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Ski
Camping
A
Guide to the Delights of Backcountry Skiing
Winter's
Beauty Close-up . . .
I
admit. I'm a bit odd. I really enjoy camping in winter. A number
of years ago, I wanted to write a book about it, and, at the same time,
somehow capture the beauty and simplicity of it all. In that regard,
I was helped by Phil Schofield. Phil was at the time, and still is,
a National Geographic photographer. He was willing to spend long
days photographing the backcountry in the winter and even accompanied me
and eight others on a 10-day journey across Central Idaho's Gospel-Hump
Wilderness during some the worst conditions imaginable.
I have much to thank Phil for. His dramatic and innovative black
and white photos made Ski Camping much more than a run-of-the-mill
instructional text, but rather a book of art and beauty.
More
Information and Reviews . . .
Topics
covered in the book include planning, equipment, clothing, food, trail
techniques, skiing techniques, snow camping, winter shelters, route finding
and winter hazards.
It has become a classic outdoor instructional book and is one of the most
well received skiing books ever published. Here's what the reviewers
have to say:
"This
enticing book is for you who crave to ski where you make the first track,
and stay out overnight as well. There are other books on this subject,
but none so well done and so easily understood. Nordic skiing has
been one of my favorite enterprises for 25 years, and this is the nicest
introduction to that delight I've seen." - J. Baldwin,
Next
Whole Earth Catalog
"A splendid book with dramatic layout and striking photographs. A
treasury of tips."
- Lito Tejada Flores, Backcountry Skiing
"A delightful book. I kept looking for faults but came up empty handed.
The array of information is vast." - Eric Evans, Nordic
Skiing
"One
of the most expansively and graphically exquisite winter travel books ever
put together." - Ski X-C
Purchasing
the Book...
There
are only 6 copies left! The cost is $35.00.
You
can get a signed copy from me (email: wattron@isu.edu
or call toll free 1-800-585-6857). It's not available elsewhere. |
154
pages
8.5"
x 11"
Paper
1-877625-00-0
Read
the Camping Chapter
Purchasing the Book:
There are only 7 copies left!
The cost is $35.00.
You
can get a signed copy from me (email: wattron@isu.edu
or call toll free 1-800-585-6857). It's not available elsewhere. |
The
Outdoor Programming Handbook
141
pages
Spiral
Binding
ISBN
0-937834-12-2
If
you'd like a copy of the handbook, it's available directly from the Idaho
State Outdoor Program. The cost is $25 (plus $2 postage). Drop
the Outdoor Program an e-mail and
they'll send you a copy. |
From
the Programming End of Things . . .
I'll be
honest about this book. It's getting a bit dated, but some folks
may find it useful, particularly those who are setting up new programs.
Largely designed for nonprofit outdoor recreation programs, it covers:
liability, outdoor programming history, facilities and resources, funding
and budgeting, promotion and advertising, disabled programming, goal formulation,
personnel, outdoor trips, rental centers, evaluation of programs and military
recreation.
I'm trying to get most of this book on-line. Three chapters of the
book are currently found on the ISU Outdoor Program website: History,
Approaches,
Liability.)
-
"It does
cover the basics, but with depth, conciseness and clarity one rarely sees
in books covering such critical topics as outdoor liability and funding."
-
--Rod
Neubert, Calpoly, San Luis Obispo, The Bulletin of the Association of
College
Unions--International.
"The Outdoor
Program Handbook is a valuable resource for coordinators of outdoor programming
centers."
--Valerie
Wetzel, Campus Activities Programming |
Out-of-Print
Books
The
White-Water Book
Ski
Trails and Old-timers' Tales
The
White-Water River Book: A Guide to Techniques, Equipment, Camping, and
Safety TheWhite-Water
River Book was published in 1982 by Pacific Search Press, a press made
famous by their national best seller
The Zucchini Cookbook.
Pacific Search went out of business about two years after my association
with them. I'm not sure if it was my book that sent them over the
edge--or people were just getting sick of zucchini.
White-Water,
a large format book with great photographs by Robert Winslow, was one of
the early instructional books which covered both rafting and kayaking.
The book also contained some terrific illustrations by Ron Lewis.
I don't think the quality and usefulness of Ron's illustrations has been
equaled in any whitewater instructional text published since. The
Northwest Rafters Association has even used one of the illustrations for
a logo on t-shirts and hats.
Contents include: Getting Started; Rafts; Kayaks and Other White-water
Craft; Day and Overnight Equipment; Down the River; Reading White-Water;
Kayak Technique; Raft Technique; Safety, Hazards Rescue and Emergency Repairs;
Planning Multi-day Trips; River Cuisine; Camping and Lessening Environmental
Impact; and Checklists
Since it is out-of-print, I'm trying to get all of the book and its illustrations
on-line. Some of the text is available now on the ISU Outdoor Program
website and more is on its way.Ski
Trails and Old-timers' Tales in Idaho and Montana.
Ski
Trails, published in 1978,
was my first book and the first by Solstice Press, a publisher from Moscow,
Idaho. From the beginning, Solstice lived a hand-to-mouth existence.
Not long after they published Ski Camping, my second book, the company
went belly-up. Taking a dive along with Solstice were two years of royalties
which I have to admit weren't much, but nevertheless, would have kept my
Volkswagen Bug in good repair and on the road. During Solstice's
waning days, I managed to obtain the rights to both books. Over the
years since, I had Ski Camping reprinted twice. And I recently
revised Ski Trails and re-published it as Winter Tales and Trails.
What's
Happened to the Books Since . . .
Both
of the original books are now out-of-print, but used copies can occasionally
be found in stores specializing in used books. If you're interested, Amazon.com,
Barnes & Noble and other websites can do a search for you, but as I
mentioned before, I hope to have a free, on-line version of White-Water
on the Outdoor Program website. And, I don't recommend trying to
purchase a used copy of Ski Trails. It's been extensively
updated and revised as Winter Tales and Trails. The only parts
from Ski Trails that I didn't include in Winter Tales were
the chapters on western Montana. (A guidebook has since been written about
Montana trails.)
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