The World Changes. Dreams Don't. Mystical towers changed the world twenty years ago. Now, Arthur Chua faces the beginner tower in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, looking to change his destiny. What was once a puzzling mystery has become a necessary part of economic growth. Climbing the Tower is the only form of escape available for one like Arthur, without money or connections. He's not looking to be a hero or famous, just a survivor. Fate, on the other hand, has other plans for him. At long last, the reason for the arrival of the Towers will be revealed, and humanity will once again experience a seismic shift when the truth appears. Of course, Arthur's going to have to survive long enough for that to happen... Climbing the Ranks is a LitRPG Cultivation series set in a tower, similar to the Tower of Gods and Solo Leveling. Written by bestselling author Tao Wong, his other series include the System Apocalypse, A Thousand Li, Hidden Wishes and Adventures on Brad series.
The faster the climb, the further the fall. Arthur Chua has conquered the first floor of the Tower, but his journey is far from over. With his new ally Casey Chin by his side, he's got a real chance of building the Clan. The problem is, their alliance hinges on one factor: speed. Arthur and his Benevolent Durians must climb with Casey, as fast as possible to get her a speed run bonus. But the Tower remains as treacherous as ever, growing more dangerous with every step. The Durians will need to balance their ascent speed with their cultivation progress if they hope to succeed. Survival is no longer the only goal—it's a speed run to the top, and the stakes have never been higher. Climbing the Ranks is an epic fantasy series set in a tower, similar to the Tower of Gods and Solo Leveling. Written by bestselling author Tao Wong, his other series include the System Apocalypse, A Thousand Li, Hidden Wishes and Adventures on Brad series.
Patagonia’s Cerro Torre, considered by many the most beautiful peak in the world, draws the finest and most devoted technical alpinists to its climbing challenges. But controversy has swirled around this ice-capped peak since Cesare Maestri claimed first ascent in 1959. Since then a debate has raged, with world-class climbers attempting to retrace his route but finding only contradictions. This chronicle of hubris, heroism, controversies and epic journeys offers a glimpse into the human condition, and why some pursue extreme endeavors that at face value have no worth.
Lola-I hate keeping secrets from my father, but I know he'll be furious if he finds out where I'm going. That's a risk I'm willing to take because I know what I'm doing is right. I expected my father to send someone to find me. He always does.But this guy?I've never lain eyes on him before; trust me, I'd remember this man.He's damn fine; unfortunately he won't let me seduce him into keeping my secret. Memphis-Trouble in a tank top, that's what this beauty is. She thinks she can sweet-talk me into getting involved in her deception. I may want to get wrapped up in her arms, but getting wrapped up in her scheme is a whole other ball game.Guess again, sweet cheeks. I don't care how fine your strut is; it won't work on me.I'm immune where the hot-as-hell Club Princess is involved.My loyalty belongs to my club first, but I'm a nomad for a reason, and letting Lola get her hooks in me is not in my plan.
"I'm in the middle of a gun deal when a sexy siren whispers secrets of betrayal in my ear. She wants to make me a deal. Do I dare accept?" -Trez "No knight in shining armor is coming to rescue me. If I want to get out of this revolting place, I'll have to save myself. He was supposed to be my escape, but now he has my heart under lock and key." -Isabella TREZ- I've climbed my way back from the bottom rungs of the hell I once lived. I've treated the symptoms, my drug addiction, but have yet to forgive myself for the cause. I've buried it six feet under, but I know it's there haunting me. I killed my mom, even if it was an accident. Now it's time to prove myself to my father and my club, the Royal Bastards MC. He put me in charge of a deal with the Hell's Bandits MC. Now I must prove I can handle the responsibility. I must convince them I can do it. But can I convince myself that I deserve it? That won't matter, if I can't even manage the deal. A sexy little vixen whispers secrets of betrayal and suddenly the problems keep piling up. She'll give me the information I need in exchange for her escape. She has me questioning everything and wondering if I'll be willing to free her from my grasp when the time comes. Is she the thing I so desperately need to finally be rid of my demons?
Fast-paced history-cum-memoir about rock climbing in the wild-and-wooly ’80s Highlights ground-breaking achievements from the era Hangdog Days vividly chronicles the era when rock climbing exploded in popularity, attracting a new generation of talented climbers eager to reach new heights via harder routes and faster ascents. This contentious, often entertaining period gave rise to sport climbing, climbing gyms, and competitive climbing--indelibly transforming the sport. Jeff Smoot was one of those brash young climbers, and here he traces the development of traditional climbing “rules,” enforced first through peer pressure, then later through intimidation and sabotage. In the late ’70s, several climbers began introducing new tactics including “hangdogging,” hanging on gear to practice moves, that the old guard considered cheating. As more climbers broke ranks with traditional style, the new gymnastic approach pushed the limits of climbing from 5.12 to 5.13. When French climber Jean-Baptiste Tribout ascended To Bolt or Not to Be, 5.14a, at Smith Rock in 1986, he cracked a barrier many people had considered impenetrable. In his lively, fast-paced history enriched with insightful firsthand experience, Smoot focuses on the climbing achievements of three of the era’s superstars: John Bachar, Todd Skinner, and Alan Watts, while not neglecting the likes of Ray Jardine, Lynn Hill, Mark Hudon, Tony Yaniro, and Peter Croft. He deftly brings to life the characters and events of this raucous, revolutionary time in rock climbing, exploring, as he says, “what happened and why it mattered, not only to me but to the people involved and those who have followed.”
