Feet In The Clouds

Nearly 10 years after its first publication, Aurum are re-issuing this classic running book which has defined a genre. It includes an introduction from bestselling author Robert Macfarlane and an epilogue from Richard Askwith. The concept of fell-running is simple: it’s a sport that involves running over mountains – sometimes one, sometimes many. It’s also immensely demanding. While running uphill is a stamina-sapping slog, running pell-mell down the other side requires the agility – and even recklessness – of a mountain goat. And there’s the weather to contend with. It may make the sports pages only rarely, but in areas like the Lake District and Snowdonia fell-running is the basis of a whole culture – indeed, race organisers sometimes have to turn competitors away so that fragile mountain uplands are not irrevocably damaged by too many thundering feet. Fixtures like the annual Ben Nevis and Snowdon races attract runners from all over Britain, and beyond. Others, such as the Wasdale and Ennerdale fell runs in the Lakeland valleys – gruelling marathons of more than 20 miles – remain truly local events for which the whole community turns out, with many of the runners back on the same fells the next day tending sheep. Now, Richard Askwith explores the world of fell-running in the only legitimate way: by donning his Ron Hill vest and studded shoes to spend a season running as many of the great fell races as he can, from Borrowdale to Ben Nevis: an arduous schedule that tests the very limits of one’s stamina and courage. Over the months he also meets the greats of fell-running – like the remarkable Joss Naylor, who to celebrate his fiftieth birthday ran all 214 major Lakeland fells in a single week; Billy Bland, the combative Borrowdale man whose astounding records still stand for many of the top races; and Bill Teasdale, a hero of the sport’s earlier, professional days, whom he tracks down to his tiny cottage in the northern Lakes. And ultimately Askwith’s obsession drives him to attempt the ultimate challenge: the Bob Graham Round – a non-stop circuit of 42 of the Lake District’s highest peaks to be completed within 24 hours. This is a portrait of one of the few sports to have remained utterly true to its roots – in which the point is not fame or fortune but to run the ancient, wild landscape, and to be a hero, if at all, within one’s own valley. Feet in the Clouds is a chronicle of a masochistic but admirable sporting obsession, an insight into one of the oldest extreme sports, and a lyrical tribute to Britain’s mountains and the men and women who live among them.

Co-founder of the Outcry Worship Tour, Ryan Romeo, empowers you to live well in the present as you dream well about the future in this practical guide to doing the impossible. When it comes to pursuing our dreams, Ryan Romeo is convinced of two things. First, God knows where you come from. He knows about your past. He knows about the seemingly impossible situation you may find yourself in. And yet, he is even more committed to seeing your dream come to life than you are. The other thing Ryan has learned is this: Your daily habits bring about the reality of your calling. What you do today matters even when it doesn't feel like it. Especially when it doesn't feel like it. How you treat your current job, your current boss, and those around you matters. How you serve your leader's vision or your church's vision? That matters too. So as you pursue your calling, don't forget to keep your head in the clouds. Never let the worries, the fears, the "what-ifs?" in your heart dampen God's unique call on your life. At the same time, you need to keep your feet on the ground - to stay engaged and connected right where you are, so you don't miss out on the foundation God wants to build. How do you do that? That's what Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground is all about. Looking at examples from his own life and from others who have followed big dreams, Ryan shares three practical and powerful ways to: Lay the groundwork that will strengthen the dreamer (you!) for the task ahead. Overthrow the dream killers that try to sideline you. Take the first steps! It's time to become a steward of your dream. Are you ready? Stand firm. And then look up.

