In High Places

What does a dad with near-zero athletic ability do to create quality time with his two energetic young sons? Well, in Burt Falk's case, after reading an article in a local paper about a man who just completed climbing 100 Southern California peaks, he thought, "Hey, I can put one foot ahead of the other. What a great idea." And thus in 1971 began Falk's climbing adventures. Now, more than 55 years later and with almost 800 summits to his credit, come his full, unexpurgated, sometimes humorous, sometimes not, memories of his lofty adventures. *** The climbing essays in this book describe adventuring in far-flung corners of the world, including: > Climbing Maui's Puu Kukui, the wettest places on earth on some years. > Sitting out nine blizzard days while on a 25-day ascent of Denali > Making a first ascent in the Chilean Andes > Swimming in a lake full of jellyfish in Palau > Experiencing a fellow climber's death in the Soviet Pamirs > Making high point ascents on several rarely-visited islands: Pitcairn, Easter, Yap, American & Independent Samoa, Tristan de Cuhna, St. Helena, Ascension. > Enjoying climbing with family members, including four grandchildren, on many highpoint ascents: New York State's Mt.Marcy (Falk's 50th state highpoint), Fuji, Mt. Vesuvius, Mt.Etna, Mt. Obama in Antigua, and, most recently, Midzor, Serbia's highest.