Wild Country: The man who made Friends
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Shortlisted: 2016 Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature
‘[Wild Country] chronicles not just the mountains [Mark] has climbed, but the part he played in bringing to market a little piece of sporting equipment that revolutionised mountaineering and saved countless lives.’ – Sarah Freeman, Yorkshire Post
In early 1978, an extraordinary new invention for rock climbers was featured on the BBC television science show Tomorrow’s World. It was called the ‘Friend’, and it not only made the sport safer, it helped push the limits of the possible. The company that made them was called Wild Country, the brainchild of Mark Vallance. Within six months, Vallance was selling Friends in sixteen countries. Wild Country would go on to develop much of the gear that transformed climbing in the 1980s.
Mark Vallance’s influence on the outdoor world extends far beyond the company he founded. He owned and opened the influential retailer Outside in the Peak District and was part of the team that built The Foundry, Sheffield’s premier climbing wall – the first modern climbing gym in Britain. He worked for the Peak District National Park and served on its board. He even found time to climb 8,000-metre peaks and the Nose on El Capitan. Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in his mid fifties and robbed of his plans for retirement, Vallance found a new sense of purpose as a reforming president of the British Mountaineering Council.
In Wild Country, Vallance traces his story, from childhood influences like Robin Hodgkin and Sir Jack Longland, to two years in Antarctica, where he was base commander of the UK’s largest and most southerly scientific station at Halley Bay, before his fateful meeting with Ray Jardine, the man who invented Friends, in Yosemite.
Trenchant, provocative and challenging, Wild Country is a remarkable personal story and a fresh perspective on the role of the outdoors in British life and the development of climbing in its most revolutionary phase.
Related to Wild Country
Related ebooks
Zen Between Two Bicycle Wheels: Eat, Pedal, Sleep: Baby Boomers Bicycling America’s West Coast Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThat Untravelled World: The autobiography of a pioneering mountaineer and explorer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThieves, Liars and Mountaineers: On the 8,000m peak circus in Pakistan: Footsteps on the Mountain Diaries Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Tower: A Chronicle of Climbing and Controversy on Cerro Torre Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Efi-- Every Foot and Inch: One Mans Adventure Riding a Bicycle Across America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Climbing in the Dolomites - A Collection of Historical Mountaineering and Rock Climbing Articles on the Peaks of Italy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Simpson Incident: And Other Climbing Misadventures Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bold and Cold: A History of 25 Classic Climbs in the Canadian Rockies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSydney Hobart Yacht Race: The story of a sporting icon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Overland Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBearback: The World Overland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Overlander: One man's epic race to cross Australia Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Emilio Comici: Angel of the Dolomites Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Brilliant Outsider Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summit Fever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Be Brave, My Life: Royal Robbins Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ten Toe Express: A Daily Journal of a 5,000 Mile Hike Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeyond the Mountain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master of Thin Air: Life and Death on the World's Highest Peaks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yosemite In the Sixties Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Among Secret Beauties: A Memoir of Mountaineering in New Zealand and Himalayas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSacred Summits: Kangchenjunga, the Carstensz Pyramid, and Gauri Sankar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One Day as a Tiger: Alex MacIntyre and the Birth of Light and Fast Alpinism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rowboat in a Hurricane: My Amazing Journey Across a Changing Atlantic Ocean Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Should I Not Return: The most controversial tragedy in the history of North American mountaineering! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learning to Fly: An Uncommon Memoir of Human Flight, Unexpected Love, and One Amazing Dog Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Beckoning Silence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Baruntse Adventure: In the Footsteps of Hillary across East Nepal: Footsteps on the Mountain Diaries Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Business Biographies For You
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, 3rd Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elon Musk Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Confessions of a Bookseller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun?: How Reginald Lewis Created a Billion-Dollar Business Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Same as Ever: Timeless Lessons on Risk, Opportunity and Living a Good Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Uncanny Valley: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mortuary Confidential: Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hidden Genius: The secret ways of thinking that power the world’s most successful people Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sex Cult Nun: Breaking Away from the Children of God, a Wild, Radical Religious Cult Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jimmy Buffett: A Good Life All the Way Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Claim Your Confidence: Unlock Your Superpower and Create the Life You Want Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Bitcoin Billionaires: A True Story of Genius, Betrayal, and Redemption Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Barbie and Ruth: The Story of the World's Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School (Review and Analysis of McCormack's Book) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (A Little) Craziness and (A Lot of) Success in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Crazy Rich: Power, Scandal, and Tragedy Inside the Johnson & Johnson Dynasty Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Marathon Don't Stop: The Life and Times of Nipsey Hussle Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Authentic: A Memoir by the Founder of Vans Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Education of a Value Investor: My Transformative Quest for Wealth, Wisdom, and Enlightenment Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5More Than a Hobby: How a $600 Startup Became America's Home and Craft Superstore Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Wild Country
0 ratings0 reviews