Can you still have a home if you don't have a house? In the spirit of The Truth About Jellyfish and Fish in a Tree comes a stunning debut about a family struggling to find a place to belong. To climb a tree, always think in threes and you'll never fall. "Two feet, one hand. Two hands, one foot," Cora's father told her when she was a little girl. Now Cora is in middle school, her father is gone, her family is homeless, and Cora has to look after her younger sister, Adare, who needs a lot of looking after. When their room at the shelter is ransacked, Cora's mother brings them to an old friend's apartment, and Cora hopes this will be a place she can finally call home. When doubt seeps in, Cora makes an escape of her own and discovers something that will change how she sees her family and her place within it. The beautiful debut by Melissa Sarno, the author of A Swirl of Ocean, will take root in your heart and blossom long after you've turned the last page. "[A] heartbreaking yet hopeful story of a family searching for a place to belong." --Publishers Weekly "[A] thought-provoking debut about the meaning of home and the importance of family." --The Horn Book Magazine

A nail-biting tale of survival and brotherhood atop one of the world's most dangerous mountains. This fast-paced, three-part narrative takes readers on three expeditions over 15 years to K2, one of the deadliest mountains on Earth. Roped together, these teams of men face perilously high altitudes and battering storms in hopes of reaching the summit. As each expedition sets out, they carve new paths along icy slopes and unforgiving rock, creating camps on ledges so narrow they fear turning over in their sleep. But disaster strikes -- in 1939, four men never make it down the mountain. Fourteen years later, a man develops blood clots in his legs at 25,000 feet, leaving his team with no safe path off the mountain. Filled with displays of incredible strength and heart-stopping danger, Into the Clouds tells the incredible stories of the men whose quest to conquer a mountain became a battle to survive the descent.

This book follows of Einer Enevoldson, NASA test pilot, and his leading edge of flight.

While many baby boomers are downsizing to a simpler retirement lifestyle, photographer and writer Judy Blankenship and her husband Michael Jenkins took a more challenging leap in deciding to build a house on the side of a mountain in southern Ecuador. They now live half the year in Cañar, an indigenous community they came to know in the early nineties when Blankenship taught photography there. They are the only extranjeros (outsiders) in this homely, chilly town at 10,100 feet, where every afternoon a spectacular mass of clouds rolls up from the river valley below and envelopes the town. In this absorbing memoir, Blankenship tells the interwoven stories of building their house in the clouds and strengthening their ties to the community. Although she and Michael had spent considerable time in Cañar before deciding to move there, they still had much to learn about local customs as they navigated the process of building a house with traditional materials using a local architect and craftspeople. Likewise, fulfilling their obligations as neighbors in a community based on reciprocity presented its own challenges and rewards. Blankenship writes vividly of the rituals of births, baptisms, marriages, festival days, and deaths that counterpoint her and Michael’s solitary pursuits of reading, writing, listening to opera, playing chess, and cooking. Their story will appeal to anyone contemplating a second life, as well as those seeking a deeper understanding of daily life in the developing world.

Man's fascination with clouds is legendary: their appearance, their formation, their beauty. Meteorologists use clouds to help predict weather. There's even a Cloud Appreciation Society with more than 34,000 members who share pictures and stories of clouds. Clouds also remind us of God's majesty, power, and beauty in creation. Indeed, the heavens declare the majesty of God. In Clouds Are the Dust of His Feet! author H. Wayne Sampson shares the role of clouds in Scripture. He examined each of the 157 references in the Bible referring to clouds and then organized them into several similar groupings to determine their function or role in the verse. In the course of this study, Dr. Sampson discovered that clouds in Scripture reveal an array of characteristics of the almighty God, such as His might, creative power, mercy, and gracious provision, as well as the promise of security by our heavenly Father. Dr. Sampson also demonstrates God's imagination in using clouds as transporters, His kindness in establishing a way for the frightened Israelites to speak to him, and His guidance and protective power. Clouds are the Dust of His Feet! communicates that clouds, as well as all the other wonders of nature, should remind us of the loving creator.

Clouds are simple enough, just a collection of ice crystals or water droplets visible to everyone. Yet they are a source of endless wonder. They appear in an infinite number of shapes and forms. Some are beautiful, some awe inspiring, and some, like the whirling funnel cloud, are terrifying. Clouds inspire artists, poets, songwriters. They have reminded astronauts, looking down from space, that Earth, a seemingly abstract orb, is a place of life and movement. those great swirls of white-as they change shape, swell, evaporate into wisps, disappear and come back, glow with sunlight or darken with rain-are a constant reminder of how dynamic our planet is.