Arlene Blum is a legendary trailblazer by any measure. Defying the climbing establishment of the 1970s, she led the first teams of women on successful ascents of Mt. McKinley and Annapurna, and was the first American woman to attempt Mt. Everest. In her long, adventurous career, she has played a leading role in more than twenty expeditions and forged a place for women in the perilous arena of high-altitude mountaineering. Breaking Trail is the story...

Despite attempts by his friends, loved ones and his new girlfriend to dissuade him from this dangerous feat, Alex Honnold, the worlds most accomplished free soloist climber, prepares mentally and physically for his most daring adventure to date: scaling the 3200-foot El Capitan in Yosemite without a rope or safety gear. If he succeeds, it will mark the largest wall he, or anyone else, for that matter, has ascended without any kind of equipment.

"In the early weeks of her children's lives, Burhardt immerses herself in adoration for her twins and grappling with the tremendous guilt and struggle around having to return to risk-laden work and that ever elusive balance mothers everywhere seek amidst it all. As the newness of her twins fades into a permanent reality, Burhardt turns her attention towards her marriage and the collateral damage as she and her husband, Peter, struggle to navigate...

"Piolet d'Or recipient Graham Zimmerman is widely recognized as one of the most talented climbers of the twenty-first century, yet one of his greatest accomplishments has been learning to pursue his love of adventure and climbing while crafting a meaningful life grounded in responsibility and purpose. In this engaging and provocative memoir, Zimmerman, who learned to climb in Washington's Cascade range, maintains a delicate balancing act: appreciating...

"Beth Rodden is twenty years old and already an elite rock climber when a climbing excursion in Kyrgyzstan escalates into a nightmare. Beth, her boyfriend, and two other climbers are kidnapped by militant rebels. After six harrowing days of hiding, marching, and dodging gunfire, they miraculously escape captivity. But fear follows Beth home, and pushing past it becomes a fixation. She and her boyfriend, Tommy, train obsessively, achieving rock-climbing...

A successful Seattle attorney, Jim Wickwire climbed his first mountain in 1960. Deeply compelled by the thrill of risk, he pushed himself to the limits of physical and mental endurance for thirty-five years, before facing a turning point that threatened his faith in himself and his hope in the future. How he reassessed his priorities and rededicated his life to his family and his community.

At the beginning of his memoir Life Lived Wild, Adventures at the Edge of the Map, Rick Ridgeway tells us that if you add up all his many expeditions, he’s spent over five years of his life sleeping in tents: “And most of that in small tents pitched in the world’s most remote regions.” It’s not a boast so much as an explanation. Whether at elevation or raising a family back at sea level, those years taught him, he writes,...

"World champion climber Sasha DiGiulian tells her story-from coming of age under the scrutiny of social media, navigating a male-dominated sport, and tackling her most heart-stopping climbs-and shares the power of perseverance and positivity. At age six, Sasha DiGiulian stepped into a climbing gym for the first time and was competing within a year. Decked out in all-pink gear and with her blonde hair tied into pigtails, Sasha knew from an early age...

By age 25, Heather Anderson had hiked what is known as the "Triple Crown" of backpacking: the Appalachian Trail (AT), Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), and Continental Divide Trail (CDT)-a combined distance of 7,900 miles with a vertical gain of more than one million feet. A few years later, she left her job, her marriage, and a dissatisfied life and walked back into those mountains. In her new memoir, Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home, Heather, whose trail name...