Coast Mountain Men:
Mountaineering Stories from the West Coast
by Gil Parker
Vancouver Island and the adjacent Coast Mountains are a mountain playground and a wilderness environment that only recently has reached the wider appreciation by outdoor enthusiasts. Its deep forests and remote alpine regions provide challenges for climbers and opportunities for conservation.
Coast Mountain Men describes fourteen explorers and mountaineers who have contributed to mountain knowledge, history and culture in the widest sense, all with a connection to the alpine ranges of the West Coast of Canada.
Access to the hills has changed markedly over the seven decades during which our adventurers have plunged into these wild mountain ranges. The traditions of climbing have been affected by that access, by the formation of active mountain clubs and by the development of techniques and equipment. These biographies demonstrate how each climber has reacted to these changes; their experience is instructive.
More than any factor, the reality of wilderness impacts mountaineers. Nature in the raw does more than provide the terrain for a climber's sport; it allows each who would enter a sounding board against which to play the song of his life.
Read a sample chapter
from Coast Mountain Men
"It took the writing skills and know-how of mountaineer Gil Parker to put together this fine book about the hardy mountainmen who pioneered the exploration of the wild mountains of Vancouver Island and the Coast Range of B.C." — Glen Boles, Honorary President, Alpine Club of Canada
"Your shared adventures in Vancouver Island mountains enliven and warm your stories of these passionate mountaineers. Your articulate expressions of their characters ring true." — Judith Holm, teacher, member of the Alpine Club of Canada
"West Coast mountain culture is a tale waiting to be fully told. Gil Parker is a climber and historian of this challenging drama. Coast Mountain Men belays the story in an evocative manner. It's a summit to sit upon. Some fine vistas will be seen." — Ron Dart, Philosophy & Religious Studies, University College of the Fraser Valley, Author of Mountaineering and the Humanities, The Ascent of Mount Ventoux.
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- ISBN 978-0-9736906-2-0, 140 pages, 27 photos, plus index, paperback
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