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Alone on the Wall (Expanded Edition)
- Narrated by: Andrew Eiden, Will Damron
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Sports
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afew bits here and there but very good
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The Push by Tommy Caldwell
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afew bits here and there but very good
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Hans Florine is a big-wall climbing legend in his own time. He holds the speed record on the Nose route of El Capitan, a 3,000-foot granite cliff in Yosemite Valley that's considered the Everest of the rock-climbing world. But Florine's story is not one of super-human athletic prowess; it's one of persistence and dogged determination. In 30 years of climbing, he's ascended the Nose a mind-blowing, death-defying 100 times, more than anyone else ever has, and most likely ever will. In On the Nose, Florine describes the most dangerous, pivotal, and inspirational of those climbs.
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The story behind the story - very good
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Training for the Uphill Athlete translates theory into methodology to allow you to write your own training plans and coach yourself to endurance goals. Steve House, one of the best mountaineers, and his coach Scott Johnston, an Olympic-level cross country ski coach, along with Kilian Jornet, hands down best endurance athlete at this time, present training principles for the multisport mountain athlete who regularly participates in a mix of distance running, ski mountaineering, and other endurance sports that require optimum fitness and customized strength.
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No PDF Attachment
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There are still dark corners of our planet that are yet to be explored. In this remarkable book, Steve Backshall offers an unflinching account of his adventures into these uncharted territories around the globe, in search of world firsts. Each location brings its own epic challenges - whether it's the first climb of an arctic ice fall in Greenland, the first recorded navigation of a South American river, or the first exploration of the world’s longest cave system in Mexico. But all of them represent new tests of the limits of human endeavour.
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Inspirational!
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One of the inspirations for the major motion picture Everest, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Keira Knightley. This is the true story of a 24-hour period on Everest when members of three separate expeditions were caught in a storm and faced a battle against hurricane-force winds, exposure, and the effects of altitude, which ended the worst single-season death toll in the peak's history.
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Exceeded expectations
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Summary
Includes two new chapters on Alex Honnold's free solo ascent of the iconic 3,000-foot El Capitan in Yosemite National Park
On June 3rd, 2017, Alex Honnold became the first person to free solo Yosemite's El Capitan - to scale the wall without rope, a partner, or any protective gear - completing what was described as "the greatest feat of pure rock climbing in the history of the sport" (National Geographic) and "one of the great athletic feats of any kind, ever" (New York Times). Already one of the most famous adventure athletes in the world, Honnold has now been hailed as "the greatest climber of all time" (Vertical magazine).
Alone on the Wall recounts the most astonishing achievements of Honnold's extraordinary life and career, brimming with lessons on living fearlessly, taking risks, and maintaining focus even in the face of extreme danger. Now Honnold tells, for the first time and in his own words, the story of his three hours and 56 minutes on the sheer face of El Cap, which Outside called "the moon landing of free soloing.... A generation-defining climb. Bad ass and beyond words.... One of the pinnacle sporting moments of all time."
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What listeners say about Alone on the Wall (Expanded Edition)
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- aymerand dupuy
- 26-09-20
Shame Alex didn’t narrated
Shame Alex didn’t narrated great book otherwise. What a fascinating human being. Was worth any minute.
1 person found this helpful
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- Veli-Pekka Suuronen
- 06-10-20
Interesting character, lacks something
Alex Honnold is a hero for me and a very interesting character. The book, however, feels slightly like somewhat disconnected stories glued together, but still interesting. Performance is good, but I would have liked Alex to read his parts himself.
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- Kindle Customer
- 07-08-20
great book read well.
always nervous of autobiography books not read by who there about/written by. this one's great, the reader become the voice.
great story and added allot to those who have seen the docs.
I liked
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- Lance Johnson
- 04-04-20
A daredevil's survival guide
Meet Alex.
He is not like you and me. Or even most climbers.
He is an intense wall climber often climbing cliffs thousands of feet high without a rope. He may only be stuck to a wall by just the tip of his fingers, and the margin of error is very low, such that if he slips - he is going to fall and meet his maker.
Why should you be nervous?
Because many experienced good climbers die from time to time. Most of us if just for a moment were in Alex position for even a moment on a cliff- we would be freaking out.
Now before I begin - I would like to add that what Alex does requires for you to have a few screws loose - mentally. The part which deals with fear in his brain is not working properly, and it takes a lot more than the average person to activate. I think this may be inherited from his weird parents. His dad (he has passed away) was said to have a form of Asperger(which Alex may also have), but that what was said by his ex-wife.
According to the documentary "Free Solo" love was not openly expressed in the house, who knows this could be made up for the purpose of making the documentary more interesting.
