The explorers chronicled in this collection push the limitsof endurance, weather, altitude, or personal achievement. Some make history, such as the first American climber to ascend Kilimanjaro in 1932; others, such as the leader of an 1896 team attempting a first ascent of Canada's Mount Lefroy, never return. Each essay has been chosen from the archives of America's oldest mountaineering and conservation journal, Appalachia, to guide you forward from the age of first ascents until the present day. Freak accidents, legendary perseverance, and singularly colorful personalities as well as climbing luminaries such as Bradford Washburn, Elizabeth Knowlton, and Fritz Wiessner all figure into this fascinating, illustrated collection.Published by the Appalachian Mountain Club since 1876, Appalachia has delivered inspired writing on mountain exploration, ecology, and conservation, along with international mountaineering news, analysis of northeastern mountaineering accidents, and much more. Now back in print, these twenty-five essays offer no less inspiration and power than when they first appeared.

Table of Contents:
Contents Foreword by Michael Wejchert and David Roberts Introduction by Christine Woodside A Climb Through Tuckerman Ravine, M. F. Whitman, 1877 A Climb on Mount Adams in Winter, Samuel H. Scudder, 1884 The First Ascent of a Glacier in Colorado, F. H. Chapin, 1887 The Casualty on Mount Lefroy, Charles E. Fay, 1896 A Winter Ascent of the Great Gulf (Mount Washington), George N. Whipple, 1905 Snowbound in September, Robert Whitehill, 1917 Over Ice and Snow on the Equator: An Ascent of Kilimanjaro, Paul Simpson McElroy, 1932 The Attack on Crillon, Bradford Washburn, 1934 The Bietschhorn in a Thunderstorm, Elizabeth Knowlton, 1937 The K2 Expedition of 1939, Fritz H. Wiessner, 1956 On Arizona's San Francisco Peaks, Dorothy May Gardner, 1944 Manless Ascent of Devils Tower, Jan Conn, 1952 Free Fall on the Dent Blanche, Philip D. Levin, 1964 Climbing the Four Thousand Footers in Winter, Miriam Underhill, 1967 Lost on Mount Crescent, Ruth Dadourian, 1976 Avalanche!, Robert D. Hall, Jr., 1978 Thelay Sagar: Paradise and Disillusionment, Jon Waterman, 1980 Like Hay in the Wind: Tragedy on Mount Washington, Christopher Hardiman, Ali Kashkooli, William Moss, Thomas Murri, Albie Pokrob, Douglass Teschner, and Michael Torrey, 1984 Paine and Suffering in Patagonia, Todd Swain, 1988 A Leg Up: One Person's Accident, Doug Mayer, 1990 Trailing Dreams: Magic Along the Appalachian Trail, Elizabeth McGowan, 1993 Remembering Rick, Michael Lanza, 1998 Japanese Caribou: Alone in the Alaska Rangein Winter, Masatoshi Kuriaki, 2009 Ice and Ashes: A Young Sled Driver Takes on a Moral Imperative, Blair Braverman, 2011 Frankenstein Cliff and the Black Dog, Christopher Johnson, 2013 Further Reading Index Permissions About the Editor About Appalachia Appalachian Mountain Club