Why We Climb: The World's Most Inspiring Climbers

by Chris Noble

Why We Climb is a celebration, in word and image, of those aspects of the climbing life that are most universal, meaningful, and long lasting the strong connection to partners and nature; the physical and mental mastery required (and how to achieve it); the rewards of exploring oneself and the world through climbing. Through interviews with some of North Americas most notable climbers the book undertakes a quest to find the soul of climbing asking what compels men and women to dedicate their lives to the challenges and deprivations of living in a vertical world? What are the sacrifices and what are the rewards? And most importantly, can the lessons learned on cliff faces, frozen waterfalls, and alpine peaks lessons of respect, discipline, commitment, humility and simplicitybe brought home and used to benefit society as a whole?

Genres: Climbing, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Beth Burzynski · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading both Women Who Dare and this book, I strongly prefer/recommend this one. Why We Climb contained some amazing introspection from a litany of world class climbers: their thoughts on life, death (sometimes with near-death experiences or death of climbing partners/friends), risk, adventure, and balancing work & passions with family. While yes, this book is about climbing, it is also enjoyable for those who are interested in these topics and/or generally appreciate nature. Depending on the climber's writing aptitude/tone, some of the segments read more like a self-help/personal growth book than a series of biographies. My favorite segment was the cross-interviews between Conrad Anker and Peter Croft, though many of the segments were quite compelling. It is a lengthy book, good diversity of types of climbers/backgrounds to the climbers, though still pretty limited regarding actual diversity metrics.

[Cooper]

I’ll be honest, the foreword teased the reader with the notion that the author might be the one to provide a suitable answer to this daunting question. And in a way, he did. He showed, through the experiences of others, how diverse and illusive the answer is. I think he provides the solution that an individuals motivations are simply to different and complex to generalize into one explanation. He does this with various stories of renowned climbers, each telling their own background, never quite the same. I suppose this is the message he was establishing from the beginning, that simply because a group of people all share a similar passion or interests, doesn't mean that they share, in any way, comparable motivations.

Nevertheless, I think that the lack of a definitive answer, while powerful in its own way, does make the conclusion of this book a bit underwhelming. Only upon deep reflection will the reader find the lessons learned in this book to have significant meaning. I think this was absolutely a conscious choice by the author, and a good one at that, but it does strike as unconventional.

[Julius · Rating 5 out of 5]

In den ersten Kapiteln versucht der Autor die verschiedenen Gründe, warum Menschen klettern, eher abstrakt zu ergründen und implizit gegenüberzustellen. Im weitaus grösseren Teil des Buches trägt er dann teils von den Kletterern selbstgeschriebene Reflexionen zusammen, was ebendiese zum Klettern gebracht hat und dort hält. Dadurch ergibt sich eine Vielfalt an Begründungen, die selbst dann noch individuell sind, wenn sie doch den selben Ansatz haben wie bei der Primärmotivation "Wettkampf".

Why We Climb ist also ein guter Startpunkt, um in diejenige Philosophie tiefer einzutauchen, die bei einem selbst am meisten Widerhall findet.

[Xzs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great introduction into the world of climbing. The book profiles an assortment of accomplished climbers. The pictures are terrific and most of the profiles are interesting. I'm increasingly smitten with climbing, from the romance of the dirtbag lifestyle to the mental and physical benefits. It's a lifestyle I'd love to get to know firsthand, if only I could manage to get more than ten feet off the ground without freaking out!

[Mikey · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for the great pictures alone

[Jim Ewing · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you climb you’ll love this book.

[R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keep calm and rock climb!

[Ben Juneau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some serious stoke fuel in this here book.

[Ray Lo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Should be on your shelf if you are a dedicated climber!

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I'm a climber who is most comfortable on easier Alpine peaks (Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker, Mt. Adams and the like) and glacier travel rather than rock climbing/bouldering. I'm most certainly impressed by highly skilled technical rock climbers.

I think this book is probably best suited for non-climbers.

For the experienced climber, there's going to be a lot of head nodding in agreement with regard to what the various climbers have to say about training and mental attitude. That's not to say that what they have to say isn't valuable, just that I've heard it before or have already figured it out for myself.

The best content in this book is the climber profiles. I liked reading about where they got their start, what their most proud moments are and what their goals were. The author did a good job of not filtering the interviews of the various climbers as evidence by Peter Croft describing "little black kids spinning in circles", Alex Honnold mentioning "chicks" and Chris Kalous referring to "the mother of my child." Not the worst things in the world to day, but I found them surprising.

Approximately half of the photos in this book are beautiful and amazing; the other half are average candid shots that don't add much to the book.

[Vaclav Kocian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zcela jistě jedna z nejlepších knih tohoto roku. Četl jsem ji pomalu, kapitolu po kapitole a šetřil si ji co nejdéle. Jedná se o soubor skvěle napsaných dlouhatánských rozhovorů a portrétů skvělých lezců o jejich lezení, životě, motivaci,... Skvělá je zejména jedna z prvních kapitol s obrovským dvojrozhovorem s Peterem Croftem a Conradem Ankerem a pak portréty Alexe Honnolda, Tommyho Caldwella, Douga Robinsona a Mayan Smith-Gobat. Rozhodně doporučuju!

[November Juliet · Rating 5 out of 5]

An ex of mine gave me this book and after reading it, I dove straight into a whole new hobby. Very well written, and as the title indicates, I was beyond inspired by the climbers who shared their stories. A must for anyone considering becoming a climber!

[Kori · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book and feel like it would be easy for the author to continue making similar books in the future with different climbers. The variety within is very interesting and thought provoking.