Freedom Climbers

Freedom Climbers
By:Bernadette McDonald
Published on 2013-02-20 by Mountaineers Books

CLICK HERE to download the first chapter from Freedom Climbers (Provide us with a little information and we'll send your download directly to your inbox) |One of the most important mountaineering books to be written for many years.| —Boardman-Tasker Prize See this book trailer for Freedom Climbers made by RMB Books, its publisher in Canada, where the cover is slightly different from the Mountaineers Books U.S. edition * Behind the Iron Curtain, Cold War mountaineers found freedom on the world's highest peaks—and paid an awful price to achieve it * Winner of the Boardman-Tasker Prize, Banff Grand Prize, and American Alpine Club Literary Award Freedom Climbers tells the story of Poland's truly remarkable mountaineers who dominated Himalayan climbing during the period between the end of World War II and the start of the new millennium. The emphasis here is on their |golden age| in the 1980s and 1990s when, despite the economic and social baggage of their struggling country, Polish climbers were the first to tackle the world's highest mountains during winter, including the first winter ascents on seven of the world's fourteen 8000-meter peaks: Everest, Manaslu, Dhaulagiri, Cho Oyu, Kanchenjunga, Annapurna, and Lhotse. Such successes, however, came at a serious cost: 80 percent of Poland's finest high-altitude climbers died on the high mountains during the same period they were pursuing these first ascents. Award-winning writer Bernadette McDonald addresses the social, political, and cultural context of this golden age, and the hardships of life under Soviet rule. Polish climbers, she argues, were so tough because their lives at home were so tough—they lost family members to World War II and its aftermath and were so much more poverty-stricken than their Western counterparts that they made much of their own climbing gear. While Freedom Climbers tells the larger story of an era, McDonald shares charismatic personal narratives such as that of Wanda Rutkiewicz, expected to be the first woman to climb all 8000-meter peaks until she disappeared on Kanchenjunga in 1992; Jerzy Kukuczka, who died in a fall while attempting the south face of Lhotse; and numerous other renowned climbers including Voytek Kurtyka, Artur Hajzer, Andrej Zawaka, and Krzysztof Wielicki. This is a fascinating window into a different world, far-removed from modernity yet connected by the strange allure of the mountain landscape, and a story of inspiring passion against all odds. This title is part of our LEGENDS AND LORE series. Click here \u003e to learn more.

This Book was ranked at 15 by Google Books for keyword to the top of the world climbing the worlds 14 highest mountains.

Book ID of Freedom Climbers's Books is TQHgAgAAQBAJ, Book which was written byBernadette McDonaldhave ETAG "9lX75UK/eUc"

Book which was published by Mountaineers Books since 2013-02-20 have ISBNs, ISBN 13 Code is 9781594857577 and ISBN 10 Code is 1594857571

Reading Mode in Text Status is true and Reading Mode in Image Status is false

Book which have "352 Pages" is Printed at BOOK under CategoryHistory

This Book was rated by Raters and have average rate at ""

This eBook Maturity (Adult Book) status is NOT_MATURE

Book was written in en

eBook Version Availability Status at PDF is falseand in ePub is true

Book Preview