Continental Divide: A History of American Mountaineering

Continental Divide: A History of American Mountaineering PDF Author: Maurice Isserman
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393292525
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 395

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Book Description
This magesterial and thrilling history argues that the story of American mountaineering is the story of America itself. In Continental Divide, Maurice Isserman tells the history of American mountaineering through four centuries of landmark climbs and first ascents. Mountains were originally seen as obstacles to civilization; over time they came to be viewed as places of redemption and renewal. The White Mountains stirred the transcendentalists; the Rockies and Sierras pulled explorers westward toward Manifest Destiny; Yosemite inspired the early environmental conservationists. Climbing began in North America as a pursuit for lone eccentrics but grew to become a mass-participation sport. Beginning with Darby Field in 1642, the first person to climb a mountain in North America, Isserman describes the exploration and first ascents of the major American mountain ranges, from the Appalachians to Alaska. He also profiles the most important American mountaineers, including such figures as John C. Frémont, John Muir, Annie Peck, Bradford Washburn, Charlie Houston, and Bob Bates, relating their exploits both at home and abroad. Isserman traces the evolving social, cultural, and political roles mountains played in shaping the country. He describes how American mountaineers forged a "brotherhood of the rope," modeled on America’s unique democratic self-image that characterized climbing in the years leading up to and immediately following World War II. And he underscores the impact of the postwar "rucksack revolution," including the advances in technique and style made by pioneering "dirtbag" rock climbers. A magnificent, deeply researched history, Continental Divide tells a story of adventure and aspiration in the high peaks that makes a vivid case for the importance of mountains to American national identity.

Fallen Giants

Fallen Giants PDF Author: Maurice Isserman
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300164203
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 592

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Book Description
In the first comprehensive history of Himalayan mountaineering in 50 years, the authors offer detailed, original accounts of the most significant climbs since the 1890s, and they compellingly evoke the social and cultural worlds that gave rise to those expeditions.

The Winter Army

The Winter Army PDF Author: Maurice Isserman
Publisher: Mariner Books
ISBN: 1328871436
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
The epic story of the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division, whose elite soldiers broke the last line of German defenses in Italy's mountains in 1945, spearheading the Allied advance to the Alps and final victory.

The Continental Divide Trail

The Continental Divide Trail PDF Author: Barney Scout Mann
Publisher: Rizzoli Publications
ISBN: 0789339668
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Continental Divide Trail explores this iconic crown jewel of America's trails with more than 250 spectacular contemporary images, historical photos and documents from the Continental Divide Trail Coalition archives, and detailed maps. Readers can experience the trail as if their boots were on the 3,100-mile path. This beautifully produced volume makes accessible the highest and most remote of the three crown jewel trails--following the Rocky Mountains from Canada to Mexico along the Continental Divide, the backbone of America. The Continental Divide Trail presents the full glory of this challenging trail in breathtaking images, ephemera, and maps. While untold thousands of day hikers take advantage of the CDT each year, thru-hiking the entire trail is not for the faint-hearted. In 2017, only 250 people will attempt to hike it end to end. The Continental Divide Trail is perfect for anyone interested in conservation, outdoor recreation, or American history, or for those who dream of one day becoming thru-hikers themselves.This is the first large-format book published in conjunction with the Continental Divide Trail Coalition, and the breathtaking photographs make you feel as if you were on the trail. The book includes maps and rarely seen archival images, as well as a written backstory of this great trail. This photo- and information-packed book is a must-have for anyone who has ever caught the magic of the nation's rooftop, the Great Divide. It's an inspirational bucket list for everyone who wants to get outdoors--day hiker, backpacker, fisherman, hunter, and those rare souls--thru-hikers--who dare to attempt hiking it all in one go.With text by Barney Mann, who has thru-hiked all three Triple Crown trails, and a foreword by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, this book makes the trail come alive for both veteran hikers and armchair travelers alike.

Continental Divide

Continental Divide PDF Author: Krista Schlyer
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 1603447571
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
The topic of the border wall between the United States and Mexico continues to be broadly and hotly debated: on national news media, by local and state governments, and even over the dinner table. By now, broad segments of the population have heard widely varying opinions about the wall's effect on illegal immigration, international politics, and the drug war. But what about the wall's effect on animals? Krista Schlyer vividly shows us that this largely isolated natural area, stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, is also host to a number of rare ecosystems.

