Adrift in a life without risk or surprise and with a burning desire to make some sense of his place in the world, Alastair Vere Nicoll dived into the unknown. Leaving the security of friends, work and a wife, he joined a team of young men to harness the katabatic winds and haul and kite-surf across Antarctica: the coldest, windiest, most violent continent on earth. For Alastair, Antarctica was a land of legend and mystery, the ultimate test of strength, endurance and bravery; a place where he might feed his restlessness and find meaning in the emptiness. Not since Shackleton had nearly perished attempting the same thing in his Endurance expedition had such a crossing been attempted. This is the story of the first West to East traverse of the continent of Antarctica and of a race against time as Alastair fought to get home for the birth of his first child. Told with honesty and wisdom and adorned with some bewitching descriptions of Antarctica, "Riding the Ice Wind" is a compelling and subtly important book for our times.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
'A remarkable journey in the footsteps of Roald Amundsen, the first man to the South Pole. Riding the Ice Wind is a thoroughly engaging and personal story that makes the mental landscape of a polar expedition relevant to the myriad decisions and struggles we face in real life - and from which we often wish to escape.' - Sir Ranulph Fiennes; 'This is a heart-led account of one of the longest, hardest polar journeys of recent years. It is a testament that enduring hardship isn't about bravado but about a quiet, at times faltering, daily decision to endure.' - Bear Grylls, Born Survivor, Man vs. Wild; 'It's extremely heartening to discover, through a text that is beautifully and powerfully written, that a younger generation of adventurers has got what it takes - and more. They prove themselves worthy successors to their heroes, Amundsen, Shackleton and Scott.' - John Hare, author of The Lost Camels of Tartary; 'An original and compelling book that really gets into the psyche of adventure and the conflict between the call of responsibility and the desire for freedom. I thoroughly enjoyed it.' - Jonny Bealby, Wild Frontiers
Auflage
Rebrand to Tauris Parke on reprint
Sprache
Verlagsort
Verlagsgruppe
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Illustrationen
17 colour in 8pp 4/4 plate section, 1 map
Maße
Höhe: 234 mm
Breite: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-84885-306-5 (9781848853065)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Alastair Vere Nicoll runs a renewable energy business and lives in London with his wife and two children. This is his first book.
Foreword by Bear Grylls
Introduction
Chapter 1: Beginnings
Chapter 2: Flaubert's Parrot
Chapter 3: A New Life
Chapter 4: Altered Reality
Chapter 5: Constructing the Creature
Chapter 6: There but still Nowhere
Chapter 7: Family Matters
Chapter 8: Fly on my Wind
Chapter 9: A New Horizon
Chapter 10: The Icefall
Chapter 11: The Layer Cake
Chapters 12: Down and Out
Chapter 13: Silence Valley
Chapter 14: The Sword of Damocles
Chapter 15: Difficult Decisions
Chapters 16: It's all in the Mind
Chapter 17: Uncontactable
Chapter 18: Divide and Rule
Chapters 19: Heat Miser
Chapter 20: Travelling without Moving
Chapter 21: The South Pole
Chapters 22: Leaving the End of the Earth
Chapter 23: North
Chapter 24: The Winds of Change
Chapters 25: Touching the Void
Chapter 26: Mutability
Chapter 27: The Final Burst
Chapter 28: An End and a Beginning
Epilogue
