There are still places in the world that many people will never visit, like the famed islands of the South Pacific and luckily there are also still people in the world adventurous enough to travel across an ocean by sailboat to experience them firsthand and share those stories with us.. Charlotte Kaufman, Author, sailor and founder of Women Who Sail.
To Be Brave
Royal Robbins - 2009
In "To Be Brave", learn about his oppressive childhood and his first climb, an ascent from the hardships of his youth when he discovered the beauty and intensity associated with America's mountains and rock walls. In his second installment, "Fail Falling", you can follow Robbins through his first ascents at Half Dome in 1957 and Yosemite Valley's Sentinel Rock.
Bulletproof Putting in Five Easy Lessons: The Streamlined System for Weekend Golfers (Golf Instruction for Beginner and Intermediate Golfers Book 2)
Michael McTeigue - 2014
The secret to lower scoring is to sink more putts of eight feet or less while consistently lagging long putts close to the hole to avoid three putting. The Bulletproof Putting System teaches you to do exactly that, in five easy lessons. Written for the recreational golfer who has limited practice time and no desire to become a slave to the game, Bulletproof Putting in Five Easy Lessons will help you •Read greens more accurately and visualize the correct roll paths for your putts•Make a dependable putting stroke that hits the ball where you aim•Ingrain your bulletproof pre-shot and in-shot routines to increase confidence•Master the four types of putts: slam dunk, drillable, drainable, and lag•Utilize precious practice and warm up time to your best advantage. Bulletproof Putting in Five Easy Lessons is written in an approachable style by Michael McTeigue, former Northern California PGA Teacher of the Year and author of the popular full-swing instruction classic, The Keys to the Effortless Golf Swing. Michael conducted thousands of golf lessons as a PGA professional at Bel Air Country Club, Riveria Country Club, and Palos Verdes Golf Club in California. His beautifully illustrated new book will improve your putting and enrich your enjoyment of the game. Bulletproof Putting in Five Easy Lessons is certain to become a treasured favorite in your golfing library.
Chasing Rumor: A Season Fly Fishing in Patagonia
Cameron Chambers - 2015
Rediscovered by fishermen a half-century later, the fish had grown to epic proportions. In Chasing Rumor, Cameron Chambers chronicles his modern-day pilgrimage to the rivers of Patagonia in pursuit of these legendary 20-pound trout. What started as a trip focused on catching fish became a love affair with the Patagonian landscape, environment, and, mostly, the people. From a business mogul turned B&B owner to a kid determined to save a local trout population, Chasing Rumor is at times the story of a handful of fishermen, and at other times a tale of enormous trout.
A Donkey On The Catwalk: Tales of life in Greece
Marjory McGinn - 2021
Once again there are comical and insightful tales of life in wild and stunning locations.Readers will be further enlightened by the escapades of the unforgettable farmer Foteini: her unique take on life; her outrageous ‘fashions’, including a makeshift shoe design you will never forget, and her ‘haute couture’ offerings for Riko the donkey.As well as tales of the Peloponnese, there are stories from other Greek locations the couple have visited, including Pelion and the islands of Santorini and Corfu. This book also offers a fascinating glimpse into some of the author’s earliest trips to Greece with tales that have not been published before, including a year of teaching English in Athens during a dangerous time of political upheaval; a humorous story of facing up to bizarre religious relics in Corfu; and a long sabbatical in Crete that didn’t quite go to plan, with a hint of unexpected romance in an idyllic setting.This book also includes some of the author's photographs of her travels in Greece.
No Mercy: True Stories of Disaster, Survival and Brutality
Eleanor Learmonth - 2013
A ship goes down, a plane crashes, a party of travellers is cut off.But when the panic and confusion subside and the dead are counted, the survivors must find a way to keep surviving. And in desperation, unconstrained by law or conventional authority, the tactics they resort to can be both horrifying and ultimately self-destructive.Learmonth and Tabakoff outline the physical and neurological changes that typically affect the victims of disaster. Then, using true stories from history as case studies, they investigate the scenario famously imagined by William Golding in Lord of the Flies and borne out by the extraordinary Robbers Cave experiments of the 1950s. As this fascinating book unfolds the awful truth becomes clear. In extremity, humans are capable of a descent into murderous savagery so swift and complete it could—literally—take your breath away.
