Dave Pagel Cold Feet

[mjack]

Dave Pagel, author of many articles in Climbing, R&I, and Ascent, has just published a collection of stories, interviews and verse. You may remember his articles, written from a average climber's mindset, (although I think his climbs and writing style were anything but average) as some of the funniest, insightful, and engaging pieces of climbing literature out there. I've been disappointed these days in climbing writing in the magazines, and think back on the times when climbing writers wrote stories, not just another list of ten pieces of gear you need, or monotonous accounts of some rock stars's latest send. If you are looking for some great storytelling, look through your old magazines, or get his book!

 

Dave was one of the people who first taught me to climb and it was his descriptions of Devil's Tower, Eldorado Canyon and Chamonix inspired me to go to those areas.

 

Check it out:

 

https://www.facebook.com/coldfeetbook

 

https://www.createspace.com/4873079

[Whatcomboy]

That book looks interesting and i agree with you how crappy the stories are in the popular climbing mags these days.

[curtveld]

how crappy the stories are in the popular climbing mags these days.

Yup, yarn-spinning is a dying art and Pagel's skills are right up there with the best.

[genepires]

how crappy the stories are in the popular climbing mags these days.

Yup, yarn-spinning is a dying art and Pagel's skills are right up there with the best.

 

while the majority of stuff in climbing magazine may not be a superb quality, I have been surprised by some really good writing, mostly in rock and ice. Seems like there is at least one good article in every issue. off the top of my head, a recent issue had a good article on a well known base jumper death (Sean Leary?) and Ueli Steck s face Annapurna controversy.

 

I think that the ratio of good to mediocre articles is about the same since the 90's.

[DPS]

I remember this one awesome tech tip in Climbing magazine that suggested wrapping Nalgene bottles in black electrical tape to help melt snow. Do you remember that one Gene?

[genepires]

that was not an example of good writing.

 

I sure liked that tech tip section though, till they ran out of novel ideas than they resorted to stuff that was in every How To book.