Attention Span – James Wagner

Charles S. Houston, M.D. and Robert H. Bates | K2—The Savage Mountain | Lyons | 2000

In which one person—Peter Schoening—somehow holds six others up from falling to their deaths. One of the classic mountaineering texts.

Valerian Albanov | In the Land of White Death | Modern Library | 2000

Icelocked for over a year, mutiny, walrus attacks, only one of two to survive this ordeal.  Sensitive writer. Just recently relocated account of the Siberian Artic.

John Muir | The Mountains of California | Sierra Club | 1988

A little too “awe-filled” for my stomach, but good information nonetheless.

Andy Selters and Michael Zanger | The Mt. Shasta Book | Wilderness | 2006

Most thorough book on Shasta’s routes. Includes map.

Jon Krakauer | Eiger Dreams—Ventures Among Men and Mountains | Anchor | 1997

A great collection of essays, most of them seen first in Outside magazine.

Vicky Spring | 100 Hikes in California’s Central Sierra & Coast Range | Mountaineers | 1997

I’ll be hopefully heading to the Sierras in September.

Ed Viesturs, with David Roberts | No Shortcuts to the Top | Broadway | 2006

Viesturs is the first American and twelfth overall to climb the world’s fourteen highest peaks—all of those over 8000 meters:  Everest, K2, Kangchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyo, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu, Nanga Parbat, Annapurna I, Gasherbrum I, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum II, and Shishapangma. Viesturs comes off as jovial and extremely driven.

Lene Gammelgaard | Climbing High—A Woman’s Account of Surviving the Everest Tragedy | Seal | 1999

There are a few books written by climbers who were part of the disastrous 1996 Everest climbing season. Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air and Anatoli Boukreev’s The Climb are the more well-known. Gammelgaard’s book is another. I thought it gave a good account, a very personal account, of the events.

Steven M. Cox, Kris Fulsass, eds. | Mountaineering—The Freedom of the Hills | Mountaineers | 2003

The central book of mountaineering.  Seventh edition.

Martha J. Lentz, Ph.D., R.N., ed. | Mountaineering First Aid—A Guide to Accident Response and First Aid Care | Mountaineers | 1985

“Snowblindness is not “blindness” at all, but rather sunburn of the surface of the eye.”

Jonathan Waterman | In the Shadow of Denali—Life and Death on Alaska’s Mt. McKinley | Lyons | 1999

Passionate, decent man, who writes well.

*

My deepening interest in climbing/mountaineering has overshadowed all else in the past year.  I did read many books of poetry throughout the year—Anne Boyer’s The Romance of Happy Workers and Ariana Reines’ The Cow being the most engaged and, therefore, for me, the most engaging.