I'm a sucker for wilderness adventure nonfiction. The best-known titles I've read include Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air and Into The Wild, as well as Ernest Shackelton's diaries from his Endurance expedition to Antarctica in the early 20th century. I've read lots of stuff you're less likely to have heard of, too. And nothing gets my juices flowing like a story that involves canoeing and kayaking.
Wickliffe W. "Wick" Walker was among the top whitewater racers in the U.S. in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Following a career in the elite military forces, he became one of the world's leading organizers of wilderness whitewater expeditions, his best-known of which was a foray into the forbidden Tsangpo Gorge in the eastern Himalaya in the fall of 1998, an undertaking that ended in the tragic death of kayaker Doug Gordon. Walker's account of that expedition, Courting the Diamond Sow, was published in 2000.
I had a chance to meet Wick Walker in 2007, when we both attended the whitewater slalom nationals at Deep Creek, Maryland. I don't think we spoke for more than a few minutes, but I made sure to share my appreciation of Courting the Diamond Sow. I found him to be quite an unassuming, down-to-earth soul and it was hard to believe I was speaking to a giant of global exploration.
Walker now has a new book out, and my copy is pictured above. Torrents As Yet Unknown is a collection of accounts of adventures in remote river gorges that took place in the second half of the 20th century, including Walker's own Tsangpo expedition. It's a fascinating look into the personalities, the challenges they faced, and the evolution of the technology used in the exploration of Planet Earth.
You can find Torrents As Yet Unknown in the usual online places--Amazon and Borders and so on. Of course, I encourage everyone to support his or her cool local bookshop whenever possible.
For more information on what this blog is about, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment