The Top 500 Summits


Book Description

The Top 500 Summits are the highest 500 mountains in Britain and Ireland with a drop of at least 500 feet on all sides. From the highest mountain on the list, Ben Nevis (4,411ft) to the lowest, Knockanaffrin in Ireland (2,477ft), this guide tells Barry's personal journey over all 500 summits. Other walkers who have shared in some of Barry's adventures contribute to this unique book. The 500 summits comprise 430 in Scotland, 29 in Ireland, 21 in Wales and 20 in England. Anyone climbing all of them will almost certainly have completed the Scottish Munros and Corbetts. A record of anyone completing the 500 summits will be kept on the website where2walk. This book contains a fabulous collection of photographs. It will provide interesting and entertaining reading for regular hill walkers as well as the many thousands of people who go walking in the mountains of the British Isles on an occasional basis. Part coffee-table guidebook and part personal account, this is a book for anyone who loves the mountains of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.




Highpoints of the United States


Book Description

The highpoints of the fifty states range from Alaska's 20,320 foot high Mount McKinley to 345 feet at Lakewood Park in Florida. Some highpoints, such as Mount Mitchell in North Carolina and New Hampshire's Mount Washington can be reached by automobile on a sightseeing drive. Others such as Colorado's Mount Elbert or Mount Marcy in New York are accessible as wilderness day hikes. Still others, such as Mount Rainier in Washington or Gannett Peak in Wyoming, are strenuous and risky mountaineering challenges that should be attempted only by experienced climbers. Whatever your level of skill and interest, Highpoints of the United States offers a diverse range of experiences. Arranged alphabetically by state, each listing has a map, photographs, and information on trailhead, main and alternative routes, elevation gain, and conditions. Historical and natural history notes are also included, as are suggestions for specific guidebooks to a region or climb. Appendices include a list of highpoints by region, by elevation, and a personal log for the unashamed "peak-bagger." Whether you're an armchair hiker or a seasoned climber, interested only in your state's highest point or all fifty, this book will be an invaluable companion and reference.




Climbing the Seven Summits


Book Description

CLICK HERE to download the first 50 pages from Climbing the Seven Summits * First and only guidebook to climbing all Seven Summits * Full color with 125 photographs and 24 maps including a map for each summit route * Essential information on primary climbing routes and travel logistics for mountaineers, with historical and cultural anecdotes for armchair readers Aconcagua. Denali. Elbrus. Everest. Kilimanjaro. Kosciuszko. Vinson. To a climber, these mountains are known as the Seven Summits* -- the highest peaks on each continent. If you've ever dreamed of climbing Denali or Everest, or joining the even more exclusive "Seven Summiters " club, then Climbing the Seven Summits is the guidebook you need to turn your dream into reality. With Mike Hamill as your guide, you will discover different approaches to tackling the list, as well as details on what you'll need to plan an expedition and what to expect from each climb. For each mountain you'll learn about documents and immunizations, expedition costs, training, guiding options, climbing styles, best seasons, essential gear, day-by-day itineraries, summit routes, maps showing approaches and camps, regional natural history, cultural notes, and even post-climb activities like going on safari in Africa or wine-touring in South America. Throughout you'll also find helpful and inspiring stories from the likes of Conrad Anker, Vern Tejas, Damien Gildea, Eric Simonson, and other famed climbers. Special insider tips from Hamill, based on his years of experience, as well as full-color photographs of each peak round out this collectible guidebook. And, because there remains some controversy about whether Kosciuszko in Australia or Carstenz Pyramid on the island of New Guinea is the "seventh summit," this guidebook to the Seven Summits actually covers eight mountains! *Within mountaineering circles there is debate over which peaks are considered the official Seven Summits. For the purposes of this guidebook, the Seven Summits are based on the continental model used in Western Europe, the United States, and Australia, also referred to as the 'Bass list.'




