I've been an a major outdoor reading kick for the past month. It all started with our bookclub's January selection, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, a senior contributor to Outside Magazine. Into Thin Air is Krakauer's first person account of the 1996 Everest disaster. I'd read the book several years ago, but decided to re-read it - I had forgotten many of the key events.
Within the climbing world (and Alaska, and our bookclub), it is an extremely controversial book. But, I was totally hooked when I read it a second time. I got re-bit hard and deeply by the outdoors bug - and particularly by the extreme outdoors bug.
So, within quick succession I've read High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places by David Breashears, the leader of 1996 IMAX Everest filming expedition that was on the mountain when the diaster occured. A wonderful book that charts Breashears life and his climbing passion.
Next was Himalyan Quest: Ed Viesturs on the 8,000 Meter Giants, a National Geographic book by Ed Viesturs. A marvelous climbing book with amazing photographs.
Currently, I'm reading Rowing to Latitude: Journeys Along the Arctic's Edge by Jill Fredston - an Alaskan. I love this book - Jill does a magnificient job of capturing what wild Alaska and the Arctic is all about. This book is also a lot of fun for me because I know several of the people she writes about.
I want to be able to do physical things again. I want to ski. I want to hike. I want to road and mountain bike. I want to start climbing. I want to re-experience doing extreme physical actvities in wilderness solitude.
All of this has inspired me to take yet another run at figuring out what's wrong with me - on the health front. There are of course other issues that are beyond hope of fixing. But, I want to get past what is causing my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I want to be active again.
9:37:49 PM 
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