The High Lonesome: Epic Solo Climbing Stories

Another great John Long compilation!! Read while on a business trip & could hardly put it down, really saved me from the travel boredom. Any climber can relate to the drama & excitement!

This Book was awesome. It kept me on the edge of my feet. John Long is a great climbing author and I haven't read a bad book from him yet. If you want to be on your feet and like to be excited, this is the one for you.

I am an avid novice rock climber and this book is a great series of short vignettes that explore the many different facets of the most extreme side of climbing: the free solo. Hard to imagine, this is true "working without a net" extreme sport, that is really not so extreme when you hear it told from the perspective of folks with lots of ability and desire, and the fortitude to constantly battle the fear that creeps into such attempts. I enjoyed this book and found the first person perspectives were fresh and insightful without getting metaphysical.

This is an excellent anthology of writing about solo climbing. Highlights include Croft's Minarets trip report and Twight's (perhaps inadvertently) hilarious The Abattoir.

This anthology is well selected and well edited. I read it cover to cover, over two days, and had trouble putting it down even when I had finished it. Each contribution is a real "cliffhanger." (Sorry...I couldn't resist...)