Out There
Ted Kerasote - 2004
But what if your canoeing partner brings along a satellite phone to use in case of an emergency? And, struck by the novelty of anywhere-on-earth communication, he proceeds to use the phone to check in with his law office, his wife, kids, sisters, father, and friends? Noted wilderness traveler and author Ted Kerasote deals with just such a situation as he journeys along the Horton River through the largest ice-free, roadless area left on Earth, a stunning wilderness of grizzly bears, caribou, and migrating birds. Between navigating rapids, slipping around musk ox and grizzlies, and being pinned down by Arctic storms, the two friends prod each other into a finer understanding of love, marriage, parenting, and the meaning of solitude in an increasingly wired world. Contrasting his own experiences with those of the regions earliest explorers--Sir John Franklin and Vilhjalmur Stefansson--Kerasote provides a compelling and humorous take on how travelers from any age adjust to being away from their civilizations and how getting "out there" has inevitably changed but has also remained the same--especially if you shut off the phone.
The Coconut Wireless: A Travel Adventure in Search of the Queen of Tonga
Simon Michael Prior - 2021
No idea they’ll encounter an undiscovered tribe, rescue a drowning actress, learn jungle survival from a commando, and attend cultural ceremonies few Westerners have seen. As they find out who hooks up, who breaks up, who cracks up, and who throws up, will they fulfil Simon’s ambition to see the queen, or will they be distracted by insomniac chickens, grunting wild piglets, and the easy-going Tongan lifestyle?
Crossing The Ditch
James Castrission - 2009
It tells the story of two mates, a kayak, and the conquest of the Tasman.
The Long Way Home: The Other Great Escape
John McCallum - 2012
a great tale with a deep message' George Robertson 'a thrilling escapade' Bournemouth Echo At the age of nineteen, Glasgow-born John McCallum signed up as a Supplementary Reservist in the Signal Corps. A little over a year later, he was in France, working frantically to set up communication lines as Europe once more hurtled towards war. Wounded and captured at Boulogne, he was sent to the notorious Stalag VIIIB prison camp, together with his brother, Jimmy, and friend Joe Harkin. Ingenious and resourceful, the three men set about planning their escape. With the help of Traudl, a local girl, they put their plan into action. In an astonishing coincidence, they passed through the town of Sagan, around which the seventy-six airmen of the Great Escape were being pursued and caught. However, unlike most of these other escapees, John, Jimmy and Joe eventually made it to freedom. Now, due to the declassification of documents under the Official Secrets Act, John McCallum is finally able to tell the thrilling story of his adventure, in which he recaptures all the danger, audacity and romance of one of the most daring escapes of the Second World War.
Overlander: One man's epic race to cross Australia
Rupert Guinness - 2018
This was no ordinary bike race. Unlike the Tour de France, which Guinness had made his name reporting on for decades, competitors rode completely unassisted from Fremantle in Western Australia to the Opera House in Sydney on the other side of the country - a gruelling distance of over 5000 kilometres that would not only test riders' physical endurance but their psychological resilience. Dubbed 'The Hunger Games on Wheels', there would be no help, just riders and their bikes crossing one of the most beautiful – and often most inhospitable – places on earth. Rupert’s mission was to test his own grit, physical and emotional, as he followed the trail of the pioneering men and women whose historic rides over the last two centuries unveiled a largely unknown interior. But when a terrible tragedy stopped everyone in their tracks, what he discovered was the extraordinary power of the human spirit. Rupert and his fellow competitors were forced to make some of the toughest decisions they had ever faced.
Getting Out Alive: The Autumn Veatch Story (True Stories of Survival Book 1)
Tara Ellis - 2015
Injured, alone, and lost, she defies all odds to make it out alive. This short story is a true account of a brave young woman's survival. Not only was Autumn the sole survivor of the crash, but she then hiked for nearly three days through some of the most unforgiving terrain in the country. Find out what it takes to be a survivor.