Downward Bound: A Mad! Guide to Rock Climbing (Menasha Ridge Press Climbing Classics Series)

In the fall of 1970, newspapers, television and the other news media carries a continuing account of how "two men played out a tense drama of life-and-death struggle on a mountain..." Warren Harding, "Batso," was one of those men and he has become a legend. In this climbing classic, Harding shares his years of experience in big wall climbing and attempts to answer the following questions: -Why do you climb? -How do you get started? -Is it dangerous? -What's this thing about climbing ethics-the controversy about bolts? -How do you sleep hanging on a sheer vertical wall? -What's the sense in all this? -And even the darkest secret of all: How do you go potty up there? This is a book that will take you back to the golden age of climbing. It is a reflection of its time and of the people who created modern climbing. At the same time, Downward Bound is, like all classics, amazingly modern. Harding deals with feats, questions and issues that we still struggle with, and if Downward Bound were written today it might not have been all that different. (from the back of the book)