Mountaineering involves minimal summit glory, time-wise. Usually it鈥檚 a lot of slow slogs and watching for weather windows. On big expeditions, climbers can spend just as much time waiting and kicking around camp as they do climbing. They learn the importance of patience鈥攁nd the power of bringing a good book. We asked some folks who spend a lot of time in the mountains what they read when they鈥檙e stuck in the tent, waiting for the clouds to clear.
Adrian Ballinger
鈥淧odcasts and my Kindle are the two ways I pass time when I鈥檓 tent-bound,鈥 says Adrian Ballinger, who summited Everest without oxygen in 2017 and was the first person to ski off the top of Manaslu. Ballinger gravitates toward newsy nonfiction, like , a memoir by Alyssa Mastromonaco, President Obama鈥檚 White House deputy chief of staff, and , psychotherapist Esther Perel鈥檚 book about relationships and infidelity. Recently, he read and loved , Nick Bilton鈥檚 book on Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road.
Doug Robinson
If you end up in the mountains with Doug Robinson, the first president of the AMGA, writer, and father of clean climbing, there鈥檚 a good chance he鈥檒l have a hard copy of a Jim Harrison book in his pack. 鈥淚鈥檓 an unreasonably big fan,鈥 Robinson says. 鈥淚 read him not just for his whimsy and piercing insights, but frankly, , to cop moves.鈥 Robinson聽just finished rereading , Harrison鈥檚 last book of novellas, and says he never worries about getting stuck out in the middle of nowhere with only a single Harrison book. 鈥淚鈥檒l often read one, then turn around to the first page again, which may say more about me than it does about the books.鈥
Holly Morris
Filmmaker Holly Morris, who is on her way to the North Pole, filming an , has been reading Rumi in her tent. 鈥淗is poetry goes down easy and with an inspirational chaser,鈥 Morris says. 鈥淎nyone who takes on indie filming at minus 39 degrees on treacherous Arctic sea ice needs some spiritual go-to.鈥 Morris also bucks up by reading works by past explorers, like Freya Stark, whose books like chronicled her travels around the Middle East in the 1930s, into places few westerners, and no western women, had been before. 鈥淪tark was a formidable diva who did not let political unrest, language barriers, or age daunt her,鈥 Morris says.
Tyrhee Moore
Mountaineer and outdoor educator Tyrhee Moore, who was a member of the , says he鈥檚 been too consumed with the news cycle to dive into a book lately, even when he鈥檚 on a climb. 鈥淭here鈥檚 so much day-to-day information to keep up with,鈥 Moore says. When he needs a break from that, Moore works on his skills and keeps his hands busy. 鈥淚 have a that I share with my tent mate to work on different knots that could be useful during our trip,鈥 he says. Also鈥攁nd this is not a plug鈥擬oore is into the 国产吃瓜黑料 鈥淪cience of Survival鈥 podcast.
Leif Whittaker
Leif Whittaker wrote a nonfiction book called , about his relationship with mountaineering and with his father, Jim, the first American to summit Everest. But when he鈥檚 in the mountains, Whittaker leans toward the fictional and escapist. 鈥淪ci-fi books seem to make it into my bag quite often,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 like something entertaining and well-written with small print and thin pages.鈥 Whittaker will also bring books about the places he鈥檚 visiting. On a recent trip to Nepal, he brought James Ramsey Ullman鈥檚 .