The dynamic duo has done it again! Following up on the incredible success of their two previous bestsellers, Allen and Mike's Really Cool Backcountry Ski Book and Really Cool Telemark Tips, these two National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) instructors and hardcore backcountry fanatics once again combine their years of experience into a hilarious and vastly informative book on the art of backpacking. Fans know how Allen O'Bannon and Mike Clelland play off each other to provide a one-two punch that makes readers laugh and learn at the same time. Beginning backpackers will cherish the advice, and experts who think they know it all are guaranteed to pick up a few tricks from this book -- while the entertainment value alone is worth the price. From day-hiking to extended expeditions, this book covers the whole spectrum of backpacking adventrue and is certain to become a classic of the genre. Allen O'Bannon is a senior NOLS instructor who writes books to support his ski habit. Mike Clelland! is a NOLS instructor and illustrator who studied Mad magazine rather than go to art school. When not teaching NOLS classes, they live in Idaho, in the shadow of the Tetons.

Walking into the wilderness with a pack on your back is an empowering experience—all the more so when that pack on your back isn’t weighing you down. That’s where this book comes in. Outdoors expert and celebrated illustrator Mike Clelland offers advanced techniques on how to pack light without sacrificing the essentials or your safety yet staying well fed and comfortable. Written in the tradition of the successful Allen & Mike’s Really Cool Telemark Tips, with153 trail-tested tips full of solid advice, as well as more than 100 humorous and helpful illustrations, UltralightBackpackin' Tips is the ultimate guide for backpackers serious about traveling ultralight. Just a few of the top ten tips expounded upon in the book: * Use a scale. * Comfortable and safe are vital! * Make your own stuff, and making it out of trash is always the best! * It’s okay to be nerdy. * Try something new each and every time you go camping. * Know the difference between wants and needs.

Following up on the phenomenal success of their backcountry ski and backpacking books, Allen O’Bannon and Mike Clelland here provide a thoroughly revised and updated edition of their likewise popular Allen & Mike’s Really Cool Telemark Tips, which first appeared in 1998. For anyone who’s ever yearned to master the subtleties of the telemark turn, this book includes more than 120 clear, concise telemark tips complemented by often hilarious and always helpful illustrations. For beginners and experts alike, it is a must for tele-skiers who really want to shred. In the decade since the original publication of Allen & Mike’s Really Cool Telemark Tips, telemark skiing has evolved enormously. It’s entered a modern era, and this new edition reflects the new gear, the new teaching, and the new style of tele-skiing.

Short, to-the-point, and humorously illustrated by famed outdoor illustrator Mike Clelland, this book presents everything hikers and backpackers need to be safe, comfortable, and well fed while carrying a very small and lightweight pack.

With more and more people heading into the winter backcountry on skis, snowshoes, and snowmobiles, avalanche safety is of paramount importance. Allen & Mike's Really Cool Avalanche Safety Book distills the sometimes overly technical information of snow science into a user-friendly format with helpful illustrations and easy-to-understand text. With years of experience as NOLS instructors to draw on, Allen O'Bannon and Mike Clelland team up to give winter recreationists the information they need to stay safe in the backcountry, including how to prepare for your trip, proper equipment and how to use it, snowpack assessment, choosing safe travel routes, decision making, and rescue scenarios. Written for both aspriring winter backcountry travelers and experts alike, this book is a must-read for anybody who loves to experience the solitude and beauty of the snowy mountains.

Glacier Mountaineering provides the knowledge and skills needed to safely and self-sufficiently navigate over glacier terrain. Hundreds of hilarious and helpful illustrations by Mike Clelland complement the clear and concise text by Andy Tyson. Providing critical instruction for anyone planning to travel over glacier country—from the Cascades to the Rockies to Denali—this book will guide and entertain readers through glacier anatomy, equipment, route finding, and rescue techniques.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The authors bring extreme climbing to life. . . . Perhaps no author can rationalize why some choose to risk their lives . . . for the thrill of conquering a mountain. The Ledge comes perilously close and tells a ripping true story at the same time.”—The Denver Post In June 1992, best friends Jim Davidson and Mike Price stood atop Washington’s Mount Rainier, celebrating what they hoped would be the first of many milestones in their lives as passionate mountaineers. Then their triumph turned tragic when a cave-in plunged them deep inside a glacial crevasse—the pitch-black, ice-walled hell of every climber’s nightmares. An avid adventurer since youth, Davidson was a seasoned climber at the time of the Rainier ascent. But the harrowing free fall left him challenged by nature’s grandeur at its most unforgiving. Trapped on a narrow frozen shelf, deep below daylight, he desperately battled crumbling ice, snow that threatened to bury him alive, and crippling fear of the inescapable chasm below—all the while struggling to save his fatally injured friend. Finally, alone, with little equipment and rapidly dwindling hope, he confronted a fateful choice: the certainty of a slow, lonely death or the near impossibility of an agonizing climb for life. A story of heart-stopping adventure, heartfelt friendship, fleeting mortality, and implacable nature, The Ledge chronicles the elation and grief, dizzying heights and punishing depths, of a journey to hard-won wisdom. “Plunges readers into a dark, icy chasm from which escape seems impossible. Then it reveals the strength it takes to look up, and to start climbing.”—Jim Sheeler, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of the National Book Award finalist Final Salute “How [Davidson] rescued himself is the core of The Ledge, and its most gripping part. The physical effort and will involved are astonishing.”—The Plain Dealer “A moving portrait of friendship and loss.”—The Wall Street Journal

What causes bear attacks? Can attacks be prevented? If you are attacked, are there defensive measures that can save your life?For answers to these and many other questions, Mike Cramond conducted full investigations of many of the over 250 documented attacks in his files. These include attacks by grizzlies, black bears, and polar bears. On this project, he traveled 40,000 miles to visit attack sites and interview surviving victims, witnesses, biologists, and official investigators.The resulting stories dramatically recreate these attacks and then examine their causes. From the evidence, Cramond often offers fascinating challenges to popular beliefs on bear behavior. Many of the stories also touch on the attack aftermaths: hospital ordeals, physical disabilities, and heartbreaking battles for compensation.Killer Bears is essential reading for anyone who would step into bear country, and serves as a principal reference for all who would study and report on bear-man issues in North America. Meticulously researched and chock-full of expert knowledge, Killer Bears stands as a vital and important part of our literature on nature and survival. (6 x 9, 320 pages, chart)

The notion that you need to carry 40 or 50 pounds of gear into the backcountry to be comfortable and safe is absolutely ridiculous. So say the backcountry experts at Backpacking Light magazine in a new book that redefines modern day backpacking as safe, comfortable, and fun?but with a much lighter pack. This is the most comprehensive and rigorous text ever published on lightweight backpacking. In addition to chapters about gear and basic skills, Lightweight Backpacking & Camping covers advanced topics, and has the latest information about the best lightweight gear and apparel, including the manufacturers that make it and the retailers that carry it.

What is it like to hike the length of the Continental Divide Trail? For Matt and Julie Urbanski, life on the trail meant twenty-seven days without seeing another hiker, six bear encounters, two sets of maps, a GPS and a compass to find the trail, as well as wildfires and floods to add to the adventure.