Warnings Against Myself: Meditations on a Life in Climbing - Hardcover

Stevenson, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 177160168X ISBN 13: 9781771601689

Publisher: Rocky Mountain Books, 2016

Synopsis

From his youthful second ascent of the north ridge of Mount Kennedy in the Yukon’s Saint Elias Range, an in-and-out on skis for which he had not entirely learned how to ski, to a recent excursion across the Harding Icefield in the Kenai Mountains of the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska conceived under the influence of rain and whiskey, David Stevenson chronicles several decades of a life unified by a preoccupation with climbing.

Stevenson describes climbing first-hand, but also reflects on climbing in a beautiful way that draws in both literary references and engaging characterizations of well-known climbers. His changing viewpoint on his dangerous obsession as he ages, marries, and has children (and then takes his son climbing) give the book a strong shape, and the work as a whole adds a new and thoughtful perspective to the literature of climbing.

About this title

About the Author

David Stevenson is the director of the Creative Writing and Literary Arts Department at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He is the author of the short fiction collection Letters from Chamonix, winner of the Banff Mountain Festival Fiction Prize, and has published widely in journals such as Ascent, Alpinist, Isotope, and Weber Studies, as well as in The American Alpine Journal where he has been book review editor since 1996.

Review

"Beginners or seasoned hardmen alike will pump their fists to the honesty, humility, and thoughtfulness of Warnings against Myself. Whether vying to free the Nose or march up Mt. Washington, we all experience ill-definable moments of enrichment―artfully tilled, under Stevenson's scrutiny, to show what climbing means to our lives."―Jonathan Waterman, author of In the Shadow of Denali: Life and Death on Alaska's Mt. McKinley

"With this book, Stevenson has joined the ranks of that rare breed: an excellent mountaineering writer. With remarkable insight he gives us stories that demonstrate that one doesn't have to be a full-time committed climber to enjoy wild adventures. As a professor and a dedicated family man, he has somehow found the time to explore all facets of the mountain trade, from surviving Alaskan peaks to struggling up scary rock climbs. His essays show a remarkable awareness not only of the physical world but of the innermost turmoil that can occur during moments of stress."―Steve Roper, Author of Camp 4: Recollections of a Yosemite Rockclimber

About this edition

• Publisher: Rocky Mountain Books
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 177160168X
• ISBN 13: 9781771601689
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 200