Where the Waters Divide

Where the Waters Divide PDF Author: Karen Berger
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780881504033
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
An account of the authors' walk across the Great Divide from Mexico to the Canadian border describes the people, the pertinent political and environmental issues, the history of the areas, and other important topics

Cycling the Great Divide

Cycling the Great Divide PDF Author: Michael McCoy
Publisher: The Mountaineers Books
ISBN: 9780898866988
Category : Continental Divide National Scenic Trail
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Turforslag fra Canadas grænse via Montana, Wyoming, Colorado og New Mexico til grænsen til Mexico

America's Great Hiking Trails

America's Great Hiking Trails PDF Author: Karen Berger
Publisher: Rizzoli Publications
ISBN: 0789327414
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards -- 2014 GOLD Winner for Adventure & Recreation Society of American Travel Writers Eastern Chapter -- Gold Award Society of American Travel Writers Foundation -- 2015 Lowell Thomas Travel Award for Best Travel Book A hiker’s dream bucket list is embodied in this lavishly illustrated celebration of more than 50,000 miles of America’s most iconic trails. Celebrating the forty most important trails in America, this volume takes the reader through forty-nine states and eight national parks. Literally tens of millions of tourists and hikers visit these trails each year, some of which wind through the country’s most scenic natural wonders and virtually every major ecosystem in America. Each featured trail has its own section, complete with a map and photo gallery, and the reader explores what makes it one of the most magnificent hiking experiences anywhere in the world. Trail histories accompany detailed hiker-friendly descriptions that highlight the most scenic spots, with suggestions for shorter weekend and day hikes. The stunning photographs take the reader on a visual adventure conducted by Bart Smith, the first person to hike all eleven National Scenic Trails from end to end. America’s Great Hiking Trails is perfect for anyone interested in outdoor recreation and conservation.

Democracy's Mountain

Democracy's Mountain PDF Author: Ruth M. Alexander
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 080619331X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 452

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Book Description
At 14,259 feet, Longs Peak towers over Colorado’s northern Front Range. A prized location for mountaineering since the 1870s, Longs has been a place of astonishing climbing feats—and, unsurprisingly, of significant risk and harm. Careless and unlucky climbers have experienced serious injury and death on the peak, while their activities, equipment, and trash have damaged fragile alpine resources. As a site of outdoor adventure attracting mostly white people, Longs has mirrored the United States’ tenacious racial divides, even into the twenty-first century. In telling the history of Longs Peak and its climbers, Ruth M. Alexander shows how Rocky Mountain National Park, like the National Park Service (NPS), has struggled to contend with three fundamental obligations—to facilitate visitor enjoyment, protect natural resources, and manage the park as a site of democracy. Too often, it has treated these obligations as competing rather than complementary commitments, reflecting national discord over their meaning and value. Yet the history of Longs also shows us how, over time, climbers, the park, and the NPS have attempted to align these obligations in policy and practice. By putting mountain climbers and their relationship to Longs Peak and its rangers at the center of the story of Rocky Mountain National Park, Alexander exposes the significant role outdoor recreationists have had—as both citizens and privileged adventurers—in shaping the peak’s meaning, use, and management. Since 2000, the park has promoted climber enjoyment and safety, helped preserve the environment, facilitated tribal connections to the park, and attracted a more diverse group of visitors and climbers. Yet, Alexander argues, more work needs to be done. Alexander’s nuanced account of Longs Peak reveals the dangers of undermining national parks’ fundamental obligations and presents a powerful appeal to meet them fairly and fully.

Scraping Heaven

Scraping Heaven PDF Author: Cindy Ross
Publisher: Mountaineers Books
ISBN: 1680510355
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 380

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Book Description
“Not only are readers given the opportunity to experience the sheer beauty and at times frightening dangers of the trail, but they also watch two children grow and learn to call the trail their home. Well written, captivating, and incredibly educational, this adventure is a lesson in the simplicity of life and the beauty of accomplishment.” —Publishers Weekly "This is both an epic adventure of the first order and the heartwarming story of the family who accomplished it." —San Francisco Chronicle Now available for the first time in paperback and ebook, Scraping Heaven is the story of a family’s adventurous trek over the rooftop of North America—a warm and heartfelt account with a powerful message for parents, long-distance hikers, and outdoor adventurers alike. The Continental Divide Trail, a rugged 3100-mile footpath running along the crest of the Rocky Mountains from Canada to Mexico, is infamous for its tricky mountain passes and snowy traverses. In 1993, Cindy Ross, her husband, and their two toddlers set out together on the Trail. Using llamas as kid-carriers and packers, they successfully hiked the entire route over the next five summers, covering the last 700 miles on tandem mountain bikes in 1998. A keenly observant storyteller, Ross deftly interweaves evocative descriptions of the landscape with dramatic accounts of sudden snowstorms, gale-force winds strong enough to lift a child, and heart-pounding wildlife encounters. Through it all, her intimate reflections on marriage, family, and children provide depth and interest far beyond the high Rocky Mountain peaks. Scraping Heaven features a new afterword by the author.