Clawing for the Stars: A Solo Climber in the Highest Andes
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About this ebook
When most altitude climbers reach their mid-forties, they slow downbut for Bob Villarreal, these years marked the beginning of his climbing career rather than the end. At forty, he took a rock-climbing class, but it wasnt what he was looking for. In a moment of pure and life-changing serendipity, an article about climbing the Andes lit a new fire within him, and an obsession was born.
At that point, Bob retired from business and took up mountain climbing. He lost his heart to the staggering, raw, and wild beauty of the High Andes, returning there time and time again to challenge himself, almost always on his own. In defiance of the basic rules of wilderness exploration, Bob traveled solo, well aware that calamity was only one loose rock away and that his survival was never guaranteed.
One might wonder why anyone especially someone in middle age -- would climb alone in the Andes even once, let alone nineteen times (out of thirty total climbs). Its a question that Villarreal himself cant adequately answer. Was he in search of adventure, danger, or deeper meaning in his lifeand did he ever find his elusive purpose on the mountain?
This memoir recalls his perilous adventures on famous Andean peaks as well as mountains in the remotest parts of the Andes along the lengthy border between Chile and Argentina.
Bob Villarreal
Bob Villarreal acquired a passion for climbing in the Andes later in life and tells of his solo climbs in “Clawing for the Stars: A Solo Climber in the Highest Andes”. In this book, the “Prelude” to “Clawing”, he tells of the guided climbs that preceded his solo adventures. His interest in South America is wider than the mountains, however. He and his wife of fifty years adopted daughters from Pasto, Colombia, and Cuzco, Peru and see them and their grandchildren often. This fascination with Andean countries also led him to write about the conquest of the Incas, as told in his books, “The Adventure Chronicles of Conquistador Pedro de Mérida, Volume I: Almagro, Volume II: Valdivia, and Volume III: Pizarro”. Visit his book site at bobvillarreal.com.
Read more from Bob Villarreal
Clawing for the Stars: a Solo Climber in the Highest Andes: The Prelude: a Rendering of Mountains Ascended Before My Solo Andean Climbs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Adventure Chronicles of Conquistador Pedro De Mérida: Travels in Ancient Chile in the Years of Our Lord, 1535-1537, with Diego De Almagro (Volume I), 1540-1554, with Pedro De Valdivia (Volume Ii), and 1524-1550, with Francisco Pizarro in Peru and the Subsequent Spanish Civil War (Volume Iii) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Adventure Chronicles of Conquistador Pedro De Mérida: Volume 2: Valdivia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Adventure Chronicles of Conquistador Pedro De Mérida: Volume 1: Almagro Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
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