The Finest Peaks - Prominence and Other Mountain Measures


Book Description

This book challenges the precedent that a mountain's worth scales with height. It is a rational synthesis of new concepts that compel one to reassess the popular "heightist mindset". The concept of prominence, loosely defined as a mountain's vertical relief, is a stiff competitor to summit height for assessing a mountain's stature and relative worth for innumerable purposes. The community of prominence theoreticians, list builders, and climbers has reached critical mass - suggesting publication of a book dedicated exclusively to prominence. Revolutions are not overnight. The heightist mindset has minimally a 100 year head start. Eventually the climbing community will embrace prominence. For the mountaineer a prominence-based peak list provides fresh goals guaranteed to satisfy. A prominence-based peak list, regardless of geographic region, incorporates the most awe inspiring and diverse mountains. Chapter I introduces prominence, being defined and contrasted with altitude as peak list generator. Chapters II and III concern peak list production. Chapter IV reviews the history of prominence, including a compendium of prominence list builders and their lists. Chapter V is about prominence oriented peakbaggers and their accomplishments. Chapter VI entails prominence-derived mountain measures - submarine prominence, inverse prominence, proportional prominence, and dominance. Chapter VII concerns the advanced, prominence-derived concepts of parentage, divide trees, lineage cells, and more. Chapter VIII concerns alternative, objective mountain measures: isolation measure; peakedness and prominence density; and height / steepness combination measures - drop measure, cliff measure, spire measure, and ruggedness measure. Spire measure quantifies a mountain's subjective impressiveness due to great angularity. Chapter IX is a search for the largest prominence unclimbed mountain - grand goal of a future, summit-discovering expedition. Appendices A to G cover various subtopics, the glossary defines over 300 terms. 48 pages of illustrations are included, with full-color versions on-line at http://www.cohp.org/prominence/publication_2005_illustrations/main.html A beautiful, hardcover edition with color illustrations is available, and is highly recommended by book reviewers. ? E-mail the author for pricing and purchase information.




To the Top


Book Description

A light-hearted account of two close friends accomplishing an American odyssey. Adventurer Joe Glickman and his friend, outdoor photographer Nels Akerlund, tell of their completed 50-state quest which began in 1994, when, over glasses of beer, they hatched a plan to climb America's 50 state summits while documenting the expedition. Expecting the exercise to take six months, Joe and Nels found themselves embarking on a five-year marathon.




Summits and Secrets


Book Description

'A book grows rather like a snow crystal. One doesn't write it from start to finish but, in greater or less degree, all at the same time ... that is why my book is not in chronological order; for everything is of the present, held in the moment when thought captures it.' Kurt Diemberger's Summits and Secrets is a mountaineering autobiography like no other. Writing anecdotally, Diemberger provides an abstract look into his life and climbing career that is both fascinating and awe-inspiring to navigate. Known for surviving the 1986 K2 disaster – an account described in harrowing detail in his award-winning book The Endless Knot – Diemberger provides a captivating insight into his earlier climbs in Summits and Secrets . From climbing his first peak in the Tyrol mountains of Austria, to the epoch-making first ascent of Broad Peak with Hermann Buhl in 1957, and then summiting Dhaulagiri in 1960, where he became one of only two people to have made first ascents of two mountains over 8,000 metres, Diemberger recounts his experiences with wit, honesty and an infectious enthusiasm: 'Every climber knows the thrill ... the unique inexplicable tension, which the regular shapes of the mountain world awake in him: huge pyramids, enormous rectangular slabs, piled-up triangles of rock, white circles, immense squares – the thrill of simplicity of shape and outline and the excitement of mastering them, to an unbelievable extent, by his own efforts, his own power ... ' Summits and Secrets is a must-read for those wanting an insight into the life and achievements of one of the toughest high-altitude climbers the world has ever known.




Summit Routes


Book Description

Summit Routes takes you to the apex of Washington's 100 highest peaks. From easier trail routes to true wilderness experiences, from just beyond the pass to the top of Mount Rainier, this guide shows the way with detailed approach and route descriptions, photos with route overlays, and itineraries that group peaks into multiday outings. Whether you are a hiker or an experienced climber, Summit Routes will get you into the mountains and on top of the world.




Together on Top of the World


Book Description

Presents an inspirational account of the experiences of Phil and Susan Ershler, a couple who overcame Phil's Crohn's disease and cancer and Susan's inexperience to climb the Seven Summits.




Virginia Summits


Book Description

Virginia Summits guides readers to the very best hikes to peaks in the state. Organized geographically, this book features worthy summit hikes that range from an elevation of 3,000 feet to more than 5,000 feet. From world-renowned summit hikes like Old Rag at Shenandoah National Park to high points that can be tackled by even novice hikers, the variety and range of Virginia’s summits offer something to hikers of all skill levels. Look inside to find a trail finder that highlights best hikes for kids, sunsets/sunrise viewing, rock scrambles, and wildlife viewing.