The Lure Of Mountain Peaks

This book introduces the geography of Mount Everest in the Himalayas, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Mont Blanc in the Alps, Aconcagua in South America, and Denali in North America.

Author is a renowned writer in international climbing community Fascinating story of hoax that inspired a quest for a North American Shangri-La Vivid recounting of fabled mountains from across the world Using an infamous deception about a fake mountain range in British Columbia as her jumping-off point, Katie Ives, the well-known editor of Alpinist, explores the lure of blank spaces on the map and the value of the imagination. In Imaginary Peaks she details the cartographical mystery of the Riesenstein Hoax within the larger context of climbing history and the seemingly endless quest for newly discovered peaks and claims of first ascents. Imaginary Peaks is an evocative, thought-provoking tale, immersed in the literature of exploration, study of maps, and basic human desire.

"Picturesque," "immense," "fantastic," and "sublime" are but a few of the words that early British travelers used to describe the nineteenth-century Rocky Mountain landscape and surrounding terrain. As part of a long tradition of travelers' tales, these British tourists, explorers, adventurers, writers, scientists, artists, missionaries, and merchants all looked for ways to describe and illustrate places they visited--in this instance, the vast and strange wilderness landscape of the North America's Rocky Mountains. Using both published and unpublished resources, Terry Abraham weaves these observations, their aesthetic, and their "Britishness" into a refreshing and unique view of an all-but-vanished "West." In their efforts to make the Rocky Mountain West real to a readership on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, these visitors from two centuries past encouraged a growing realization that this part of the North American landscape was unique, a special part of the world's natural heritage. Many also tried to describe the changes that were being visited on the Rockies by onrushing progress. They were among the first who cautioned against excessive human encroachment on the landscape; in fact, they demonstrated what might be called "environmental pre-awareness." Twenty-first century readers will discover surprising parallels between modern environmental and conservation issues and the concerns expressed by these early travelers from the nineteenth.

Lure of the Mountains is about a young man who is fascinated and in awe of the larger than life men of the far mountains. Tragedy strikes his family as they are traveling west and the young man is now free to follow his dreams to become a mountain man. Danger and adventure follow the young man as he struggles to survive when he enters the mountains. As he struggles to survive in the harsh wilderness without being prepared, he luckily befreinds a wounded Indian Warrior and is adopted into the Warrior's tribe. He slowly learns the lessons of survival and is taken in by a mountain man who teaches him to trap and fend for his own. He takes an Indian wife and discovers a love for his family that is as strong as his love for the mountains. They make their home in a high mountain valley, and it's here he enjoys the freedom of the mountains as well as the joy of raising his family.