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Sacred Summits: John Muir's Mountain Days
John Muir is one of the founding fathers of the modern environmental movement and this volume celebrates his achievements in the mountaineering field. Sacred Summits gathers together many illuminating essays by and about Muir, the majority of which are currently unavailable in North America.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 22, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 9, 2017
This collection of mountaineering essays was published to popularize John Muir’s writings in the UK. Starting with the original compilation entitled “John Muir: Mountaineering Essays,” edited by Richard Fleck in 1989, Graham White adds commentary by academics and mountaineers about John Muir’s mountain activities.
The introduction by the editor provides an entertaining summary of Muir’s life and perspective on Muir’s influence on later mountaineers and on wilderness preservation. Some of the other commentary-style essays are not as interesting. I found the selections of Muir’s writing somewhat uneven as well. “Mountain Thoughts” is pure poetry in the best sense, and some tales of climbs without jacket, food, or modern equipment describe nearly impossible adventures excitingly. But some essays contain long passages that get boring, naming large numbers of plants with minimal descriptions—the fault of the editor, not of Muir himself, who wrote primarily for his own enjoyment and records.
In one very exciting essay by Samuel Hall Young, the author is rescued by Muir within a short distance of the summit of an Alaskan mountain after dislocating both shoulders in a fall. Young describes the rescue in great detail, how Muir must climb all the way around the mountaintop to access Young safely, singing all the while to calm his companion. Then Muir uses one hand and his teeth to grasp the injured man’s clothing and swing him onto a tiny ledge. The long descent is graphically described as is the difficult process of re-locating Young’s shoulders during and after the rescue. Even more telling is Muir’s essay on the same topic. Muir glosses over the details of his extreme rescue, presenting it as an unfortunate incident in which he acted as anyone would. He discreetly leaves out what Young reveals—that Young had dislocated his shoulders several times before and had purposely not told Muir prior to the climb, thinking rightly that Muir would not have allowed him to climb had he known.
This book is a worthwhile read for all John Muir fans, as some of the essays are sublime.
The introduction by the editor provides an entertaining summary of Muir’s life and perspective on Muir’s influence on later mountaineers and on wilderness preservation. Some of the other commentary-style essays are not as interesting. I found the selections of Muir’s writing somewhat uneven as well. “Mountain Thoughts” is pure poetry in the best sense, and some tales of climbs without jacket, food, or modern equipment describe nearly impossible adventures excitingly. But some essays contain long passages that get boring, naming large numbers of plants with minimal descriptions—the fault of the editor, not of Muir himself, who wrote primarily for his own enjoyment and records.
In one very exciting essay by Samuel Hall Young, the author is rescued by Muir within a short distance of the summit of an Alaskan mountain after dislocating both shoulders in a fall. Young describes the rescue in great detail, how Muir must climb all the way around the mountaintop to access Young safely, singing all the while to calm his companion. Then Muir uses one hand and his teeth to grasp the injured man’s clothing and swing him onto a tiny ledge. The long descent is graphically described as is the difficult process of re-locating Young’s shoulders during and after the rescue. Even more telling is Muir’s essay on the same topic. Muir glosses over the details of his extreme rescue, presenting it as an unfortunate incident in which he acted as anyone would. He discreetly leaves out what Young reveals—that Young had dislocated his shoulders several times before and had purposely not told Muir prior to the climb, thinking rightly that Muir would not have allowed him to climb had he known.
This book is a worthwhile read for all John Muir fans, as some of the essays are sublime.
April 27, 2012
John Muir's greatest climbs by Graham White. Although most know about John Muir influence in the environmental movement and the protection of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, few realize was a great mountaineer he was. Climbing alone, his equipment was sparce. Some hard bread and a wool overcoat pretty much covered his food and sleeping situation.
He climbed Cathedral Peak, Whitney, Ritter and Mount Rainier without ropes or other modern methods of controlling risk. His exploits really cannot be duplicated today in the same style, because there was no element of the unknown. Most routes now are mapped in detail and have convenient access. Contrast that with hiking from Independence to the Whitney area (20 miles) and back again without any support after making the peak via the present day Mountaineer's Route. This is one tough undertaking, even with modern equipment and light food.
Also, Muir came up with the glacial theory for the formation of Yosemite Valley. Le Conte had more or less the same theoretical explanation as Muir. However Whitney and Clarance King saw Muir's glacial theory as the rantings of a shephard. Modern theory has come home to Le Conte and Muir. In any case, Sacred Summits is a collection of excellent stories, filled with the adventure
He climbed Cathedral Peak, Whitney, Ritter and Mount Rainier without ropes or other modern methods of controlling risk. His exploits really cannot be duplicated today in the same style, because there was no element of the unknown. Most routes now are mapped in detail and have convenient access. Contrast that with hiking from Independence to the Whitney area (20 miles) and back again without any support after making the peak via the present day Mountaineer's Route. This is one tough undertaking, even with modern equipment and light food.
Also, Muir came up with the glacial theory for the formation of Yosemite Valley. Le Conte had more or less the same theoretical explanation as Muir. However Whitney and Clarance King saw Muir's glacial theory as the rantings of a shephard. Modern theory has come home to Le Conte and Muir. In any case, Sacred Summits is a collection of excellent stories, filled with the adventure
September 4, 2024
In the absence of access to other writings by John Muir at my library, I picked up this book. I liked reading about John Muir instead of reading writing straight from his pen. It allows the reader to draw connections as to what those hikes and climbs are like today. The organization was at times a bit hard to follow, and the narratives between excerpts did not always draw neat connections, however.
November 7, 2012
A classic. The urge to return to the book is just an impetus to return to the outdoors.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews