Outdoor Recreation Audiobooks | Sports & Recreation

Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home

In the first hours there was nothing, no fear or sadness, just a black and perfect silence. Nando Parrado was unconscious for three days before he woke to discover that the plane carrying his rugby team, as well as their family members and supporters, to an exhibition game in Chile had crashed somewhere deep in the Andes. He soon learned that many were dead or dying—among them his own mother and sister. Those who remained were stranded on a lifeless glacier at nearly 12,000 feet above sea level, with no supplies and no means of summoning help. They struggled to endure freezing temperatures, deadly avalanches, and then the devastating news that the search for them had been called off. As time passed and Nando’s thoughts turned increasingly to his father, who he knew must be consumed with grief, Nando resolved that he must get home or die trying. He would challenge the Andes, even though he was certain the effort would kill him, telling himself that even if he failed he would die that much closer to his father. It was a desperate decision, but it was also his only chance. So Nando, an ordinary young man with no disposition for leadership or heroism, led an expedition up the treacherous slopes of a snow-capped mountain and across forty-five miles of frozen wilderness in an attempt to find help. Thirty years after the disaster Nando tells his story with remarkable candor and depth of feeling. Miracle in the Andes—a first person account of the crash and its aftermath—is more than a riveting tale of true-life adventure: it is a revealing look at life at the edge of death and a meditation on the limitless redemptive power of love.

Nando Parrado, Vince Rause (Author), Arthur Morey (Narrator)

Audiobook

Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why: True Stories of Miraculous Endurance and Sudden Death

After her plane crashes, a seventeen-year-old girl spends eleven days walking through the Peruvian jungle. Against all odds, with no food, shelter, or equipment, she gets out. A better equipped group of adult survivors of the same crash sits down and dies. What makes the difference? Through close analysis of case studies, author Laurence Gonzales describes the essence of a survivor and offers twelve "Rules of Survival." In the end, he finds, it is what's in your heart, not what's in your pack, that separates the living from the dead.

Laurence Gonzales (Author), Stefan Rudnicki (Narrator)

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The Boys of Everest: Chris Bonington and the Tragedy of Climbing's Greatest Generation

Clint Willis (Author), James Adams (Narrator)

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The Boys of Everest: Chris Bonington and the Tragedy of Climbing’s Greatest Generation

This gripping account of courage, achievement, and heartbreaking loss tells the story of Bonington's Boys, a band of climbers who reinvented mountaineering during the three decades after Everest's first ascent. The boyish, fanatically driven Chris Bonington's inner circle included a dozen of the most renowned climbers, who took increasingly terrible risks on now legendary expeditions to the world's most fearsome peaks, and paid an enormous price. Most of them died in the mountains, leaving behind the hardest question of all: was it worth it? Based on interviews with surviving climbers and others, as well as five decades of journals, expedition accounts, and letters, The Boys of Everest provides the closest thing to an answer that we will ever have. It offers riveting descriptions of what Bonington's Boys found in the mountains, as well as an understanding of what they lost there.

Clint Willis (Author), James Adams (Narrator)

Audiobook

Camp

Over the years, as a camper and a counselor, Disney CEO Michael Eisner absorbed the life lessons that come from sitting in the stern of a canoe or meeting around a campfire at night. With anecdotes from his time spent at Keewaydin and stories from his life in the upper echelons of American business that illustrate the camp's continued influence, Eisner creates a touching and insightful portrait of his own coming-of-age, as well as a resounding declaration of summer camp as an invaluable national institution.

Michael D. Eisner (Author), Michael D. Eisner (Narrator)

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Fishing on the Edge

With his colorful tattoos and booming hip-hop sound track, Mike Iaconelli has turned the world of big-money competitive bass fishing upside down. In Fishing on the Edge, Iaconelli tells his own story-and it's a whopper: a Philly-born, Jersey-bred Yankee who's been stealing the spotlight from bass fishing's traditionally all-Southern anglers, attracting fans and dominating one of the fastest-growing sports in America. How did Mike Iaconelli, a college-educated kid from New Jersey, come blasting into a sport dominated by old-school stars like Gary Klein, Kevin VanDam, and Denny Brauer? How did Mike, aka "Ike," take a secret childhood passion and turn it into a profession, earning million-dollar sponsorships and a storm of media attention, ranging from ESPN's SportsCenter to profiles in The New York Times and Esquire? While Mike has attracted both fans and foes on the tour, his success speaks for itself, especially his victory at the 2003 CITGO Bassmaster Classic, the Super Bowl of competitive fishing. Forty-four million Americans fish, but no one does it quite like Mike Iaconelli. In Fishing on the Edge, he lets you in on the secrets to his extraordinary success-how he developed his "power" fishing style, how he attacks the water, positions the boat, and perseveres through those days when the bass just aren't biting. With sidebar tips that can be used by any fisherman-from using spinner baits to picking out the right rod to his no-fail "secret weapons"-"this is an intensive, informative, and often raucous journey through the life of a brash young man destined to do for fishing what Tony Hawk did for the X Games: take the sport to a whole new level. At the same time, it's the compelling first-person story of a man who prepared carefully every step of the way, kept notes on every fish he ever caught, and executed the perfect plan to get to the top. A tale of passion, competition, and extreme personality, Fishing on the Edge is a book for anyone who loves the sport of fishing, wants to turn a hobby into a career, or is simply fascinated by a man's unstoppable drive to succeed.

Andrew Kamenetzky, Brian Kamenetzky, Mike Iaconelli (Author), Andrew Kamenetzky, Brian Kamenetzky, Mike Iaconelli (Narrator)

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Hell or High Water: Surviving Tibet's Tsangpo River

The Tsangpo Gorge in southeastern Tibet has lured explorers and adventurers since its discovery. Sacred to the Buddhists, the inspiration for Shangri La, the Gorge is as steeped in legend and mystery as any spot on earth. As a river-running challenge, the remote Tsangpo is relentlessly unforgiving, more difficult than any stretch of river ever attempted. Its mysteries have withstood a century's worth of determined efforts to explore its length. The finest expedition paddlers on earth have tried. Several have died. All have failed. Until now. In January 2002, in the heart of the Himalayan winter, a team of seven kayakers launched a meticulously planned assault of the Gorge. The paddlers were river cowboys, superstars in the universe of extreme kayaking who hop from continent to continent ready for the next death-defying pursuit. Accompanying them was author Peter Heller. A world-class kayaker in his own right, Heller has logged countless river miles and several major first descents. He joined the Tsangpo Expedition as a member of the ground support team and official expedition journalist and was also granted the exclusive opportunity to write the book about the descent. Hell or High Water is that book-greatly expanded from his coverage for Outside magazine. Filled with history, white-knuckle drama, and mutiny in one of the world's most storied-and remote-locations, Hell or High Water is as riveting as any of the great epic adventures throughout history. Publication coincides with the release of a documentary about the expedition by National Geographic.

Peter Heller (Author), Patrick Lawlor (Narrator)

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The Founding Fish

The Founding Fish is the shad, and John McPhee's veneration for it is both scientific and culinary. McPhee was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Annals of the Former World. Noted for his accessible and perceptive studies of the physical world, he weaves together strands of personal, natural, and national history in this absorbing study that traces the shad's importance from the 17th century to his family's dinner table.

John McPhee (Author), John McPhee (Narrator)

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The Lost Explorer: Finding Mallory on Mount Everest

This is the adventure story of the year -- how Conrad Anker found the body of George Mallory on Mount Everest, casting an entirely new light on the mystery of the explorer who may have conquered Everest seventy-five years ago. On June 8, 1924, George Leigh Mallory and Andrew "Sandy" Irvine were last seen climbing toward the summit of Mount Everest. Clouds soon closed around them, and they vanished into history. Ever since, mountaineers have wondered whether they reached the summit twenty-nine years before Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. On May 1, 1999, Conrad Anker, one of the world's strongest mountaineers, discovered Mallory's body lying facedown, frozen into the scree and naturally mummified at 27,000 feet on Everest's north face. The condition of the body, as well as the artifacts found with Mallory, including goggles, an altimeter, and a carefully wrapped bundle of personal letters, are important clues in determining his fate. Seventeen days later, Anker free-climbed the Second Step, a 90-foot sheer cliff that is the single hardest obstacle on the north ridge. The first expedition known to have conquered the Second Step, a Chinese team in 1975, had tied a ladder to the cliff, leaving unanswered the question of whether Mallory could have climbed it in 1924. Anker's climb was the first test since Mallory's of the cliff's true difficulty. In treacherous conditions, Anker led teammate Dave Hahn from the Second Step to the summit. Reflecting on the climb, Anker explains why he thinks Mallory and Irvine failed to make the summit, but at the same time, he expresses his awe at Mallory's achievement with the primitive equipment of the time. Stunningly handsome and charismatic, Mallory charmed everyone who met him during his lifetime and continues to fascinate mountaineers today. He was an able writer, a favorite of the Bloomsbury circle, and a climber of legendary gracefulness. The Lost Explorer is the remarkable story of this extraordinarily talented man and of the equally talented modern climber who spearheaded a discovery that may ultimately help solve the mystery of Mallory's disappearance.