The book deals with his stories of how he became a climber and how he started to take up Free Soloing(climbing without a rope). What's important to note is Alex no fool - whenever he undertakes a task to free solo - he will spend many months learning and getting used to the wall (while using a rope) to become familiar - such that when he actually free solos he is walking through a routine that he has climbed with a rope and never fell off. So he just does the same and follows the steps. He abandoned a free solo of el-Capitain when his instincts told him, and he listened.
This book teaches you about the intense sport of climbing and what it takes. As I said Alex needs a lot to activate the part of his brain to experience fear and possibly also pleasure. It is for this reason that I believe he does this.
This is a great book to listen to and gives you insight into the way these mountain climbers think.
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- Anonymous User
- 22-03-20
MIND-BLOWING! TO THE MAX AND PADDY.
Edge of the seat all the way AMAZING! Alex Honnold is a living Legend WOWCHA
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- RonanFromEire
- 31-12-19
Great book
Being a Honnold fan I was always going to enjoy this book....but I got even more than expected. Really great insight into the guy and his climbing. highly recommend.
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- charlie
- 04-11-19
Great storytelling
Whilst the plot is not that elaborate it is absolutely gripping. Probably enjoyed more by by those with a basic climbing knowledge but you don’t have to be an expert to appreciate Alex’s super human abilities.
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- Jake G
- 12-07-19
Boring
Feels like half the dialogue is just the number ratings of every pitch ever climbed “5.14” “5.10a” blah blah. Film is good, book is boring
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- Pablo Lema
- 10-11-19
Surprisingly Slow Read
What could have been an exhilarating journey, was a surprisingly bum read with way too much filler. This could be a fun read at three chapters long. Disappointing.
A damn boring read.
3 people found this helpful
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- Kimberly
- 19-12-20
Boring, ended up disliking Alex Honnold
I'd you are a climber and can really truly appreciate technical climbing language then you may be able to hang on and finish book just to read about Alex's climbing feats. If you are a just a reader of outdoor non- fiction who loves to learn about other adventure sports and exciting outdoor stories, don't waste your time. There are a lot of stories that may be exciting If you are a climber, but the writer fails to make them seem so or even make me care what will happen to the individuals in the experience. I ended up not finishing and skipping around since overall, I ended up with an actual dislike for Alex, the main subject. Found him selfish and inhuman most of the time, at least from the perspective of the book. Although to be fair, people who are " genius" in their own field often come off that way whether or not they are. Overall boring and uninspiring to a non rock climber.
2 people found this helpful
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- Polly
- 25-01-21
Meh
The narrator for 'Alex' is incredibly obnoxious and doesn't seem to understand his personality at all. I gave up because of that. While Alex might not be for everyone, in this book, he comes off as a self-entitled a#*$ole, rather than a person who really has no filter. For climbers who have been paying attention, there is also very little new information, so far as I have read, which you wouldn't already know.
1 person found this helpful
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- Daniel
- 30-08-20
Last few chapters were great
I enjoyed this book, but it was a little confusing with different narrators. I saw the movie Free Solo and this book doesn't bring anything new although it gave a more in depth view of the mind of Alex. All in all a nice book.
1 person found this helpful
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- Spencer treadaway
- 16-04-21
amazing!
alex is a very special person and his book confirms it! I love this book and would recommend it to anyone!
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- Anonymous User
- 29-03-21
Alex Hannlove
Alex Hannlove is an insanely talented guy we're lucky to have him. Never read the push by tommy caldwell.
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- Anonymous User
- 07-02-21
Not bad
Firstly the narrarator makes Alex sound very arragont and full of himself, which judging by interviews that I have seen, doesn't seem to be the case. Secondly if you are not familiar with climbing jargon and know climbing spots it is difficult to follow with a lot of technical language being used. Interesting story, but glad I didn't pay for it.
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- TerriSW
- 09-12-20
nicely done. amazing and hard to believe
the most amazing thing about a solo of the captain is it will be outdone, but how?
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- Allie Raines
- 06-10-20
Good book, bad narrating
Wish the guy reading for Alex didn’t sound so damn douchey. After listening to actual Alex on some podcasts and knowing how douchey he ISN’T, this reader takes a lot away from Alex’s story.
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- Bourke MacDonald
- 10-09-20
Great insight of adventure climber Alex Honnold’s mindset
The book does a nice job of detailing Alex’s unorthodox rise to a climbing phenom. I also like how the story is told at times from Alex. He has an interesting perspective. The free solo on El Cap is exciting. You don’t need to be into climbing to learn from this read.