The American Alpine Journal is internationally acknowledged as the world's finest mountain climbing journaL. Published annually since 1929, the AAJ offers incisive accounts of the previous year's significant climbs.The 1998 AAJ covers hundreds of the most remarkable ascents around the world with first-person accounts, deftly drawn topos, and dramatic photographs. In addition, the AAJ's book reviews, including reports on the Everest Tragedy books, provide readers with insightful critiques of the year's climbing literature.

After a mighty struggle against breast cancer, Laura Evans "climbed to the summit of the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere, leading sixteen other breast cancer survivors in a heroic demonstration of the power of the human spirit to overcome adversity."--Jacket.

Published annually since 1929, The American Alpine Journal is internationally acknowledged as the world's finest journal of its kind. The latest volume of climbing's "journal of record" offers the most complete picture available of the world of climbing for 1998. From articles that present the climbing possibilities of Antarctica and Africa, to stories on the new bigwall frontiers of Mexico and Madagascar, to the alpine sagas on Bhagarathi III and Khan Tengri, and the emergence of the former Soviet climbers on the world stage, the 1999 AAJ continues its tradition as mountaineering's institutional memory.

-- Articles on all significant climbs of 2000-- Authors include some of the finest climbers of our time, such as Scott Backes, Marko Prezelj, Valeri Babanov, and Thomas Huber, as well as virtuoso newcomers Jonathon Copp and lan Parnell-- More than 150 photos, maps, and toposThis latest volume of climbing's journal of record offers the most complete picture available of who did what in 2000. Jonathon Copp relates the stunning accomplishments of his light and fast Karakoram expedition with Michael Pennings, while Steve House and Rolando Garibotti discuss the state of the art in Alaskan and Patagonian alpinism. If it happened in the world of climbing, it's in the AAJ.Founded in 1902, the American Alpine Club (AAC) is the leading national organization devoted to mountaineering and rock climbing, to the conservation and study of mountainous regions, and to representing the interests of the American climbing community. The AAC is based in Golden, Colorado.

In 1989, while attempting a new route on a difficult overhanging rock face, climber Dan Osman fell. Again and again, protected by the rope, he fell. He decided then that it would not be in climbing but in falling that he would embrace his fear--bathe in it, as he says, and move beyond it. A captivating exploration of the daredevil world of rock climbing, as well as a thoughtful meditation on the role of risk and fear in the author's own life. In the tradition of the wildly popular man-versus-nature genre that has launched several bestsellers, Andrew Todhunter follows the lives of world-class climber Dan Osman and his coterie of friends as he explores the extremes of risk on the unyielding surface of the rock. Climbing sheer rock faces of hundreds or thousands of feet is more a religion than a sport, demanding dedication, patience, mental and physical strength, grace, and a kind of obsession with detail that is crucial just to survive. Its artists are modern-day ascetics who often sacrifice nine-to-five jobs, material goods, and the safety of everyday life to pit themselves and their moral resoluteness against an utterly unforgiving opponent. In the course of the two years chronicled in Fall of the Phantom Lord, the author also undertakes a journey of his own as he begins to weigh the relative value of extreme sports and the risk of sudden death. By the end of the book, as he ponders joining Osman on a dangerous fall from a high bridge to feel what Osman experiences, Todhunter comes to a new understanding of risk taking and the role it has in his life, and in the lives of these climbers. Beautifully written, Fall of the Phantom Lord offers a fascinating look at a world few people know. It will surely take its place alongside Into Thin Air and The Perfect Storm as a classic of adventure literature.