Moments of Doubt and other mountaineering writings – David Roberts

Published: 1986
Reading style: moderate
Images: no

What the publisher says:

This collection of 20 essays and articles on mountaineering and adventure by David Roberts, selected from the published works of two decades, showcases one of the most highly regarded writers in the field. The articles are comprised of three types: Adventures (Roberts’ own climbs and outings), Profiles (other adventurers), and Reflections (meditative essays about the meaning of the whole business). Roberts ranges the globe (Africa, Alaska, New Guinea) and introduces unique personalities (Reinhold Messner, John Roskelley, Don Sheldon). He also recounts how his own love of writing and the “useless pastime” of climbing combined to produce the bread and butter of his career today. Popular with audiences far beyond active mountaineers, Roberts sets himself this challenge: “For me, the abiding puzzle of adventure writing lies in keeping, on the one hand, a sense of proportion about the absurdity of most of our antics in the outdoors, while staying alert, on the other, to the majesty of spirit which at their best those antics demonstrate.”

Roberts’ first writings on his adventures on Alaska’s Mount Deborah and Mount Huntington changed the face of mountaineering literature. They are recorded in The Early Climbs: Deborah and The Mountain of My Fear (The Mountaineers).