CLICK HERE to download the first chapter from Freedom Climbers (Provide us with a little information and we'll send your download directly to your inbox) "One of the most important mountaineering books to be written for many years." —Boardman-Tasker Prize See this book trailer for Freedom Climbers made by RMB Books, its publisher in Canada, where the cover is slightly different from the Mountaineers Books U.S. edition * Behind the Iron Curtain, Cold War mountaineers found freedom on the world's highest peaks—and paid an awful price to achieve it * Winner of the Boardman-Tasker Prize, Banff Grand Prize, and American Alpine Club Literary Award Freedom Climbers tells the story of Poland's truly remarkable mountaineers who dominated Himalayan climbing during the period between the end of World War II and the start of the new millennium. The emphasis here is on their "golden age" in the 1980s and 1990s when, despite the economic and social baggage of their struggling country, Polish climbers were the first to tackle the world's highest mountains during winter, including the first winter ascents on seven of the world's fourteen 8000-meter peaks: Everest, Manaslu, Dhaulagiri, Cho Oyu, Kanchenjunga, Annapurna, and Lhotse. Such successes, however, came at a serious cost: 80 percent of Poland's finest high-altitude climbers died on the high mountains during the same period they were pursuing these first ascents. Award-winning writer Bernadette McDonald addresses the social, political, and cultural context of this golden age, and the hardships of life under Soviet rule. Polish climbers, she argues, were so tough because their lives at home were so tough—they lost family members to World War II and its aftermath and were so much more poverty-stricken than their Western counterparts that they made much of their own climbing gear. While Freedom Climbers tells the larger story of an era, McDonald shares charismatic personal narratives such as that of Wanda Rutkiewicz, expected to be the first woman to climb all 8000-meter peaks until she disappeared on Kanchenjunga in 1992; Jerzy Kukuczka, who died in a fall while attempting the south face of Lhotse; and numerous other renowned climbers including Voytek Kurtyka, Artur Hajzer, Andrej Zawaka, and Krzysztof Wielicki. This is a fascinating window into a different world, far-removed from modernity yet connected by the strange allure of the mountain landscape, and a story of inspiring passion against all odds. This title is part of our LEGENDS AND LORE series. Click here > to learn more.
INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER NEW YORK TIMES MONTHLY BESTSELLER One of the 10 Best Books of March, Paste Magazine A deeply reported insider perspective of Alex Honnold’s historic achievement and the culture and history of climbing. “One of the most compelling accounts of a climb and the climbing ethos that I've ever read.”—Sebastian Junger In Mark Synnott’s unique window on the ethos of climbing, his friend Alex Honnold’s astonishing free solo ascent of El Capitan’s 3,000 feet of sheer granite is the central act. When Honnold topped out at 9:28 A.M. on June 3, 2017, having spent fewer than four hours on his historic ascent, the world gave a collective gasp. The New York Times described it as “one of the great athletic feats of any kind, ever.” Synnott’s personal history of his own obsession with climbing since he was a teenager—through professional climbing triumphs and defeats, and the dilemmas they render—makes this a deeply reported, enchanting revelation about living life to the fullest. What are we doing if not an impossible climb? Synnott delves into a raggedy culture that emerged decades earlier during Yosemite’s Golden Age, when pioneering climbers like Royal Robbins and Warren Harding invented the sport that Honnold would turn on its ear. Painting an authentic, wry portrait of climbing history and profiling Yosemite heroes and the harlequin tribes of climbers known as the Stonemasters and the Stone Monkeys, Synnott weaves in his own experiences with poignant insight and wit: tensions burst on the mile-high northwest face of Pakistan’s Great Trango Tower; fellow climber Jimmy Chin miraculously persuades an official in the Borneo jungle to allow Honnold’s first foreign expedition, led by Synnott, to continue; armed bandits accost the same trio at the foot of a tower in the Chad desert . . . The Impossible Climb is an emotional drama driven by people exploring the limits of human potential and seeking a perfect, choreographed dance with nature. Honnold dared far beyond the ordinary, beyond any climber in history. But this story of sublime heights is really about all of us. Who doesn’t need to face down fear and make the most of the time we have?
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • This gripping and triumphant memoir from the author of The Mountain follows a living legend of extreme mountaineering as he makes his assault on history, one 8,000-meter summit at a time. “From the drama of the peaks, to the struggle of making a living as a professional climber, to the basic how-tos of life at 26,000 feet, No Shortcuts to the Top is fascinating reading.”—Aron Ralston, author of Between a Rock and a Hard Place and subject of the film 127 Hours For eighteen years Ed Viesturs pursued climbing’s holy grail: to stand atop the world’s fourteen 8,000-meter peaks, without the aid of bottled oxygen. But No Shortcuts to the Top is as much about the man who would become the first American to achieve that goal as it is about his stunning quest. As Viesturs recounts the stories of his most harrowing climbs, he reveals a man torn between the flat, safe world he and his loved ones share and the majestic and deadly places where only he can go. A preternaturally cautious climber who once turned back 300 feet from the top of Everest but who would not shrink from a peak (Annapurna) known to claim the life of one climber for every two who reached its summit, Viesturs lives by an unyielding motto, “Reaching the summit is optional. Getting down is mandatory.” It is with this philosophy that he vividly describes fatal errors in judgment made by his fellow climbers as well as a few of his own close calls and gallant rescues. And, for the first time, he details his own pivotal and heroic role in the 1996 Everest disaster made famous in Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air. In addition to the raw excitement of Viesturs’s odyssey, No Shortcuts to the Top is leavened with many funny moments revealing the camaraderie between climbers. It is more than the first full account of one of the staggering accomplishments of our time; it is a portrait of a brave and devoted family man and his beliefs that shaped this most perilous and magnificent pursuit.
Joe and Paul Stettner have been called the first truesport climbers in America; contemporary and fellow legendPaul Petzoldt called them "the human flies" for theirbold and acrobatic style. Legends in the earlymountaineering community, they put up some of the mostdifficult routes in North America during a career thatspanned the ......
