How to Climb Mt. Blanc in a Skirt


Book Description

You'll find the answers to these questions and more in Mick Conefrey's charming new book (a hint: none of them had a beard). --




Great Adventures


Book Description

This beautiful hardback takes the reader on 75 of the most amazing adventures on the planet. From the ultimate challenge of climbing Mount Everest to less strenuous but equally inspiring experiences like kayaking with orcas in Canada and cycling Vietnam's backroads, this is the definitive companion to the world's most spectacular adventures. With stunning photographs, sumptuous descriptions and practical information, this inspirational coffee table book will delight armchair explorers and bone fide adventurers alike. 'While it is lovely to linger over the stunning photos, there is a lot more to this sumptuously designed title - a follow-up to Great Journeys - than meets the eye? This is a perfect gift for the traveller in your life who might be tempted to ride the Tour de France's high passes or paraglide from Mont Blanc's pearly summit.' Sydney Morning Herald 'Whether you're active or just love reading about action, there's something here for everyone.' Australian Associated Press 'If you liked Lonely Planet's Great Journeys, you'll love the next in the series - Great Adventures? Even if you're not planning a trip it's great for armchair travelling.' The Times About Lonely Planet: Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, as well as an award-winning website, a suite of mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet's mission is to enable curious travellers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places they find themselves in. TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards 2012 winner in Favorite Travel Guide category 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia) Important Notice: The digital edition of this book may not contain all of the images found in the physical edition.




How to Climb Mont Blanc in a Skirt


Book Description

Ever wondered how to cook a locust or sweet-talk a cannibal? Welcome to the captivating world of female explorers – women just as inspiring, brave, and occasionally downright strange as all the Shackletons, Mallorys, and Livingstones. Discover who dressed up as a Tibetan peasant to explore Asia and why you shouldn’t let a gorilla near your bedroom. Learn how to spot a good camel and who carried two holsters on her horse: one for a loaded revolver and one for tea-making equipment. Pairing intrepid stories of yesteryear with hilarious retro tips from history’s greatest female adventurers, How to Climb Mont Blanc in a Skirt is perfect for both seasoned explorers and office workers dreaming of that next big trip abroad.




How to Climb Mt. Blanc in a Skirt


Book Description

• Which explorer found the lost site of Jesus' first miracle? • Who was first to the top of the highest mountain in Peru? • Who was the first Westerner to visit the Ottoman harem in Constantinople? • Who held the world record as the only person to fly from Britain to Australia for 44 years? You'll find the answers to these questions and more in Mick Conefrey's charming new book (a hint: none of them had beards). In 1870, New York mountaineer Meta Brevoort climbed Mt. Blanc in a hoop skirt. Pausing at the summit only long enough to drink a glass of champagne and dance the quadrille with her alpine guides, she marched back down the mountain and into history as one of the first female mountain explorers. Here, Mick Conefrey weaves together tips, how-tos, anecdotes, and eccentric lists to tell the amazing stories of history's great female explorers—women who were just as fascinating and inspiring as all the Shackletons, Mallorys, and Livingstones. Most were brave, some were reckless, and all were fascinating. From Fanny Bullock Workman, who was photographed on top of a mountain pass in the Karakoram, holding up a banner calling for "Votes for Women" to Mary Hall, the Victorian world traveler, whose motto was, "take every precaution and abandon all fear," How to Climb Mt. Blanc in a Skirt is uproariously funny and occasionally downright strange.




Political Affairs of the Heart


Book Description

By examining four sentimental travelogues written by British women travelers during the American and French Revolutions, Political Affairs of the Heart argues that this genre, by combining eyewitness authority with the language of sensibility, constitutes a significant site of women's engagement in national and gender politics.




Queen of the Mountaineers


Book Description

Fanny Bullock Workman was a complicated and restless woman who defied the rigid Victorian morals she found as restrictive as a corset. With her frizzy brown hair tucked under a helmet, Workman was a force on and off the mountain. Instrumental in breaking the British stranglehold on Himalayan mountain climbing, this American woman climbed more peaks than any of her peers and became the first woman to map the far reaches of the Himalayas and the second to address the Royal Geographic Society of London, whose past members included Charles Darwin, Richard Francis Burton, and David Livingstone. Her books—replete with photographs, illustrations, and descriptions of meteorological conditions, glaciology, and the effect of high altitudes on humans—remained useful decades after their publication. Paving the way for a legion of female climbers, Workman's legacy lives on in scholarship prizes at Wellesley, Smith, Radcliffe, and Bryn Mawr.Author and journalist Cathryn J. Prince brings Fanny Bullock Workman to life, revealing how she navigated the male-dominated world of alpine clubs and adventure societies as nimbly as she navigated the deep crevasses and icy granite walls of the Himalayas. Queen of the Mountaineers is the story of one woman's role in science and exploration, breaking boundaries and charting frontiers for women everywhere.




Everest 1953


Book Description

CLICK HERE to download a sample from Everest 1953 In the only book to tell the real story of Everest 1953, Mick Conefrey reveals that what has gone down in history as a supremely well-planned attempt was in fact beset by crises -- both on and off the mountain. To succeed, team leader Colonel John Hunt and his team had to draw on unimaginable skill and determination, as well as sheer British ingenuity. Everest 1953 is not only a gripping true story of courage and adventure, but a fascinating window into the media contest to cover this seminal event in coronation year. The Times had exclusive access to the team, but the Daily Mail and other papers used subterfuge and shenanigans to get their scoops. Revealing the answers to long-enduring controversies -- did Tenzing or Hillary actually reach the top first? -- and exploring the legacy of this great ascent, it is the perfect way to commemorate a year of British sporting triumph.




Women of the Four Winds


Book Description

Annie Smith Peck attempted seven times to climb Peru's highest mountain; Delia Akeley hunted big game in Africa; Marguerite Harrison spied in Russia for America; Louise Arner Boyd led expeditions to perilous East Greenland. Precursors of the modern Jane Goodalls and Sally Rides, these women represent a fascinating but forgotten era in the literature of exploration.







When Nights Were Cold


Book Description

As Queen Victoria’s reign reaches its end, Grace Farringdon dreams of polar explorations and of escape from her stifling home with her protective parents and eccentric, agoraphobic sister. But when Grace secretly applies to Candlin, a women’s college filled with intelligent, like-minded women, she finally feels her ambitions beginning to be take shape. There she forms an Antarctic Exploration Society with the gregarious suffragette Locke, the reserved and studious Hooper and the strange, enigmatic Parr, and before long the group are defying their times and their families by climbing the peaks of Snowdonia and planning an ambitious trip to the perilous Alps. Fifteen years later, trapped in her Dulwich home, Grace is haunted by the terrible events that took place out on the mountains. She is the society’s only survivor and for years people have demanded the truth of what happened, the group’s horrible legacy a millstone around her neck. Now, as the eve of the Second World War approaches, Grace is finally ready to remember and to confess . . . From one of the finest writers of the psychological thriller comes this beautifully woven, deeply unsettling historical novel; powerfully atmospheric, shivering with menace and reminiscent of the very best of Sarah Waters.