To The Summit
A Woman's Journey Into the Mountains to Find Her Soul
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- USD 2.99
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- USD 2.99
Descripción editorial
This is the true story of one woman's remarkable journey from self-doubt and despair to the top of the world—a moving and inspiring tale of exhilarating adventure...and the astonishing strength of the human spirit.
In 1986 Margo Chisholm entered recovery after many years of a life-threatening addiction to alcohol, cocaine and laxatives which nearly destroyed her—physically, mentally, and spiritually. In 1988, healthy and fit once again, she climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro to celebrate her 40th birthday, her sobriety, (and to bring closure to a long-time fascination with high mountains).
Standing on the summit of Kilimanjaro, in the cold, clear beauty of sunrise at 19,000 feet, a box of dreams she didn’t know she had exploded and revealed a passion for climbing high mountains. This passion led to the dream of being the first woman to climb the Seven Summits, the highest mountain on each of the seven continents.
Spurred by her newborn love affair with the world's loftiest peaks and most beautiful and inaccessible places, Margo met some of the toughest challenges and conditions Nature could provide. Following the invitation of her heart, this ordinary middle-aged woman with no formal mountaineering training and no previous experience took on increasingly greater climbing challenges as she pursued more difficult and dangerous summits.
In order to face these outside, physical challenges, Margo also dived deeply into the internal depths and dark places that had hidden behind her addictions for so many years. And somewhere along the way—amid magnificent wildernesses of towering pinnacles and breathtaking, ice-covered vistas—Margo Chisholm realized she had reached a summit deep within herself; a place in the heart and soul where she discovered the pride, fulfillment and inner peace she had always longed for. To The Summit: A Woman’s Journey into the Mountains to Find Her Soul is a vivid telling of an ordinary woman following her dream of climbing all over the world, of her experiences on those climbs and of the life-changing moments that can happen when dreams are pursued.
This is the 20th anniversary edition of To The Summit, available in ebook format only. It contains the original text, many additional photographs, an added Introduction by the author and new Foreword by Helen Wilton, Base Camp Manager for Rob Hall’s ’93, ’95, and fateful ’96 Everest expeditions and Skip Horner, Margo’s good friend and climbing mentor.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Is it a sensational motivational goal or a death wish when a long-term food, alcohol and drug addict commits herself to climb seven of the world's greatest summits? Chisholm was taking 60 to 90 laxatives a day when she checked into an obesity clinic in 1986. Eighteen months later, with the help of a 12-Step program, fitness counseling and psychotherapy, she trained for and climbed Mt. Kenya. In 1992, she tackled Everest. This memoir, written with an assist from Bruce, a founder of the Writing Center of San Diego, is a stirring account of the mental and physical challenges Chisholm faced during her six-year conquest of the mountains. A well-kept journal of travel to faraway places, it depicts with affection base-camp culture and the society of high-altitude climbers. Descriptions of Chisholm's ascents are thrilling, and accounts of her inner struggles are candid. At 21,000 feet, under conditions of bone-chilling temperature and low oxygen, the need for Chisholm to accurately assess her mental and physical states became imperative. Throughout the book, the language of recovery and introspection serves as a refrain that often compromises the momentum of the adventure. Those who struggle over abstinence should value the techniques Chisholm used to overcome addiction, however, and will appreciate the self-help aspects of her story. But Chisholm's tale has a wider appeal, as does her message: don't hobble toward health-climb a mountain. Photos not seen by PW. 60,000 first printing; major ad/promo; author tour.
