What does it take to be one of the world's best high-altitude mountain climbers? A lot of fundraising; traveling in some of the world's most dangerous countries; enduring cold bivouacs, searing lungs, and a cloudy mind when you can least afford one. It means learning the hard lessons the mountains teach. Reinhold Messner calls Steve House the best high=altitude climber in the world today, an honor he declines. "Being called the 'best,'" says Steve, "makes me very uncomfortable. My intention is to be as good as I can be. Mountaineering is too complex to be squeezed into a competition. It is simply not something that lends itself to comparison. Climbing is about process, not achievement. The moment your mind wanders away from the task of the climbing-at-hand will be the moment you fail." Steve House built his reputation on ascents throughout the Alps, Canada, Alaska, the Karakoram and the Himalaya that have expanded possibilities of style, speed, and difficulty. In 2005 Steve and alpinist Vince Anderson pioneered a direct new route on the Rupal Face of 26,600-foot Nanga Parbat, which had never before been climbed in alpine style. It was the third ascent of the face and the achievement earned Steve and Vince the first Piolet d"or (Golden Ice Axe) awarded to North Americans. Steve is an accomplished and spellbinding storyteller in the tradition of Maurice Herzog and Lionel Terray. Beyond the Mountain is a gripping read destined to be a mountain classic. And it addresses many issues common to nonclimbing life -- mentorship, trust, failure success, goal setting, heroes, partnership -- as well as the mountaineer's heightened experience of risk and the deaths of friends. Beyond the Mountain is a window into the process of a man working to be the best he can be.

Beyond the Mountain

Sports & Outdoors

House, Steve

Biographies

Patagonia

From the peak of a mountain or the barrel of a wave, Patagonia has collected some of the most spectacular sports imagery in history. Relive the achievements captured in Patagonia’s history, as well as the joie de vivre fostered by nurturing a relationship with the great outdoors. Unique for a business enterprise, Patagonia’s catalog devotes fully half its space to nonselling editorial content to environmental and sport essays and above all to extraordinary photographs of wild places and active pursuits for which the company makes its clothes. Since 1980, Patagonia has invited customers and wilderness photographers to submit their best, most unexpected shots of life outdoors of alpine climbing, bouldering in the desert, skiing untracked bowls, surfing secret spots, ocean crossings, first kayak descents and travel in unfamiliar places. The photos have poured in ever since (current rate: 60,000 per year), some from the famous (John Russell, Galen Rowell), others from respected photographers (Corey Rich) who had their first work published in these pages. Jane Sievert and Jennifer Ridgeway, Patagonia’s current and founding photo editor, respectively, have been calling and culling the shots for three decades. This is their compendium of the 100-plus most compelling photos Patagonia has published and a celebration of wilderness and outdoor-sport photography as an art and a practice.

UNEXPECTED: A Retrospective of Patagonia's Outdoor Photography

Arts & Photography

Sievert, Jane

Photography & Video

Mickey Muñoz has been called the surfer’s surfer,” and is loved and respected among the cognoscenti for his contributions to surfing and the surfing life for the past 60 years as a surfer, a pioneer of Waimea Bay, a stuntman (stand-in for Gidget), a board shaper and designer, and as a sailor and boatbuilder (America’s Cup). Mentored by the Malibu greats of the ’40s, and an influence on generations of surfers since, Mickey weaves the story of a California waterman using his own life and that of his friends.

No Bad Waves: Talking Story with Mickey Munoz

Fred Beckey's 100 Favorite North American Climbs is the magnum opus of the greatest American climber of the past century. Fred’s intimate, detailed knowledge of the mountains and climbs he chronicles here create an unparalleled guidebook and must-have for every climber’s bookshelf as well as a great read for any armchair adventurer. Filled with hand-drawn climbing topos, photos, narrative description, side notes and 40 extra climbs of note in each of the eight geographical regions. This is the guide for every climber’s bookshelf.

