In part two of his gripping autobiography, world-class climber Gerry Roach continues his action-packed tales of mountaineering around the world. His stories are laced with a hard-edged reality that is tempered by his spiritual growth. Ride the Breath follows his continuing quests, picking up where his first book, Transcendent Summits, ends.This candid memoir takes you to some of Earth's most captivating peaks and lands: the Tetons, the North Cascades, the Canadian Rockies and Yukon, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, the Antarctic, Rainier, Iceland, Norway, the Alps, Africa's fabled Kilimanjaro, the Australian outback, Tasmania, New Zealand, and Hawaii. In each of these stories, Gerry better defines the edges between risk and reward, lust and loss, dreamtime and terrortime and, perhaps most important, transcendence and transgression. Gerry has a unique ability to takes his readers into the mountains with him and hold them on multiple belays. In the end, the life lessons learned transcend his climbs, allowing Gerry to include his readers on his climb for peace, which becomes an ever-growing Odyssean exploration. 348 pages total. This Black and White edition has 166 Black and White photos.
About the Author: Gerry Roach moved to Boulder Colorado as a lad in 1954, and started climbing rocks and mountains shortly thereafter. Over six decades later, he continues pursuing his mountaineering passion with all the energy he can muster. In the intervening years, Gerry became a world-class mountaineer. After climbing Mount Everest in 1983, he went on to become the second person to climb the highest peak on each of the seven continents in 1985. In over 55 years of mountaineering that span 6 different calendar decades, Gerry has climbed in dozens of states and countries. He has been on 29 Alaskan expeditions, 10 Andean expeditions and 7 Himalayan expeditions, including first ascents in the kingdom of Bhutan. In 1997, he summited 26,360-foot Gasherbrum II in the Karakorum. In 2000, Gerry became the first person to climb the ten highest peaks in North America. In 2003, Gerry became the first person to climb every major peak over 16,000 feet in North America. Gerry is a member of the Colorado Mountain Club, the Sierra Club, and the American Alpine Club. Closer to home, Gerry has climbed more than 2,000 peaks in Colorado, including all the Fourteeners, which he completed for the first time in 1975. He finished climbing every ranked Thirteener in Colorado in 2010. In 2005, the Sierra Club gave Gerry the coveted Francis P. Farquhar Mountaineering Award for a lifetime of mountaineering achievement. In 2006, the Colorado Mountain Club gave Gerry the rare Ellingwood Ice Ax Award, and in 2010, the Highpointers Club gave Gerry the Frank Ashley Award. Gerry lives with his wife Jennifer in Montrose, Colorado USA.