Climber's Choice: The Best Climbing Writers Present Their Best Work - Hardcover

Ament, Pat

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0071377239 ISBN 13: 9780071377232

Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, 2002

Synopsis

Climbing and mountaineering have produced an inordinate amount of good writing over the years. Not to put too fine a point on it, but there is nothing like facing death to prepare one to write about life. The adrenaline-infused struggle of climbing the "big walls" or the world's greatest peaks does much to energize this great volume of literature, of course. But there are other reasons for its front-to-back interest. Climbing, like writing, is an individual pursuit demanding eloquence, discipline, strength, perseverance, a taste for irony perhaps, and an often poetic introspection. Sometimes even a sense of humor. Climber's Choice takes the time-honored tradition of collected writings to a new and inviting level: Select more than 20 of the world's best climbing writers, many of whom are among the world's best climbers and mountaineers, and ask them to submit their best short writing. No other anthology will have as many authors who have accomplished as much on the world's most forbidding mountains and rock faces or in the literature of the sport. Equally divided between rock climbing and mountaineering, they include: Greg Child, Steven Venables, Kirk Diemberger, Joe Simpson, Paul Pritchard, Royal Roberts, Chuck Pratt, John Long, Walter Bonatti, Chris Bonington, Alison Osius, Amy Irvine, Susan Fox Rogers, and others. They include four Boardman Tasker mountain literature award winners, two Banff Mountain Literature award winners, one Wallace Stegner award winner, and one American Alpine Club winner. Climber's Choice, by prefacing each piece with the author's own reasons for choosing it, will give readers a rare glimpse inside the writers' minds. Why is this piece precious? At what cost was it written? What's the history behind it? Each piece will also be introduced by Ament and accompanied by a black-and-white photograph of the writer, many of them from Ament's acclaimed collection.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Climber's Choice brings together writings by twenty-three of the world's best climbing authors. Editor Pat Ament himself a world-class climber and critically-acclaimed writer asked his colleagues to select those pieces of which they were most proud. The result is an unprecedented convocation of men and women who have conquered many of the world's most forbidding mountains and rock faces and who write about their experiences in ways that transfix even the nonclimbers among us.

As individual in outlook and style as the authors themselves, the pieces in Climber's Choice range from enthralling tales of high adventure like Stephen Venables' haunting chronicle (published here for the first time) of his ascent of Monte Sarmiento, in Tierra del Fuego to moving reflections on the human condition as described in Chris Bonington's gripping account of his summiting, at age sixty, the 6,801-meter Himalayan peak, Drangnag Ri to sublimely funny accounts of climbers and the climbing life notably John Long's notorious account about a ragtag group of hippie rock climbers who flocked around climbing guru Jim Bridwell at Yosemite in the 1970s.

"This book is a lineup of star writers as well as star climbers, as powerful as ever assembled before. And they have selected their own favorite pieces! Definitely a novel approach, as one might expect from the fertile and inventive mind of that incorrigible original, Pat Ament. Dip into this volume and meet the brain children of an outstanding group of individuals who know how to climb and how to write about it." Royal Robbins

It seems as though nothing prepares a person to write about life like facing death on a regular basis. Or perhaps it's because climbing, like writing, is an individual pursuit demanding discipline, perseverance, aplomb, grace, and the patience required to ascend to great heights one small, perilous step at a time. No other sport has produced such an extensive body of excellent writing as mountain and rock climbing. Bringing together writings chosen by twenty-three of the world's best climbers and best climbing authors, Climber's Choice offers a tantalizing glimpse inside the allure, danger, and exhilaration of this fascinating sport.

Contributors:
-Pat Ament
-Walter Bonatti
-Chris Bonington
-Greg Child
-Kurt Diemberger
-John Gill
-Tom Higgins
-Amy Irvine
-John Long
-Ian McNaught-Davis
-Alison Osius
-Jim Perrin
-Chuck Pratt
-Paul Pritchard
-Royal Robbins
-Doug Robinson
-Susan Fox Rogers
-Reg Saner
-John Sherman
-Joe Simpson
-Mark Synnott
-Stephen Venables
-Ed Webster

About the Author:

Pat Ament (Fruita, CO) is a renowned climber, teaches and writes about climbing, and is the sport's most eloquent spokesperson.

About this edition

• Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0071377239
• ISBN 13: 9780071377232
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304