NATURAL RESOURCES BOOK REVIEW.``Climbing Free: My Life in the Vertical World'' By Lynn Hill Lynn Hill (born 1961) is a United States climber, known as a top sport climber of the 1980s and famous for making the first free ascent of the Nose Route on Yosemite's El Capitan. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, she grew up in southern California. (W.W. Norton & Company, 2002, $24.95) Lynn Hill might be the most famous and accomplished of contemporary American adventure-sports women. A much-admired legend within the rock-climbing community, the petite Orange County native was, among many significant milestones, the first to free climb the infamous Nose route up El Capitan El Cap·i·tan A peak, 2,308.5 m (7,569 ft) high, in the Sierra Nevada of central California. Its dramatic exposed monolith rises some 1,098 m (3,600 ft) above the floor of the Yosemite Valley. in Yosemite and was the first woman to complete a 5.14-rated climb, the most difficult in existence. Which is why her book is disappointing. Poorly edited, the work is more diary than memoir memoir History or record composed from personal observation and experience. Closely related to autobiography, a memoir differs chiefly in the degree of emphasis on external events. . As nice as the Hill family surely is, and as much fun as recounting old family tales can be with relatives, is anyone really interested in trivial family detail from the 1970s? Or about mean, self-centered climbers This list of climbers includes both mountaineers and rock climbers, since many (though not all) climbers engage in both types of activities. The list also includes boulderers and ice climbers. who seemed to dominate the scene back in the day? The text impresses and inspires when Hill recounts her great adventures, such as one El Cap climb up a route named the Shield with good friend Mari Gingery. But when Hill starts talking about old boyfriends, well, who cares? Hill told one interviewer she wanted to convey to others in this book the great life truths she's learned from climbing - an admirable goal, surely, but one of the few times in her life she's failed. - Michael A. Anastasi Western flies Information on some of the West's, if not the world's, top trout-fishing waters is located on the Great Western Flyfishing Rivers site (www.flyfishrivers.com). The rivers reviewed here include Montana's Madison, Big Hole and Beaverhead, Utah's Provo and Green, New Mexico's San Juan San Juan, city, Argentina San Juan (săn wän, Span. sän hwän), city (1991 pop. 353,476), capital of San Juan prov., W Argentina. It is a commercial and industrial center in an agricultural region. , Idaho's Henry's Fork, Wyoming's Snake and Colorado's South Platte South Platte (plăt), river, c.450 mi (720 km) long, rising in the Rocky Mts. in many branches, which then join in central Colorado. It flows in a narrow canyon E and NE to Denver, then NE across the Great Plains to join the North Platte in central . For the famous Madison River Madison River A river of southwest Montana flowing about 294 km (183 mi) generally northward to join the Jefferson and Gallatin rivers and form the Missouri River. , there are links to the area's geography, maps, articles on the river, fish reports and the latest weather. Plans to include even more rivers are in the works. --Club Camp: The American Camping Association has its own Web site (www.acacamps.org). This is where to look if parents are interested in sending their children to a summer camp with ACA ACA - Application Control Architecture affiliations. The camp directory is broken into categories to fit the interest and needs of the campers. There are also informative articles regarding such subjects as choosing the right camp, from both the parents' and the children's perspective. - Chris Cocoles CAPTION(S): box Box: TUNE IN |
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