On the Ridge Between Life and Death, David Roberts
On the Ridge Between Life and Death, David Roberts
List: $44.99 | Sale: $31.50
Club: $22.49

On the Ridge Between Life and Death
A Climbing Life Reexamined

Author: David Roberts

Narrator: David de Vries

Unabridged: 15 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/16/2020

Synopsis

What compels mountain climbers to take the risks that they do? Is it the thrill in the physical accomplishment, in managing to defy the odds, or both -- and why do they continue to do what they do in the face of such great danger? In On the Ridge Between Life and Death, David Roberts confronts these questions head-on as he recounts the exhilarating highs and desperate lows of his climbing career. By the time he was twenty-two, Roberts had already been involved in three fatal mountain climbing accidents and had escaped death himself by the sheerest of luck. And yet, as he acknowledges, few things have brought him more joy than climbing. In a famous essay on the subject written more than twenty years ago, Roberts judged climbing to be "worth the risk." He continues to climb to this day, and several of his challenging routes in Alaska have never been climbed since. But in reassessing the emotional costs to himself and to loved ones, he reaches a different conclusion, one that is sure to cause controversy not only in climbing circles, but among adventurers of all kinds. Candid and unflinching, On the Ridge Between Life and Death is a compelling examination of the risks we take in order to feel more alive.

About David Roberts

David Roberts (born 1943) is a climber, mountaineer, and author of books and articles about climbing. He is particularly noted for his books The Mountain of My Fear and Deborah: A Wilderness Narrative, chronicling major ascents in Alaska in the 1960s, which had a major impact on the form of mountaineering literature. In thirteen seasons spent in the Alaskan wilderness, Roberts is well known for many first ascents, including the Wickersham Wall on Mount McKinley, the West rib of Mount Huntington, climbing in the Western Brooks Range and the Kichatna Spires, and on the East Face of Mount Dickey.Roberts is the son of Walter Orr Roberts and mentor to Jon Krakauer.David Roberts attended Harvard University, where he received a mathematics degree in 1965. He was a member of and former president of the Harvard Mountaineering Club. He also received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Denver in 1970.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Maria on May 01, 2022

On belay! This was an interesting memoir about the author. I'm an armchair adventurer so I enjoy reading about people willing to risk their lives to climb mountains (or reach the pole, etc.). This book was slow in places - too many details - and, of course, it was very focused on the author - I would......more

Goodreads review by Sharon on June 11, 2013

I am a sucker for mountaineering books; I can't get enough of them. So I thought I had a winner in this book, in which David Roberts promises to tackle the difficult issue of why people keep climbing when it is so dangerous and so many climbers, even highly skilled and experienced ones, lose their l......more

Goodreads review by James on March 10, 2015

I thought this was going to be a book about the meaning of life/ climbing/ lost friends... A little of that, but mostly the author recounting (bragging) about all the climbs he did. Increasing his books are infused with his bragging. If you read 2 or more of his books, you'll notice he recycles mater......more

Goodreads review by Pat on October 04, 2007

I met Roberts in Boulder when he was researching this memoir. I'd forgotten about it until recently, when a friend died climbing in Alaska -- the scene of many of the author's greatest accomplishments. On the Ridge is his reassessment, from the vantage of his 60s, of a climbing life (and the deaths......more

Goodreads review by John on October 15, 2010

Roberts is more than a little insufferable, but I certainly admire such exploits.......more

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List