Climbing defined Paul Pritchard’s life and mountains gave it meaning. From his Snowdonia base he gained a reputation for climbs of extreme technical difficulty and meagre protection. His climbing adventures took him from Baffin Island to the Karakorum and from Patagonia to the Himalayas. When he won the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature in 1997 with his book Deep Play he spent the prize money on a round the world climbing tour that found him in Tasmania climbing the most slender sea-stack on the planet, The Totem Pole. It was here, on a Friday the thirteenth, that all Pritchard had known before was turned on its head. A falling boulder inflicted such a terrible brain injury that hospital staff thought that he might never walk or even speak again. Pritchard spent the next year fighting the hemiplegia which paralysed his right side and played tricks with his speech and memory. In his fight for recovery the reader triumphs with him when his brain remembers how to use each forgotten muscle. The book laces great climbing memories with coming to terms with selling his climbing gear and becoming an onlooker. It paints a wry picture of himself and his fellow clients at a neuro-rehabilitation unit near Liverpool. It examines his altered relationships with family, friends and his former partner Celia Bull, whose superhuman efforts secured him after the accident. At the close of this humane, perceptive and completely unself-pitying book Paul, his wheelchair given back to the hospital, returns to Tasmania to film and reflect on a new existence. This is the 20th anniversary edition of The Totem Pole. Going back to the original files. The author has restored the original text that was previously edited out - mostly on the grounds of offensive language; however that only reflected Pritchard's disinhibition.
From the Mountains Edge
ED JACKSON
HARPER COLLINS PUBLISHERS LIMITED
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Phil Ershler,Robin Simons,Susan Ershler
WARNER BOOKS/HACHETTE BOOK GROUP
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JEREMY BERNSTEIN
TOUCHSTONE BOOK/SIMON & SCHUSTE INC
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None
CARROLL & GRAF PUBLISHERS
ASCENT A Life Spent Climbing on the Edge
CHRIS BONINGTON
SIMON & SCHUSTER INC.
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MIKE GAUTHIER
THE MOUNTAINEERS BOOKS
The Last Step the American Ascent of K2
RICK RIDGEWAY
Everest 1953 The Epic Story of the First Ascent
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ONEWORLD PUBLICATIONS/HARPER COLLINS PUBLISHERS LIMITED
Everest The First Ascent
HARRIET TUCKEY
RIDER BOOKS/PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE GROUP
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