The Wild Within: Climbing the world's most remote mountains

'All mountaineers develop differently. Some go higher, some try ever-steeper faces and others specialise in a particular range or region. I am increasingly drawn to remoteness – to places where few others have trod.' The Wild Within is the third book from Simon Yates, one of Britain's most accomplished and daring mountaineers. With his insatiable appetite for adventure and exploratory mountaineering, Yates leads unique expeditions to unclimbed peaks in the Cordillera Darwin in Tierra del Fuego, the Wrangell St-Elias ranges on the Alaska-Yukon border, and Eastern Greenland. Laced with dry humour, he relates his own experience of the rapid commercialisation of mountain wilderness, while grappling with his new-found commitments as a family man. At the same time he must endure his role in the film adaptation of Joe Simpson's Touching The Void, having to relive the events of that trip to Peru for a Hollywood director. Yates' subsequent escape to the some of the world's most remote mountains isn't quite the experience it once was, as he witnesses first hand the advance of modern communications into the wilderness, signalled by the ubiquitous mobile phone masts appearing in once-deserted mountain valleys. He is left to dwell on the remaining significance of mountain wilderness and must rediscover what the notion of 'wild' means for him now.

Table of Contents:
IntroductionCordillera Darwin – Tierra Del Fuego MapOne That’s Very AmbitiousTwo Not Very ProfessionalThree The Way of the GauchoFour All Your Front TeethFive Life is GoodSix More Like Being AbroadSeven It Might not be the HardestMilne Land – Eastern Greenland MapEight A Plane CrasherNine It’s Like PantomimeTen I’ll Never Do Anything BetterWrangell-St Elias Ranges – Alaska/Yukon MapEleven Not for the Faint-HeartedEpilogueAcknowledgements

About the Author :
Simon Yates is an internationally acclaimed mountaineer, adventurer and author who first came to prominence in 1985 after the first ascent of the West Face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes and the ensuing epic descent described in Joe Simpson's book Touching the Void. In a prolific career spanning over thirty years, Simon's climbing adventures have taken him west to east, from Alaska to Australia; and from north to south, from the Canadian Arctic to the tip of South America. He has climbed with many of Britain's leading mountaineers including Andy Cave, Mick Fowler, Andy Parkin, Paul Pritchard and Doug Scott, establishing many first ascents in the process. He is the author of two previous books, Against the Wall and The Flame of Adventure, both released to critical acclaim and the former finishing as runner-up for the prestigious Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature. The Wild Within, also shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Award, is his third book. Simon lives in Cumbria with his wife, son and daughter. When not writing and lecturing he runs his own expedition company, Mountain Dream.

Review :
"This book makes essential reading." (Simon Richardson, Climber magazine). "...a very good read, full of great stories and inspiration. It should be on the reading list of any budding expeditioneer." (Kenton Cool, Climb Magazine). "The Wild Within by Simon Yates is more than a standard mountaineering memoir. Yates is an insightful writer." (Lindsay Griffin, Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature). "In some ways The Wild Within is a lament for a lost world of wilderness and the reader leaves with a tinge of sadness that the world is so linked up, but it's also a celebration that the spirit of wilderness John Muir so eloquently described as being essential to the human soul. It's a big departure from previous books Against the Wall and The Flame of Adventure, but a departure that's more than succeeded." (Dave Mycroft, MyOutdoors.co.uk). "The Wild Within takes the reader to the outer limits of mountaineering experience and frames the journey in all its elemental power and mystery. The author's first book for Vertebrate can be considered a success. It can only further cement his reputation as a romantic wanderer and wilderness narrator." (John Appleby, Footless Crow). "Simon Yates has the rare ability to capture the reader's attention in the first few sentences and then to maintain interest until the very last sentence in the book. This personal tale of adventure and remarkable mountaineering skill is one that I couldn't put down until I had finished it!" (Joyce Wilson, Keswick Reminder).