Fred Beckey's 100 Favorite North American Climbs

Glutton, demon of destruction, symbol of slaughter, mightiest of wilderness villains... The wolverine comes marked with a reputation based on myth and fancy. Yet this enigmatic animal is more complex than the legends that surround it. With a shrinking wilderness and global warming, the future of the wolverine is uncertain. The Wolverine Way reveals the natural history of this species and the forces that threaten its future, engagingly told by Douglas Chadwick, who volunteered with the Glacier Wolverine Project. This five-year study in Glacier National Park - which involved dealing with blizzards, grizzlies, sheer mountain walls, and other daily challenges to survival - uncovered key missing information about the wolverine's habitat, social structure and reproduction habits. Wolverines, according to Chadwick, are the land equivalent of polar bears in regard to the impacts of global warming. The plight of wolverines adds to the call for wildlife corridors that connect existing habitat that is proposed by the Freedom to Roam coalition.

The Wolverine Way

History

CHADWICK, Douglas H.

Americas

In a tale remarkable for its quiet confidence and acute natural observation, the author of Paddling Hawaii begins with her decision, at age 60, to undertake a solo, summer-long voyage along the southeast coast of Alaska in an inflatable kayak. Paddling North is a compilation of Sutherland’s first two (of over 20) such annual trips and her day-by-day travels through the Inside Passage from Ketchikan to Skagway. With illustrations and the author’s recipes.

Paddling North: A Solo Adventure Along the Inside Passage

Biographies & Memoirs

Sutherland, Audrey

Community & Culture

Christian Beamish, a former editor at The Surfer’s Journal, envisioned a low-tech, self-reliant exploration for surf along the coast of North America, using primarily clothes and instruments available to his ancestors, and the 18-foot boat he would build by hand in his garage. How the vision met reality and how the two came to shape each other places Voyage of the Cormorant in the great American tradition of tales of life at sea, and what it has to teach us.

The Voyage of the Cormorant

Beamish, Christian

Miscellaneous

What does it take to be one of the world's best high-altitude mountain climbers? A lot of fundraising; traveling in some of the world's most dangerous countries; enduring cold bivouacs, searing lungs, and a cloudy mind when you can least afford one. It means learning the hard lessons the mountains teach. Steve House built his reputation on ascents throughout the Alps, Canada, Alaska, the Karakoram and the Himalaya that have expanded possibilities of style, speed, and difficulty. In 2005 Steve and alpinist Vince Anderson pioneered a direct new route on the Rupal Face of 26,600-foot Nanga Parbat, which had never before been climbed in alpine style. It was the third ascent of the face and the achievement earned Steveand Vince the first Piolet d"or (Golden Ice Axe) awarded to North Americans. Steve is an accomplished and spellbinding storyteller in the tradition of Maurice Herzog and Lionel Terray. Beyond the Mountain is a gripping read destined to be a mountain classic. And it

Closer to the Ground is the deeply personal story of a father learning to share his love of nature with his children, not through the indoor lens of words or pictures, but directly, palpably, by exploring the natural world as they forage, cook and eat from the woods and sea. With illustrations by Nikki McClure. This compelling, masterfully written tale follows Dylan Tomine and his family through four seasons as they hunt chanterelles, fish for salmon, dig clams and gather at the kitchen table, mouths watering, to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Closer to the Ground captures the beauty and surprise of the natural worldand the ways it teaches us how to livewith humor, gratitude and a nose for adventure as keen as a child’s. It is a book filled with weather, natural history and many delicious meals.

Closer to the Ground: An outdoor family's year on the water, in the woods and at the table

Tomine, Dylan

Professionals & Academics

Paddling North

Audrey Sutherland

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Patagonia publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Patagonia

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Patagonia publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Beyond the Mountain

UNEXPECTED: A Retrospective of Patagonia's Outdoor Photography

No Bad Waves: Talking Story with Mickey Munoz

Fred Beckey's 100 Favorite North American Climbs

The Wolverine Way

Paddling North: A Solo Adventure Along the Inside Passage

The Voyage of the Cormorant

Beyond the Mountain

Closer to the Ground: An outdoor family's year on the water, in the woods and at the table

Paddling North