Alpinist

Author and mountaineer David Roberts reads his essay "Death and Climbing," which first appeared in the winter 2016 issue of Alpinist.

By 1965, at age 22, David Roberts had witnessed three fatal accidents in the mountains. Over 50 years since, Roberts has explored in writing what makes climbing worth the risk. In this episode, Roberts discusses an article he wrote for Alpinist 56, in which he revisits "moments of doubt."

In November 2016, while attempting the unclimbed Lunag Ri (6907m) with David Lama, Conrad Anker suffered a heart attack and had to descend from the climb to be evacuated by helicopter from advanced base camp. In this episode, Anker recalls the event and considers the effects on his career as an alpinist going forward. More at alpinist.com/podcast.

Why does story telling seem so essential to the climbing life? In this episode, we interview two climbers—Tommy Caldwell, whose recent book The Push traces his life from diapers to the Dawn Wall, and Bree Loewen, the author of Found: A Life in Mountain Rescue—on why their mountain travels ignite the desire to write.

About the show: Since 2002 Alpinist has striven to push creative boundaries with everything we do, from award-winning climbing journalism and creative writing to photography and art. Now, with the Alpinist podcast, we aim to extend our conversations with climbers and community members into interviews and oral histories that will entertain and educate our listeners with everything from dramatic and humorous adventure tales to in-depth discussions of the most significant issues in the climbing world today. More at alpinist.com/podcast