Chessler Books
Rock Climbing - Mountaineering - Exploration
New - Used - Collectible - Signed
Chessler Books Accepts PAYPAL Chessler Books Accepts VISA Chessler Books Accepts MASTERCARD Chessler Books Accepts DISCOVER CARD Chessler Books Accepts AMERICAN EXPRESS
All Orders Shipped via United States Postal Service   Chessler Books Ships Via USPS
Author:
Title:
Keyword:
Item #:
A B C D E F G H I
J K L M Mc N O P Q
R S T U V W X Y Z
Item #: BK1692B-948
ADDICTED TO DANGER: A MEMOIR ABOUT AFFIRMING LIFE IN THE FACE OF DEATH Wickwire and Bullitt 1998 1st ed Hardcover DJ Fine SIGNED by John Roskelley
By Wickwire, Jim and Dorothy Bullitt
Price: $49.99

List Price: $70.00
You Save $20.01 (29%)



Add to wish list


Detailed Product Description

New York, 1998, 1st edition. 322 pp, many photos. Hardcover with dust jacket. Fine

SIGNED by John Roskelley.

Wickwire is one of the best American mountaineers, having done the first American ascent of K2, and much more. Here is the story of a man who has come closer to death more times than most of us. 

In 1978 Jim Wickwire became the first American to top 28,250-foot K2, the second highest peak after Mt. Everest (for some, his solo bivouac near the summit the same night is an even greater feat). But it is a previous expedition to K2 three years earlier--and the author's unflinching assessment of that trip--which sets the tone for the book. 'K2, the mountain that would one day represent my greatest success,' he writes, 'was in 1975 the scene of my greatest failure. It was a failure not because someone died or suffered a serious injury, but because my obsession to reach the summit helped doom our expedition to disappointment, discord, and, for a time, disgrace.'

Wickwire's memoir of a climbing life is riveting when he sticks to the mountains--including attempts on Everest, Denali, and Aconcagua--and particularly fascinating for its candid look at the internal machinations of big-time climbing expeditions: the planning, logistics, and training as well as the egos and rivalries that can derail an expedition. The lugubrious details are also here. More than one climbing partner doesn't escape from a crevasse, but it is a price exacted by the mountains, and Wickwire treats both his lost friends and the terrain with due respect

 Terrible title, but a good adventure story mixed with meditations on the meaning of life and death and dying. Wickwire is one of the world's most accomplished mountain climbers. For over 30 years he has challenged the great summits: Everest, K2 in the Himalayas, Mt. McKinley, and so many others. Some of these mountains he has conquered, some have conquered him, but he has never lost his desire to climb. The descriptions of his adventures are gripping tales. Yet ``off the mountains,'' the writing is unengaging, despite the stylistic contributions of co-author Bullitt.Wickwire's family, for instance, is present throughout the book, and hes clearly devoted to them, yet the reader does not get more than a one-dimensional understanding of them. On the other hand, the people with whom he climbs are finely sketched; they are real and complex.

Perhaps this is because when hes not climbing, life is, both literally and figuratively, flat; perhaps only when he is in danger does he truly become alive and observant. Wickwire, however, spends little time being introspective here, until (and very effectively) near the end of the book. Both author and reader suddenly realize this book has been about death, the deaths of so many friends on the slopes: fellow climbers, a young woman he dearly loved.

The brutal murder off the slopes of his law partner causes him to question hoary clichs about adventure: Is dying while doing what one loves any less terrible, any less terrifying, than dying another way? Why purposely put oneself in harm's way? Seemingly disillusioned, this aging athlete responds to his crisis of faith in perhaps the only way he knows how: He climbs a mountain. In the end, the reader knows little about why people like Wickwire are addicted to danger. It may be an unanswerable question.


