The daily grind of life is hard, but everything in the mountains feels simple. If that resonates with you, then you know why pilgrimages to the peaks matter. That’s what this blog is about: How mountains, often through climbing and mountaineering (though not exclusively,) enriches and even enlightens our lives. And now that I have been reading and studying mountaineering literature for more than 25 years, and serving as a pre-reader for the annual Banff Mountain Literature Competition, I’ve learned that I have have only scratched the surface. There is a lot to explore and discover, even from a flat home like mine, despite the world being mapped and wired. So join me, subscribe to my newsletter, and read on…
As climbing has grown in popularity, the print magazines for climbing dwindled to a set that can pretty much be counted on one hand. It’s kinda funny, isn’t it? Look at this list of climbing magazines from 2013 from Weigh My Rack. Even when you take the non-English-language magazines away, that’s a dozen periodicals. From…
Corrected: April 21, 2024 On K2 in 1939, a mere few hundred meters from the summit, Pasang Dawa Lama was climbing in support of Fritz Wiessner, the leader of the second American expedition. Wiessner had summit fever. But it was late in the day and the conditions were turning poor. Wiessner took the next step…
I was supposed to play golf today for some team building at work, but a series of unfortunate events arose after planning this as our first round for two months. Our architect of the group had to back out since a client had to meet with him today but couldn’t meet before or after our…
Next month, Mimi Zieman, M.D.’s memoir of her journey from New York City to Mount Everest, Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor’s Unlikely Adventure, will be released. There is no reason you should know her, if you are focused on mountain literature. This is her first and probably only book on the subject. She…
The Suburban Mountaineer 