On the Ridge Between Life and Death: A Climbing Life Reexamined

Despite witnessing three fatal mountaineering accidents by age 22, Roberts insists that the greatest pleasures in his life have come in the mountains. Several of his challenging Alaskan routes have not been repeated in the nearly 40 years since those first ascents. Unlike in his book ‘Moments of Doubt, where he insisted that the benefits of climbing were “worth it”, in this memoir Roberts comes to a different conclusion about climbing. Finalist 2005 Banff Mountain Book Festival Best Book Mountain Literature. “In a brutally honest voice, Roberts seeks to answer the question of why we choose dangerous adventures” – Conrad Anker, “The most extraordinary climbing memoir I have read” – Greg Child, “Professor Roberts’s magnum opus” – Jon Krakauer.