Other Items You Might Like

  • Similar Items Available
  • Items From This Author
  • Items From This Category
ADDICTED TO DANGER: A MEMOIR ABOUT AFFIRMING LIFE IN THE FACE OF DEATH Wickwire and Bullitt 1998 1st ed Hardcover DJ Fine SIGNED by Jim Wickwire & Dorothy Bullitt
By: Wickwire, Jim and Dorothy Bullitt
Price $39.99 ~ Regular $50.00, You Save $10.01 (20%)
- Item # BK1692A-854
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
ADDICTED TO DANGER: A MEMOIR ABOUT AFFIRMING LIFE IN THE FACE OF DEATH Wickwire and Bullitt 1998 1st ed Hardcover DJ Fine [Not Signed] 2 copies available
By: Wickwire, Jim and Dorothy Bullitt
Price $19.95 ~ Regular $24.00, You Save $4.05 (17%)
- Item # BK1692C-8492
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
ALPINE JOURNAL 100s OF INDIVIDUAL ISSUES LISTED HERE! PAPERBACK, WRAPPERS or HARDCOVER ISSUES 1863-1986
By: Alpine Club UK
Price $10.00
- Item # JR207B
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
LAST STEP: THE AMERICAN ASCENT OF K2 Hardcover DJ Fine SIGNED by the 4 Summiters: Ridgeway, Wickwire, Reichardt, Roskelley plus Jim Whitaker, Expedition leader
By: Ridgeway, Rick
Price $390.00
- Item # OP438E-829
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
LAST DAYS John Roskelley 1991-92 1st ed Hardcover DJ Fine SIGNED by John Roskelley
By: Roskelley, John
Price $65.00 ~ Regular $75.00, You Save $10.00 (13%)
- Item # BK1317B-860
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
NANDA DEVI: THE TRAGIC EXPEDITION John Roskelley 1987 1st ed Hardcover DJ Fine SIGNED by John Roskelley
By: Roskelley, John
Price $125.00
- Item # OP189E-844
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
ONE DAY AS A TIGER: ALEX MACINTYRE AND THE BIRTH OF LIGHT AND FAST ALPINISM John Porter 2014 Large Paperback
By: Porter, John
Price $19.95 ~ Regular $49.95, You Save $30.00 (60%)
- Item # BK4083B-841
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
THE EIGER OBSESSION: FACING THE MOUNTAIN THAT KILLED MY FATHER John Harlin 2007 1st ed Hardcover DJ Fine Multiple Copies Available [Not Signed]
By: Harlin, John III
Price $4.99 ~ Regular $26.00, You Save $21.01 (81%)
- Item # BK2188-86219
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
THE LAST STEP: THE AMERICAN ASCENT OF K2 1980 1st ed Near Fine Chipped DJ SIGNED by Rick Ridgeway Multiple copies available
By: Ridgeway, Rick
Price $25.00 ~ Regular $75.00, You Save $50.00 (67%)
- Item # OP438D-8817
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
THE LAST STEP: THE AMERICAN ASCENT OF K2 1980 1st ed DJ Fine SIGNED by Rick Ridgeway Multiple copies available.
By: Ridgeway, Rick
Price $49.95 ~ Regular $75.00, You Save $25.05 (33%)
- Item # OP438C-8509
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
ADDICTED TO DANGER: A MEMOIR ABOUT AFFIRMING LIFE IN THE FACE OF DEATH Wickwire and Bullitt 1998 1st ed Hardcover DJ Fine SIGNED by Jim Wickwire & Dorothy Bullitt
By: Wickwire, Jim and Dorothy Bullitt
Price $39.99 ~ Regular $50.00, You Save $10.01 (20%)
- Item # BK1692A-854
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
ADDICTED TO DANGER: A MEMOIR ABOUT AFFIRMING LIFE IN THE FACE OF DEATH Wickwire and Bullitt 1998 1st ed Hardcover DJ Fine [Not Signed] 2 copies available
By: Wickwire, Jim and Dorothy Bullitt
Price $19.95 ~ Regular $24.00, You Save $4.05 (17%)
- Item # BK1692C-8492
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
THE COLDEST CRUCIBLE: ARCTIC EXPLORATION AND AMERICAN CULTURE Michael F. Robinson 2006 Hardcover Fine INSCRIBED by Michael Robinson
By: Robinson, Michael F.
Price $35.00
- Item # PL4616-872
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
GHOSTS OF EVEREST: THE AUTHORIZED STORY OF THE SEARCH FOR MALLORY & IRVINE Hemmleb and Simonson 1999 Hardcover 1st ed Hardcover DJ Fine SIGNED by Jochen Hemmleb and Dave Hahn [Rainier Guide]
By: Hemmleb, Jochen, Eric Simonson, Larry Johnson
Price $59.99 ~ Regular $120.00, You Save $60.01 (50%)
- Item # BK629-881A
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
THE BEST CLIMBER IN THE WORLD: TOBIN SORENSON'S MAGIC DECADE 1970-1980 1st edition New Hardcover SIGNED by Rick Accomazzo Multiple copies available
By: Accomazzo, Rick
Price $46.00
- Item # BK4960-82911p
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
EVEREST: MOUNTAIN WITHOUT MERCY 1997 1st ed Hardcover DJ Fine SIGNED by Broughton Coburn and INSCRIBED by Jamling Tenzing
By: Coburn, Broughton
Price $30.00 ~ Regular $75.00, You Save $45.00 (60%)
- Item # BK283C-850p
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
LOU WHITTAKER: MEMOIRS OF A MOUNTAIN GUIDE Lou Whittaker 1994 1st ed Hardcover DJ Fine SIGNED by Jim Whittaker 2 Copies Available
By: Whittaker, Lou, and Andrea Gabbard
Price $29.99 ~ Regular $39.95, You Save $9.96 (25%)
- Item # BK1684D-8682
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
SIR EDMUND HILLARY SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH 8X10 1960 Only One Available
By: Hillary, Edmund
Price $245.00
- Item # HW11C-144
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH Rebuffat 1967 1st UK ed Hardcover DJ Fine SIGNED by Gaston Rebuffat
By: Rebuffat, Gaston and Pierre Tairraz
Price $195.00
- Item # OP1783C-835
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
THE CHALLENGE Reinhold Messner 1977 1st ed Hardcover DJ Fine SIGNED by Reinhold Messner Multiple Copies Available
By: Messner, Reinhold
Price $135.00 ~ Regular $250.00, You Save $115.00 (46%)
- Item # OP194B-8444
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
ALASKA IMAGES OF THE COUNTRY Limited edition 1981 1st ed Fine SIGNED by Galen Rowell and John McPhee
By: Rowell, Galen and John McPhee.
Price $245.00 ~ Regular $350.00, You Save $105.00 (30%)
- Item # OP1231-845p
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart
ALPINE RISING: SHERPAS, BALTIS AND THE TRIUMPH OF LOCAL CLIMBERS IN THE GREATER RANGES 2024 1st ed Hc New SIGNED by Bernadette McDonald Multiple copies are available Banff Book Awaed Winner: Mountain Literature - The Jon Whyte Award
By: McDonald, Bernadette
Price $34.95
- Item # BK4801-84315
View Details
Add To Cart
Adding...
Added! Click To View Cart