Over the Top: Humorous Mountaineering Tales (The Mountaineers Anthology Series Volume 3)

by Peter Potterfield (Editor), Greg Child (Foreword by)

Overview

Trips gone wrong, embarrassing incidents, unfortunate pratfalls, and hilarious reflections are part of the newest volume in The Mountaineers Anthology Series. Kurt Diemberger's "A Lesson in French" and Greg Childs' "Chalk" are examples of climbers' keen appreciation for the absurd, droll, ironic, and hilarious moments in their world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780898868890
Publisher:	Mountaineers Books, The
Publication date:	10/28/2002
Series:	Anthology Series
Edition description:	1ST
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Greg Child is a world-class rock climber, mountaineer, author, and filmmaker. He is a writer for Outside magazine and has authored several books. In 1987, Child was honored with the American Alpine Club's Literary Award for his prolific and insightful mountaineering literature. In 2011, Greg was president of the jury for mountaineering's coveted Piolet d'Or. award. he live in Castle Valley, Utah.

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Table of Contents

	Foreword	8
	Introduction	11
	"The Insult of Injury" from Postcards from the Ledge	13
	"A Short Walk with Whillans" from One Man's Mountains	21
	"Ready for the Scrap Heap?" from My Life	33
	"Bad Day at Practice Rock" from Moments of Doubt and Other Mountaineering Writings of David Roberts	43
	"Chalk" from Stone Palaces	49
	"A Lesson in French" from Summits and Secrets in The Kurt Diemberger Omnibus	57
	"Davi" from The Burgess Book of Lies	63
	"The Sporting Life" from Postcards from the Ledge	77
	"Bird" from Stone Palaces	83
	"Les Bans" from Mountaineering Holiday in The Six Alpine/Himalayan Climbing Books	103
	"Education in Verticality: A Short Comedy or Farce In Four Scenes" from A Fine Kind of Madness	121
	"Early Alps: the Wild Years" from The Burgess Book of Lies	127
	"Neck and Neck with Reinhold" from Spirits of the Air in The Kurt Diemberger Omnibus	157
	"Ice Capades" from Sherman Exposed	165
	"Green Card" from Postcards from the Ledge	181
	"The Gearfreak Caper: a Story" from A Fine Kind of Madness	189
	"Fit for Nothing" from Storms of Silence	199
	"Tales from the Gripped" from Sherman Exposed	213
	"The Art of Climbing Down Gracefully: a Symposium of Commonly Used Ploys..." from One Man's Mountains	227

Editorial Reviews

The humor in these stories isn't laugh-out-loud funny, but more subtle, reflecting the defensive sort of humor useful in warding off physical suffering, or the challenges to ego that comes so frequently when humans take their measure against a mountain.

Idaho Falls Post Register