Conrad Anker, David Roberts (Author), Jeffrey DeMunn, Jeffrey Demunn, Michael Mcglone (Narrator)

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The Climb

Anatoli Boukreev's first-hand account of the worst human disaster in the history of Mt. Everest will hold listeners spellbound. A top-rated guide and high altitude climber, Boukreev dictated the raw and powerful details of this ill-fated trek from memories and notes recorded just five days after the catastrophe. In May of 1996, 33 people went up the mountain, but only 28 returned. As two commercial expeditions climbed the world's highest peak, poor planning, miscommunication, and an unpredictable blizzard conspired to defeat them. Although the author made it back to the safety of his tent, he defied his own pain and exhaustion to go back up the mountain. His rescue attempt saved the lives of three climbers. The events of those two fateful days prompted researchers at MIT to develop new technology that could prevent the recurrence of such a disaster. Narrators Richard M. Davidson and Nelson Runger sensitively convey the full scope of a drama and a tragedy the world hopes never to see again.

Anatoli Boukreev, G. Weston Dewalt (Author), Anatoli Boukreev, Lloyd James, Nelson Runger, Richard Davidson, Richard M. Davidson (Narrator)

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Into the Bermuda Triangle: Pursuing the Truth Behind the World's Greatest Mystery

Still unsolved, still baffling, still claiming new victims. Here are the untold stories. A pilot reports a strange haze enveloping his plane, then disappears; eleven hours after fuel starvation, as if calling from a void, he is heard 600 miles away. He requests permission to land, then vanishes forever. A freighter steaming over placid seas disappears without a trace. A pleasure yacht ghosts past without a soul on board. A pilot calls for help because a 'weird object' is harassing his plane. A jet collides with an 'unknown' and is never found. . . . Into the Bermuda Triangle is the first comprehensive examination of these baffling disappearances in more than a generation. Drawing on official reports from the NTSB and other investigative agencies as well as interviews with scientists, theorists, and survivors, leading authority Gian Quasar not only sets the record straight on previously examined cases, he also offers a bulging file of new cases, the collective results of his twelve-year investigation. In meticulous detail this unflinching account: Documents confirmed disappearances of airplanes and ships Gathers new testimony and reexamines old interviews from eyewitnesses and survivors Explores possible explanations ranging from zero-point energy to magnetic vortices Challenges our assumptions with the sheer weight of accumulated evidence In this age of technological and scientific discovery, there are still mysteries that transcend understanding. The Bermuda Triangle is one. 'The best book I've ever read on this important subject.'-Andrew Griffin, The Town Talk

Gian J. Quasar (Author), Michael Prichard (Narrator)

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Godforsaken Sea: Racing the World's Most Dangerous Waters

In November 1996, sixteen boats left France to circumnavigate the globe alone, without stopping and without assistance, through the world's most savage waters, the Southern Ocean. Over the next six months, each waged a solitary battle to stay alive against six-story waves, bone-chilling cold, ice-laden seas and their own physical and mental limitations. Derek Lundy's brilliant storytelling takes us not only into the maritime action, but also the sailors' spirits. Our hearts race with one competitor as she struggles with raging seas searching for a missing rival, and we mourn with another as his forlorn, crippled ship fades from sight. Told with the mastery of Conrad and the intensity of minute-to-minute survival, this gripping tale is sure to appeal to blue-water and armchair adventurers alike.

Derek Lundy (Author), Michael Tezla (Narrator)

Audiobook

Outdoor Recreation Audiobooks in Sports & Recreation