No Limits But the Sky

This anthology collects the most riveting, real-life adventure stories from America’s oldest mountaineering and conservation journal, Appalachia. Each of these essays, published from 1877 to the present, chronicles a tale of explorers who push the limits—of endurance, weather, altitude, or personal achievement. Some of these explorers make history, such as the first American climber to ascend Kilimanjaro in 1932; others, such as the leader of an 1895 team attempting a first ascent of Canada’s Mount Lefroy, never return.

Freak accidents, legendary perseverance, and singularly colorful personalities and climbing luminaries such as Bradford Washburn, Elizabeth Knowlton, and Fritz Wiessner all figure into this fascinating, illustrated collection. 


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Christine Woodside has been Editor-in-Chief of Appalachia journal since 2006. She is a writer and editor specializing in environment and energy issues, and mountain adventure. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, the journal Nature Climate Change, and the Yale Forum on Climate Change and the Media. Chris was a newspaper reporter or editor for 18 years and covered environmental issues for The Day of New London, Connecticut. She has thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail and volunteers as a trail maintainer in Connecticut, where she lives.

 

PRAISE

“You can’t spend absolutely every day in the mountains (at least at my age). So for the days when you sit by the fire, you need this book—especially if you have a spot in your heart reserved for the peaks of the great Northeast!”

—Bill McKibben, author of Wandering Home

 

“No Limits But the Sky is a treasure. This collection of stories from over a century of mountain adventures captures the richness of the climbing life and the wild and varied lineage of all who wander out into the hills.”

—Sarah Garlick, climber and award-winning science and nature writer

 

“No Limits But the Sky takes the reader on a trek through more than a century of Appalachia, with authors ranging from world-renowned to little-known. All share a passion for mountains and an unquenchable thirst for adventure. Locales vary from mighty K2 to modest Mount Crescent—the scale of the peaks varies, but the spirit of the authors is invariably high.”

—Peter Crane, Curator, Mount Washington Observatory

 

“If you share my passion for mountain adventure, No Limits But the Sky is a must-read. This is mountain writing at its absolute best.”

—Mark Synnott, AMGA-certified mountain guide, founder of Synnott Mountain Guides, author of Baffin Island: Climbing, Trekking, and Skiing