"This is the true story of the murder of Artemio Bruni, a peasant farmer in the mountains of Casentino, north-eastern Tuscany, in the winter of 1907. Artemio was my husband's great-grandfather. "For reasons not understood by my husband's family, Grandpa Artemio's death was never investigated. It was not reported to the police, nor did Bruna Bruni, Artemio's wife, ever demand justice. How could that be possible, I asked my mother-in-law - was it because of the mafia? 'No, no, you don't understand,' she answered. 'Things were different in the mountains one hundred years ago. Grandpa and Grandma were poor farmers, no one could have cared less about them. Grandpa was a nobody and life was cheap in Tuscany then.'" When Australian author and journalist Lisa Clifford moved to Florence to be with her Italian husband, an unsolved murder in his family became part of her life. The more Lisa found out about it, the more intrigued she became - so much so that she was driven to investigate the tragic events of a century ago. Death in the Mountains is Lisa's brilliant recreation of the life and death of Artemio Bruni, and an evocation of the world of the Tuscan mountains in the early 20th century. It is both a murder mystery and a beautifully observed picture of a lost Italy.

An afternoon hike in the Sierra Mountains turns into a struggle for survival when two teenage girls become hopelessly lost in an electrical storm and must rely on their own wits and strength to endure. Almost a year ago, Erin's mother Lannie suddenly left home without any explanation. Now Lannie wants to see her, but Erin feels miserable and unsure about seeing her mother again. After "losing" her bus ticket on the way to visit her mother, Erin hitches a ride with Mae and her older brother, Levi. Along the way, she joins the two siblings for a hike along the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. When a deadly storm suddenly descends upon the mountain and lightning strikes, everyone on the crowded trails scrambles for safety and Erin and Mae become separated from the others. As the days pass, the two stranded girls must rely on their own determination and skills, as well as each other, to survive. Author Sherry Shahan's dramatic story displays perceptive insights into the conflicted hearts and minds of teenagers, as well as a thorough understanding of the natural world and technical details of mountaineering. An afterword includes details of Shahan's own harrowing alpine adventure that inspired the novel.

“He wrapped the rope around his body, got ready to rappel and leaned back. Standing about five feet from him, I heard a sharp scraping, Suddenly Ed was flying. I could see him fall, wordless, fifty feet free, then strike the steep ice below…he was sliding and bouncing down. He passed out of sight, but I heard his body bouncing. There wasn't a chance of his stopping for 4,000 feet.” —From David Robert's The Mountain of My Fear In these thrillingly true tales of narrow brushes with death, Cecil Kuhne has amassed a wide range of stories that show the awesome power of the mountains. Spanning five continents, from the frosty tip of Mount McKinley in the dead of the winter, to the unexplored vastness of the Himalayas and beyond, this is a pulse-pounding collection of disaster and survival at the top of the world. Also featuring: • Joe Simpson's Touching the Void—An inspiring story of a climber who topples into a icy crevasse and, though crippled, starving and frostbitten, still manages to crawl to rescue. • Jon Krakauer's Eiger Dreams—Reaching the limits of his own climbing skills, the author makes a crucial decision whether to brave the treacherous higher altitudes or return to base. • Nando Parrado's Miracle in the Andes—The stunning first-person account of a Peruvian rugby team's airplane crash in the Chilean Andes and their harrowing journey down the mountain for help.

Edward Power sets the reader down in the midst of a February 2017 blizzard that raked Utah’s Uinta Range as nine snowboarders made their way into the backcountry for a day of intense adventure. As the boarders were taking their first turns, expert avalanche forecaster Craig Gordon was tracking the storm and its impact, posting one of the most dire avalanche forecasts and warnings in his career. In Dragons in the Snow, Power delves into the research and science behind avalanche forecasting and rescue, weaving in the art of backcountry skiing as well as dramatic tales of avalanche accidents, rescues, and recoveries. And he paints compelling portraits of the men and women who have made the study of avalanches their life’s work. The tales told by these avalanche forecasters, as well as the stories of the backcountry riders who may "wake the dragon" make for not just a compelling read, but also a powerful tool for raising avalanche awareness in everyone who plays in the winter backcountry.

The true story of a deadly feud in New England's north country

"Death in the White Mountains is about the hikers, climbers, and back-country skiers who have died in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and Maine. The goal in writing this book has been to find out why there has been such an appalling loss of life ... My purpose has not been to blame the victims but to find out what their stories can teach us. It is hoped that by discovering the fatal errors that led to these deaths, the number of mountain tragedies can be reduced."--Introduction.

An investigative reporter explores an infamous case where an obsessive and unorthodox search for enlightenment went terribly wrong. When thirty-eight-year-old Ian Thorson died from dehydration and dysentery on a remote Arizona mountaintop in 2012, The New York Times reported the story under the headline: "Mysterious Buddhist Retreat in the Desert Ends in a Grisly Death." Scott Carney, a journalist and anthropologist who lived in India for six years, was struck by how Thorson’s death echoed other incidents that reflected the little-talked-about connection between intensive meditation and mental instability. Using these tragedies as a springboard, Carney explores how those who go to extremes to achieve divine revelations—and undertake it in illusory ways—can tangle with madness. He also delves into the unorthodox interpretation of Tibetan Buddhism that attracted Thorson and the bizarre teachings of its chief evangelists: Thorson’s wife, Lama Christie McNally, and her previous husband, Geshe Michael Roach, the supreme spiritual leader of Diamond Mountain University, where Thorson died. Carney unravels how the cultlike practices of McNally and Roach and the questionable circumstances surrounding Thorson’s death illuminate a uniquely American tendency to mix and match eastern religious traditions like LEGO pieces in a quest to reach an enlightened, perfected state, no matter the cost. Aided by Thorson’s private papers, along with cutting-edge neurological research that reveals the profound impact of intensive meditation on the brain and stories of miracles and black magic, sexualized rituals, and tantric rites from former Diamond Mountain acolytes, A Death on Diamond Mountain is a gripping work of investigative journalism that reveals how the path to enlightenment can be riddled with danger.