Kiss or Kill

by Twight, Mark

• ISBN13: 9780898867633
• ISBN10: 0898867630
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-06-01
• Publisher: Mountaineers Books

Summary

Extreme climber. Extreme writer. Extreme personality. Mark Twight gives a gripping account of some of his most legendary climbs.

Author Biography

Mark Twight is one of America's leading alpinists. His gripping accounts have been published around the world, translated into five languages. Sports Illustrated, Outside Magazine, Rock and Ice (and a host of European magazines) have profiled him. Twight was the first and fastest to solo the "Czech Route" on Peak Communism (10,000 feet up and down in 36 hours). He made the first ascent of "Deprivation" on Alaska's Mount Hunter (in 72 hours round-trip), climbed five extremely difficult new routes in the French Alps, and made a non-stop, 60-hour ascent of Mount McKinley's "Czech Direct" (the previous fastest party took seven days). Twight works as a technical advisor for several climbing gear manufacturers and teaches climbing and crisis nutrition to U.S. Special Forces operatives. Home is wherever his wife, Lisa, and an 85-pound Akita named Zuma happen to be, which is in Colorado for now

Table of Contents

Foreword	8	(2)
Brian Enos
Introduction	10	(2)
Solo on the Charmoz	12	(4)
Kiss or Kill	16	(6)
Glitter and Despair	22	(6)
The Reality Bath (a Fragment)	28	(4)
The Rise and Fall of the American Alpinist	32	(6)
I Hurt, Therefore I am	38	(10)
The Abattoir	48	(6)
Heaven Never Laughed	54	(8)
My Way: A Short Talk With Tomo Cesen	62	(12)
Perestroika Carpet Ride	74	(8)
Against the Grain	82	(10)
House of Pain	92	(10)
A Lifetime Before Death	102	(8)
Distant Warning	110	(13)
The Reference Point: Interview with Jean-Christophe Lafaille	123	(9)
No Time to Cry	132	(8)
This is What you Want, This is What you Get	140	(8)
Twitching with Twight	148	(6)
Chamonix: Over the Top or Under the Ground	154	(6)
Voice of Dissent---Dr. Doom Disses Traditional Values	160	(6)
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes	166	(8)
Voice of Dissent---Competition Ruins the Free-For-All	174	(6)
The Gift that Keeps on Giving	180	(10)
Justification for an Elitist Attitude---Defining Consciousness on Denali's Czech Direct	190	(12)
What's in a Title?	202	(3)
Acknowledgments	205