Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xv
My Sierra Life (1): Not to Touch the Earth 3
Geology (1): Batholith and Pluton 11
My Sierra Life (2): Break On Through 19
Sierra People (1): The First People 29
My Sierra Life (3): Artists in the Back Country 44
Geology (2): Basins 58
My Sierra Life (4): How We Met 65
Sierra People (2): John Muir 69
My Sierra Life (5): The Pinball Years 82
Geology (3): Crests and Divides; Also Psychogeology (1): Outside and Inside 92
Snow Camping (1) Freezing Our Butts 96
Sierra People (3) Clarence King 105
Names (1) The Good 113
Snow Camping (2) Close to the Edge 118
Moments of Being (1) A Sierra Day: Morning in Camp 125
My Sierra Life (6) Crossing Mather Pass 130
Sierra People (4) Mary Austin 134
Psychogeology (2) Altitude and Foreshortening 139
Sierra People (5) Mapping the Territory 147
Geology (4) Fellfields 152
Sierra People (6) Common Neighbors 158
Moments of Being (2) A Sierra Day: Rambling and Scrambling 165
My Sierra Life (7) Owls in the Blue 179
Sierra People (7) The Sierra Club's Women 187
Sierra People (8) The Fresno Crowd 194
Routes (1) The Four Bad Passes 199
Moments of Being (3) A Sierra Day: Sunset and Twilight 209
My Sierra Life (8) Robbie You're Wasting Your Precious Youth 215
The Swiss Alps (1) Kistenpass 220
Snow Camping (3) The Transantarctics 241
Sierra People (9) Norman Clyde 250
Names (2) The Bad 254
Routes (2) The Six Good Passes 260
Geology (5) Canyons and Massifs 265
Moments of Being (4) A Sierra Day: Night in Camp 271
Routes (3) Some West-Side Entries 275
My Sierra Life (9) Gear Talk 281
The Swiss Alps (2) My Ascent of the Matterhorn 298
My Sierra Life (10) Return to the Sierra 316
Moments Of Being (5) Close Calls 322
Routes (4) Desolation 329
Moments Of Being (6) A Sierra Day: Under the Tarp 337
My Sierra Life (11) Heart Trouble 340
Names (3) The Ugly 348
Sierra People (10) Tree Line Artists 353
Geology (6) Roof Pendants 360
Sierra People (11) Fish and Frogs 367
My Sierra Life (12) This Is the End 372
Sierra People (12) Reclusive Neighbors 376
Sierra People (13) The Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep 379
Sierra People (14) What Didn't Get Built; and Trail Phantoms 385
Routes (5) Basins Have Characters 392
Snow Camping (4) Extreme Housekeeping 401
Sierra People (15) Gary Snyder 413
Names (4) Naming Mount Thoreau 419
Sierra People (16) Michael Blumlein 433
Moments of Being (7) Late Desolation 441
The Swiss Alps (3) Seeing Meru 448
Routes (6) The High Route 452
An Annotated Sierra Bibliography 459
Moments of Being (8) The Monsoon Gets Stronger 480
Moments of Being (9) Hetch Hetchy Restored 494
Sierra People (17) Young People in Love 498
My Sierra Life (13) Still Getting Lost 502
Names (5) Corrections and Additions 506
Sierra People (18) We Had a Good Shaman 510
Moments of Being (10): How Big the World Becomes in a Wind 513
Moments of Being (11) Have I Mentioned How Much I Like the Fall Colors Up Here? 516
My Sierra Life (14) For Wilderness 518
Moments of Being (12) The Thicket 524