Can't Get Out? Read Up

Sometimes in the winter, you just don't want to go outside. Maybe it's wet. Maybe it's cold. Maybe your bed is too perfectly warm to leave. But don't let that stop you from traveling to the North Cascades, the Pacific Crest Trail, or even Mount Everest!

Local favorites win National Outdoor Book Awards

This NOBA Honorable Mention features research done in Washington's North Cascades. Photo courtesy North Cascades National Park

This week, the National Outdoor Book Awards selected ten outstanding books that offer house-bound hikers a way to get outside, even if the elements have conspired to keep you in.

All ten are worth a look, but we are happy to see that three of the ten winners are published by our friends at Mountaineers Books. Take a look at I Promise Not to Suffer, Everest: The West Ridge, and Snow Travel for entertainment, thrills, and outdoor education.

And if you've got a soft spot for wildlife, don't miss Wolves in the Land of Salmon, featuring new information and beautiful photographs of one of the most elusive species in the Pacific Northwest.

Wolves in the Land of Salmon

By David Moskowitz

Photographer, expert tracker and instructor at North Cascades Institute David Moskowitz crisscrosses the Pacific Northwest looking for and observing wolves.  From each journey, he comes away with some new understanding that adds a wealth of information on their behavior, biology, and the controversy swirling about them.

• Buy or download the book.

Learn all about safe snow travel with Mike Zawaski's award-winning book. Photo courtesy National Outdoor Book Awards.

Snow Travel: Skills for Climbing, Hiking, and Moving Across Snow

By Mike Zawaski

Whether you're a hiker or climber, sooner or later, you’re bound to find yourself on snow slopes. Steep snow, of course, can be hazardous unless you are prepared.

This fully illustrated, comprehensive guide, by long-time outdoor instructor and trainer Mike Zawaski, is designed to help keep you safe. It covers pre-trip planning, self arrest, use of crampons, and advice on how to recognize and evaluate potential hazards.

• Read our spring interview with Mike Zawaski to learn more about safely crossing snow.
• Buy or download the book.

Everest: The West Ridge

By Thomas F. Hornbein

The 50th anniversary edition Everest: The West Ridge. (Mountaineers Books)

Everest: The West Ridge is a mountaineering classic; the story of the 1963 Everest ascent by a bold and entirely unknown route -- the West Ridge. After an exhausting final push, Hornbein and his climbing companion Willi Unsoeld, reach the summit, but it is so late in the day that they find themselves stranded at 28,000 feet.  With no food, shelter, or water, they are well within the death zone.

Thanks to Mountaineers Books, The West Ridge has been re-issued in an impressive special 50th anniversary edition. It’s all here: the original text, the photographs, and a special addendum that follows-up with each member of the expedition fifty years later.

• Buy or download the book.

I Promise Not to Suffer:  A Fool for Love Hikes the Pacific Crest Trail

By Gail D. Storey

In the grand tradition of thru-hiker narratives, fifty-six year-old Gail Storey tells her story of tackling the Pacific Crest Trail with her husband. At first a reluctant thru-hiker, Storey endures the trek with grace and humor.

• Buy or download the book.

Can't get enough outdoors literature?

• Read the whole list of 2013 Outdoor Awards winners.
• Check out our Pinterest Bookshelf board.