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Fifty Percent of Mountaineering is Uphill

The Life of Canadian Mountain Rescue Pioneer Willi Pfisterer

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Winner of the 2017 Alberta Readers' Choice Award!

Fifty Percent of Mountaineering Is Uphill is the enthralling true story of Jasper's Willi Pfisterer, a legend in the field of mountaineering and safety in the Rocky Mountains. For more than thirty years, Willi was an integral part of Jasper's alpine landscape, guiding climbers up to the highest peaks, and rescuing them from perilous situations. Originally from Austria, this mountain man came to Canada in the 1950s to assail the Rockies, and stayed to become an integral part of mountain safety in Western Canada and the Yukon.

His daughter, Susanna Pfisterer, has shaped his stories and lectures as an engaging and educational adventure story that features over 100 archival photographs, including avalanches in the National Parks, highlights from climbing 1,600 peaks and participating in over 700 rescues, and guiding adventures with prime ministers. Accompanied by the humorous wisdom of the "Sidehillgouger," readers will traverse an historical and spectacular terrain.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      March 6, 2017
      Reading alpine rescue legend Willi Pfisterer’s memoir, lovingly pieced together by his daughter after his death in 2010 at age 83, readers will gain respect for the incredible power of nature, with its towering mountains, terrifying avalanches, and fast-changing glaciers. They will also appreciate Pfisterer’s contributions to Canadian mountaineering safety and rescue. Part memoir and part history lesson, the narrative is harrowing and moving, particularly when detailing rescues that didn’t succeed. As the book recounts the Austria-born mountaineer’s various duties in western Canadian parks, readers get to know him, sharing his close calls, his son’s death in an avalanche, and the first time he “had to stand back and let someone else go ahead.” He said that questions about why he climbed mountains baffled him: “In Austria, we never asked why. It was just part of what we did, part of our culture.” His courageous and daring rescues make for a great read.

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  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

Languages

  • English

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