Dangling Without a Rope: A Life Discovered

Barbara "Bobbe" Belmont, the girl from Midnight Express, grew up on suburban Long Island. After graduating from a convent college in 1968, she turned her back on tradition and roamed the globe, immersing herself in a radical, often dangerous world of sports and travel. Filled with vivid descriptions of wild and remote places, Dangling Without a Rope is a one-of-a-kind reader's feast. A determined explorer of the unknown, Belmont takes you on a rollercoaster ride of risk, disaster and survival. Accounts of glacier traverses in Switzerland, sled dog racing in Alaska, ascending a 'forbidden' volcano in Indonesia, roaming the wilds of Nepal, encounters with grizzlies and jaguars keep you holding on for dear life with Bobbe. Throughout the book she also explores her inner landscape: Her evolution as a woman and spiritual seeker is woven intimately and honestly into her accounts. Dangling Without a Rope, A Life Discovered, is a gift to both the adventurer and the adventurer at heart. A woman a generation ahead of her time in an era when adventure was not yet a packaged commodity, Bobbe Belmont leads you on an exploration you will never forget, as she reminds you of the unlimited possibilities of life.

Barbara "Bobbe" Belmont grew up on suburban Long Island. After graduating from a Catholic college in 1968, she chose a different path for her life: "While my peers were raising families and securing successful careers, I spent decades of my life in a world of outdoor challenge and excitement; single, curious about the planet, and totally mobile. One year I lived in 17 different dwellings. I also lived in vans, campers, trucks, cars, tents, yurts, huts, caves, and the out-of-doors. Often, the sum total of my belongings could fit in a VW Bug, sometimes a backpack. Between adventures I worked an absurd variety of jobs-chamber maid, salesgirl, au pair, gardener, grape and apple picker, ski teacher, coach, translator, florist, massage therapist, real estate agent, sled-dog racing consultant, kennel hand, secretary, switchboard operator, legislative assistant. When not earning a meager wage so that I could travel third class around the planet, I engaged in extreme sports. I climbed rock, mountains, and ice. I raced sled dogs, kayaked rivers and oceans, cycled alpine passes, piloted a hang-glider, flew an airplane, surfed, scuba dove... I competed every chance I got. I lived in a world of men. Women were simply not yet on the scene. My greatest challenges came later in life and not out in the wide world. They are long-term Lyme Disease, Breast Cancer, and Mild Traumatic Brain Injury. Boy, did they try to crimp my style! While my stories are aimed at everyone, adventurers and adventurers-at-heart, I hope that they will also bring entertainment and inspiration to my fellow Lyme sufferers and those dancing with cancer and brain injury."