With heart-pounding descriptions of avalanches and treacherous ascents, Barry Blanchard chronicles his transformation from an unhealthy Local American/white kid from the wrong side of the tracks to one of the most respected alpinists in the globe. At thirteen, he learned to rappel when he became a member of the 1292 Lord Strathcone’s Equine Army Cadets. Soon kicked out for insubordination, he was already addicted to climbing and noticed alpinism in an effort to make his solitary mother happy and end his family’s routine of about The Phoning: A Existence Rocked by Mountains poverty. He describes early climbs attempted with nothing at all to steer him but written trail descriptions and the cajones of youth. He slowly acquires the skills, equipment and companions necessary to deal with more and more difficult climbs, further and further afield: throughout the Canadian Rockies, into Alaska and the French Alps and on to Everest, Peru, as well as the demanding mountains in Pakistan. From each he learns lessons that just nature and extreme endeavor can teach. This is actually the story of the culture of climbing in the times of punk rock, spurred on by the rhythm of adrenaline as well as the arrogance of youngsters. Additionally it is a portrait of the power from the mountains to lift us – actually, emotionally, intellectually,