Learning to Fly
An Uncommon Memoir of Human Flight, Unexpected Love, and One Amazing Dog
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- 13,99 €
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- 13,99 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
World-class free climber Steph Davis delivers a “thrilling and infectiously interesting” (San Francisco Book Review) memoir about rediscovering herself through love, loss, and the joy of letting go.
Steph Davis is a superstar in the climbing community and has ascended some of the world’s most awe-inspiring peaks. But when her husband makes a controversial climb in a national park, the media fallout—and the toll it takes on her marriage—suddenly leaves her without a partner, a career, a source of income…or a purpose.
In the company of only her beloved dog, Fletch, Davis sets off on a search for a new identity and discovers skydiving. Falling out of an airplane is completely antithetical to the climber’s control she’d practiced for so long, but she perseveres, turning each daring jump into an opportunity to fly, first as a skydiver, then as a base jumper. As she opens herself to falling, she also finds the strength to open herself to love again, even in the wake of heartbreak. And before too long, she meets someone who shares her passion for living life to the limit.
With gorgeous black-and-white photos throughout, Learning to Fly is Davis’s fascinating account of her transformation. From her early tentative skydives, to zipping into her first wingsuit, to surviving devastating accidents against the background of breathtaking cliffs, to soaring beyond her past limits, she discovers new hope and joy in letting go.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Everything in professional rock climber Davis's world livelihood, home, marriage becomes upended in an instant when her husband legally climbs an arch (the famous rock on Utah's license plate) and gets on the very bad side of a national news story. After the Park Service, angry at the publicity her husband receives for his daring ascents, launches a federal investigation to determine the legality of climbing the arch, they lose their biggest sponsors, their reputations are in shambles, and their troubled relationship falls apart. Davis writes with honesty and bravery about the sudden devastation and her painful and intensive recovery. In the aftermath Davis decides to learn to skydive. She'd tried tandem jumping once, but hated depending on others. Instead she enrolls in a free-fall course on her wedding anniversary and on her first jump feels a lightness she thought had been permanently lost. In a matter of weeks, she goes from complete novice to jumping solo. In becoming a skydiver and realizing how little she can control, she learns to trust herself again, lets go of her need for total self-reliance, and finds renewal. Although there is a fair amount of climbing and skydiving jargon, Davis's philosophy of facing one's fears will strike a chord with readers.
