Mountaineering: A Woman's Guide (Ragged Mountain Press Woman's Guides) Book

One of the most challenging and fascinating outdoor sports, mountaineering pits human ingenuity and endurance against the rugged terrain, unpredictable weather, and thin air of the world's highest places. Already a popular sport among women, with some 3.4 million U.S. female participants in the 1996 ORCA survey, mountaineering has been given a tremendous boost by books like Krakauer's Into Thin Air and this edition of Herzog's Annapurna. Veteran outdoorswoman and climber Andrea Gabbard has written the first how-to book about mountaineering written especially for women. Against the backdrop of her own recent ascent of Washington's Mt. Rainier, the books examines the lure of climbing, buying and using equipment, fitness requirements, training, the use of mountain guides, techniques for climbing in ice and snow, safety, decisionmaking, the importance of teamwork--the whole fabric of the alpinist's art and craft. Drawing upon the voices of other women climbers of all levels of experience, Gabbard's book is both a no-nonsense how-to guide and an inspiration to beginning mountaineers.Read More