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The Impossible Climb
- Alex Honnold, El Capitan, and the Climbing Life
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Sports & Outdoors, Outdoors & Nature
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 107
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On January 14, 2015, Tommy Caldwell, along with his partner, Kevin Jorgeson, summited what is widely regarded as the hardest climb in history - Yosemite’s nearly vertical 3,000-foot Dawn Wall, after 19 days on the route. This engrossing memoir chronicles the journey of a boy with a fanatical mountain-guide father who was determined to instill toughness in his son to a teen whose obsessive nature drove him to the top of the sport-climbing circuit.
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- Mystery, Obsession, and Death on Mount Everest
- Written by: Mark Synnott
- Narrated by: Steve Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 10
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A hundred-year mystery lured veteran climber Mark Synnott into an unlikely expedition up Mount Everest during the spring 2019 season that came to be known as “the Year Everest Broke”. What he found was a gripping human story of impassioned characters from around the globe and a mountain that will consume your soul - and your life - if you let it.
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5 out of 5 stars
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great
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- Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain
- Written by: Ed Viesturs, David Roberts
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 24
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 20
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 20
In K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain, Viesturs explores the remarkable history of the mountain and of those who have attempted to conquer it. At the same time he probes K2's most memorable sagas in an attempt to illustrate the lessons learned by confronting the fundamental questions raised by mountaineering - questions of risk, ambition, loyalty to one's teammates, self-sacrifice, and the price of glory.
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Ed Viesturs is a climbing godfather
- By g-dogs on 2021-04-20
Written by: Ed Viesturs, and others
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Alone on the Wall (Expanded Edition)
- Written by: Alex Honnold, David Roberts
- Narrated by: Andrew Eiden, Will Damron
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 72
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 54
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."
-
5 out of 5 stars
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Written by: Alex Honnold, and others
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The Calling
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- Written by: Barry Blanchard
- Narrated by: Barry Blanchard
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 35
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Story5 out of 5 stars 35
With heart-pounding descriptions of avalanches and treacherous ascents, Barry Blanchard chronicles his transformation from a poor Native American/white kid from the wrong side of the tracks to one of the most respected alpinists in the world. At 13 he learned to rappel when he joined the 1292 Lord Strathcone's Horse Army Cadets. Soon kicked out for insubordination, he was already hooked on climbing and saw alpinism as a way to make his single mother proud and end his family's cycle of poverty.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
stunning book read by one of the alpinism greats
- By owen mcleod on 2021-10-02
Written by: Barry Blanchard
-
Vertical Mind
- Psychological Approaches for Optimal Rock Climbing
- Written by: Don McGrath PhD, Jeff Elison
- Narrated by: Drew Hadwal
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 14
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Performance3 out of 5 stars 12
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 12
In Vertical Mind, Don McGrath and Jeff Elison teach rock climbers how to improve their mental game so they can climb better and have more fun. They teach how the latest research in brain science and psychology can help you retrain your mind and body for higher levels of rock climbing performance, while also demonstrating how to train and overcome fears and anxiety that hold you back. Finally, they teach climbing partners how to engage in co-creative coaching and help each other improve as climbers.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Awesome for anyone into mindset work
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Written by: Don McGrath PhD, and others
Publisher's Summary
Instant National Best Seller
New York Times Monthly Best Seller
One of the 10 Best Books of March - Paste Magazine
A deeply reported insider perspective of Alex Honnold’s historic achievement and the culture and history of climbing.
“One of the most compelling accounts of a climb and the climbing ethos that I've ever read.” (Sebastian Junger)
In Mark Synnott’s unique window on the ethos of climbing, his friend Alex Honnold’s astonishing “free solo” ascent of El Capitan’s 3,000 feet of sheer granite is the central act. When Honnold topped out at 9:28 a.m. on June 3, 2017, having spent fewer than four hours on his historic ascent, the world gave a collective gasp. The New York Times described it as “one of the great athletic feats of any kind, ever.”
Synnott’s personal history of his own obsession with climbing since he was a teenager - through professional climbing triumphs and defeats and the dilemmas they render - makes this a deeply reported, enchanting revelation about living life to the fullest. What are we doing if not an impossible climb?
Synnott delves into a raggedy culture that emerged decades earlier during Yosemite’s Golden Age, when pioneering climbers like Royal Robbins and Warren Harding invented the sport that Honnold would turn on its ear. Painting an authentic, wry portrait of climbing history and profiling Yosemite heroes and the harlequin tribes of climbers known as the Stonemasters and the Stone Monkeys, Synnott weaves in his own experiences with poignant insight and wit: Tensions burst on the mile-high northwest face of Pakistan’s Great Trango Tower; fellow climber Jimmy Chin miraculously persuades an official in the Borneo jungle to allow Honnold’s first foreign expedition, led by Synnott, to continue; armed bandits accost the same trio at the foot of a tower in the Chad desert....
The Impossible Climb is an emotional drama driven by people exploring the limits of human potential and seeking a perfect, choreographed dance with nature. Honnold dared far beyond the ordinary, beyond any climber in history. But this story of sublime heights is really about all of us. Who doesn’t need to face down fear and make the most of the time we have?
What the critics say
“A thrills-and-chills - and occasional spills - view of the mad heroes of free climbing.... Fans of mountaineering will find this a winner.” (Kirkus Reviews)
“Readers will pick up this for Honnold but will be equally engrossed by Synnott’s own adventures and writing.” (Library Journal)
“Yes, The Impossible Climb is the gripping story of the most perilous rock ascent of all time - but it’s much more than that. In seamlessly fusing memoir, reporting, social history, climbing lore, technical expertise, and intimate glimpses of his tribe, Mark Synnott has given us a kind of epic of life on the edge. Even readers who have never set toe to rock are going to find themselves glued to this insanely brilliant account of extreme athletic ambition and endurance.” (David Laskin, author of The Children’s Blizzard)
“Bracing...brings Honnold’s epic, rope-free ascent to vivid life.” (Harper's Bazaar)
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What listeners say about The Impossible Climb
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rodd
- 2022-03-28
Great look into Alex and climbing
Really enjoyed the in depth look into Alex.Loved that he explained the climbers that came before Alex that helped shape who alex is and pushed him to not be just another climber. Really enjoyed the history lesson. Would definitely recommend.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ned
- 2019-03-14
great listen
I really enjoyed listening to this book. The narrator was good enough and the story was great. This book really puts honnolds free solo of el cap into context by providing a very entertaining and deeper history of modern rock climbing told first hand through the authors stories and personal experiences. There are details in this book that helps the reader to understand Honnold and his climbs without them being sensationalized. For example, the details about the whole amygdala thing are explained much better than in the movie Free Solo.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2019-03-26
Missed opportunity...
This book could have been better if it contained more about Alex Honnold and less about the author. Alex Honnold was preparing for and performing one of the most significant climbs in history, a climb that seems to have transcended the sport itself. To chronicle this, Mr. Synnott fills a large portion of his book with a conglomeration of articles and talks from his past, as well as common rock climbing history already detailed in many other books and videos. Although Mr. Synnott has pre-knowledge of the climb months in advance, and he has access to Alex before and after the climb, his writing about the climb in the last chapter seems shallow and adds little insight, especially if you have already seen the film. It really feels like a missed opportunity by the author, and it left me as a reader wanting more.
11 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Matthew
- 2019-04-06
The book should be called "Climbing Life"
The book is ok, but the title is misleading and simply clickbait. Mark Synnott writes more about other events in his life and the life of other climbers than he does Alex Honnold. Feels like the author is just trying to capitalize on Alex's current mainstream popularity. If this book was called "A climbers life" and looked at the lives of people who became world-class climbers it could have been a better book.
9 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Colby Szatva
- 2019-07-10
Story is mostly about the author, not Alex H.
Such a large % of this book is devoted to the life story of author Mark Synnott that it seems like he’s just (parasitically) using Alex Honnold’s achievement as a means to tell the world “the Mark Synnott story”. Very disappointed reader.
8 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Eric M. Baldwin
- 2020-03-11
Title doesn't match the book.
I've listened to quite a bit of this book so far, however a lot of the book is about climbing history and then leads itself into Alex Honnold. The book title gave me a different impression.
4 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- G
- 2019-08-12
Good book but ....
Good book and good story. However Mark spends too much time accounting for his own adventures in the Trango towers that have very little to do with El Cap. The book seems an excuse to write about those experiences in Pakistan. Why not writing a full book dedicated to that? After all the story of Trango and Alex Lowe is extremely interesting in its own right.
2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- ChuckBeattyxHOEYologist75to03
- 2021-01-26
Gives the context
Gives loads of leads to follow up. It’s not a bad starter book to this world.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2021-10-30
Buy the alex and tommy book
Mark has been through some interesting moments in climbing, but has a sort of bridesmaid, never a bride situation. while I expect he truly is as close to honnold as he states, it seems odd to leverage their friendship into this book. go see the movie, maybe read Alex or Tommy's books instead. He is telling random histories of climbing history along with his acquaintance of a famous climber. He also bashed Steve House. What a twat!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Epicurus
- 2021-09-08
great read for climbers and non-climbers alike
What I loved about this book is that it’s much more than the story of Honnold’s El Cap free solo. I thoroughly enjoyed Synnott’s robust exploration of the development of climbing in the latter half of the 20th c. and his telling of his own climbing story, both of which he interweaves very nicely with Honnold’s own story. The result is that Honnold’s feat — and his character as a climber — are much more richly portrayed because situated within the broader context of the climbing community and its history. Great stuff.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Cory Johnson
- 2021-06-07
history of climbing from the shadows of greatness
Mark has been through some interesting moments in climbing, but has a sort of bridesmaid, never a bride situation. while I expect he truly is as close to honnold as he states, it seems odd to leverage their friendship into this book. go see the movie, maybe read Alex or Tommy's books instead
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- turbomore
- 2020-11-23
Gripped
Truly one of the greatest physical achievements in history... and so much more. 11/10 recommend
