The Longest Climb: Back from the Abyss

(Paperback)

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An inspiring, moving, and unblinking view of a battered climber who refuses to turn his back on the mountains.

Born in Bolton, England, Paul Pritchard started climbing when he was 16 years old. In time, he became one of the foremost British climbers of the 1980s and 1990s, climbing difficult routes across the United Kingdom and around the world, including the East Face of Central Tower in Torres del Paine, Patagonia, the first ascent of the West Face of Mount Asgard on Baffin Island, Trango Tower in northern Pakistan, and multiple attempts on the then-unclimbed Shark's Fin on Meru Peak, in the Indian Himalayan region.

On Friday, February 13, 1998, Paul's life was dramatically altered when he was struck in the head by a falling boulder while climbing the Totem Pole, a slender sea stack off the coast of Tasmania. He received a traumatic head injury and was left suffering from hemiplegia, which has robbed his right side of movement and continues to play tricks with his speech and memory.

A remarkable story that highlights life's surprising gifts and crucial lessons, The Longest Climb chronicles Paul's inspiring journey back to life and reminds us all that When we spend time in the mountains, we do not escape from our woes. We come home and learn how to accept them.

Author Bio

Paul Pritchard is an award-winning author, respected mountaineer, and internationally renowned public speaker. Along with giving keynote presentations around the world, he is a major supporter of charities such as Headway, a UK-wide charity that works to improve life after brain injury, and the Upendo Leprosy Centre in Tanzania. Paul is a patron of Hemihelp, a UK-based organization that gives support to parents and caregivers with a disabled child aged from birth to 25, and the Llanberis Mountain Film Festival. He is the author of three books, Deep Play: Climbing the World's Most Dangerous Routes, The Totem Pole, and The Mountain Path: A Climber's Journey Through Life and Death, and has won the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature on two occasions and the grand prize at the Banff Mountain Book Festival. Paul lives in Hobart, Tasmania. Warren Macdonald is an Australian environmentalist, explorer, mountain climber, internationally renowned motivational speaker, and writer. In 2003, he became the first double above-knee amputee to reach the summit of Africa's tallest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro. Later that same year, in a spectacular effort requiring more than 2,800 pull-ups over four days, he climbed America's tallest cliff face, El Capitan. Warren is also the only above-knee amputee to make an ascent of Canada's landmark frozen waterfall, the 600-foot-tall Weeping Wall in Alberta. He is the author of the bestselling book, A Test of Will. Warren lives in Canmore, Alberta, with his partner, Margo Talbot.