Climbing Free: My Life in the Vertical World - Softcover

Hill, Lynn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393324338 ISBN 13: 9780393324334

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2003

Synopsis

The legendary rock climber who redefined the boundaries of her sport tells her story.

From the age of thirteen when she began climbing, it was clear Lynn Hill had an unusual gift. Before long she was arguably the best rock climber in the world, establishing routes so bold and difficult that few others could follow. And in 1994, Lynn succeeded on a climb that no one―man or woman―has been able to repeat: the first "free ascent" of the Nose on Yosemite's El Capitan, which means that she climbed 3,000 feet of vertical granite without using gear to aid her ascent―and all in under twenty-three hours. In Climbing Free Hill describes her famous climb and meditates on how she harnesses the strength and the courage to push herself to such extremes. She tells of her near-fatal 80-foot fall, her youth as a stunt artist for Hollywood, her friendships with climbing's most colorful personalities, and the tragedies and triumphs of her life in the vertical world. More than merely a story of adventure, this book stands out as a genuine, singular account of a life richly and boldly lived.

32 pages of color photographs, 35 black-and-white photographs

About this title

About the Author:

Lynn Hill has been featured in Life, Vanity Fair, Outside, Time, National Geographic, and in the IMAX film Extreme. She lives in Moab, Utah.

Greg Child is a world-class mountaineer and the author of several books on climbing. He lives near Moab, Utah.

From Booklist:

Hill began climbing when she was 14, in 1970, scampering up a rock face while her companions turned away in exhaustion; by 1994, she had done something no other climber had ever done: made a free ascent of El Capitan's hideously challenging Nose. That's 3,000 feet of granite, straight up. This autobiography, written with veteran climber and author Child, is a must-read for fans of sport climbing (which is very different, Hill explains, from mountaineering). Naturally, she hits all the high spots in a career filled with them: El Capitan and Joshua Tree in Yosemite National Park, Granite Mountain in Arizona, Nevada's Heart of Darkness, the Gunks in New Jersey, and the ominously named Suicide Rocks in California. Hill has climbed them all, and plenty more. In the world of sport climbing, she's a superstar, and yet, unlike many autobiographies written by superstars, this book contains not a trace of ego or pretension. She is an ordinary person with an extraordinary gift; her story, which could have been aggressively self-promoting, is instead quietly inspiring. David Pitt
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About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0393324338
• ISBN 13: 9780393324334
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288