The Push: A Climber's Search for the Path -- Tommy Caldwell

<b>A <i>New York Times</i> Bestseller <p/>A dramatic, inspiring memoir by legendary rock climber Tommy Caldwell, the first person to free climb the Dawn Wall of Yosemite's El Capitan <p/>"The rarest of adventure reads: it thrills with colorful details of courage and perseverance but it enriches readers with an absolutely captivating glimpse into how a simple yet unwavering resolve can turn adversity into reward." --<i>The Denver Post</i></b><br> <b><br>A finalist for the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature</b> <p/>On January 14, 2015, Tommy Caldwell, along with his partner, Kevin Jorgeson, summited what is widely regarded as the hardest climb in history--Yosemite's nearly vertical 3,000-foot Dawn Wall, after nineteen days on the route. Caldwell's odds-defying feat--the subject of the documentary film <i>The Dawn Wall </i>to be released nationwide in September--was the culmination of an entire lifetime of pushing himself to his limits as an athlete. <p/> This engrossing memoir chronicles the journey of a boy with a fanatical mountain-guide father who was determined to instill toughness in his son to a teen whose obsessive nature drove him to the top of the sport-climbing circuit. Caldwell's affinity for adventure then led him to the vertigo-inducing and little understood world of big wall free climbing. But his evolution as a climber was not without challenges; in his early twenties, he was held hostage by militants in a harrowing ordeal in the mountains of Kyrgyzst